One proposal for reducing greenhouse gases is to cut back on the consumption of meat. Meat, especially from beef, accounts for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions – roughly equivalent to that of our transportation system.
One proposal for increasing health is to cut back on the consumption of meat, at least for the more prosperous countries. The EU, Brazil, and the US eat two or three times as much meat as is considered healthy. Even China is now eating more than the recommended quantity.
Two things are working in favor of the cutbacks. 1) Large reductions are possible without going vegan simply by eating less beef. All agriculture produces greenhouse gases, but beef is the worst by almost 100% over smaller ruminants and more than 400% worse than pork. 2) People are surprisingly in favor of a meat tax, especially if that money is used for alternatives like other animal products, lab grown meat, or things like seaweed that tastes like bacon (and, yes, that’s a thing.)
(Click on the chart for the link.)
“Reducing Meat And Dairy A Win-Win For Climate And Health” – Carbon Brief
Pretending Not To Panic 