Why should we not eat red meat?

Question

Ive heard alot of mixed messages.
From what I understand, eating red meat is one of the top 3 sources of global warming, but WHY?
I then read recently that the whole beef/global warming concept wouldnt actually do anything to help our earth!
Ive stopped eating beef, but Im still unsure if Im making a difference.
Can someone explain this to me?
Thanks!

Answer 1

No - we should eat more. Cows use a lot of natural resources. We need to reduce the excess population of cows.

We do this by eating more of them, and increase the pace of reducing their numbers.

Answer 2

The methane thing is not as big a deal as the extent to which cattle are resource-intensive. The idea is that there is a finite amount of land available to feed people and animals, and that cows take up more of that land/the food that land produces than other food products. I don't know the numbers but, as an example, you can use grain from 10 acres of land to feed hundreds of people and a number smaller animals (e.g., chickens), or you can use it to feed somewhat fewer cattle, who then feed fewer people. Smaller animals have a smaller environmental impact but feed ore people per wieght of food consumed.
On the other hand, protein is important for human diets, so it is not exactly a trade-off between grains for people and meat for people. I personally don't eat red meat for a combination of reasons, no single one of which would be all that compelling to me: (1) I don't need that source of meat -- I can have less of an environmental impact by not doing so; (2) Red Meat has more bad fat and carbs than other sources of protein so it is less healthy; (3) Except where someone can certify otherwise, a fair amount of the cows we eat live in inhumane conditions, and I don't want to contribute to cruelty to animals unnecessarily (but I would eat meat if that's all that was available because I place humans' needs above animals -- I just am fortunate to have other options. And I know that the chickens I eat are subject to the same terrible conditions-- I try to find free-range chickens where possible to alleviate that part of my concern....).

Answer 3

Ashley,

A lot of this information is put out by PETA, who would like to see everyone become a vegan.

I'm a small farmer in Idaho. I raise meat goats, and meat rabbits. Eventually as we increase the amount of land we own, we will be adding both pigs, and beef cattle.

Cattle in themselves are NOT bad for the environment. How they are RAISED can be very, very bad for the environment.

There is nothing natural about todays farming methods. They have taken cattle off farms, and put them on feed lots. Cattle in feed lots do not graze...they have feed brought to them. Medicated feed that is filled with corn.

A cows stomach should be a neutral PH. By stuffing cattle full of corn (something they would never eat in nature) we make them extremely acidic. So acidic in fact these cattle can only live a few years on this diet, before their stomachs give out, or their liver fails.

We have concentrated their manure, and managed to fill it with medication, and steroids.

The entire Governement/corn/cattle facotry farming circle is horrid, and extremely unfriendly to the environment.

Buy your red meat from a small farmer, who raises his cattle on grass....that is actually very GOOD for the environment!! The grazing of the cattle causes the growth of the grass, which in turn traps more carbon in the soil...extremely good for the environment.

If you really have a lot of interest in this subject, then I HIGHLY reccomend the book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan.

That book will tell you exactly why and how facotry farming is so very hard on our environment, and farming with old fashioned methods can be so very good for the environment. The book is well written, and enjoyable for people to read, even those who are not farmers. The book will give you so much more information than I can in a single posting, and I'm pretty darn sure you will enjoy reading it!

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 4

I think this has been asked before. You could do a search. But what the hell, I'll have a go:

1) Cows fart a lot, making methane, which contributes to "greenhouse" effect.
2) Forests are chopped down to make room for grazing, and overgrazing can turn an area into a desert. Mineral-rich topsoil is lost because there's nothing to anchor it so it's blown or washed away by wind or rain.
3) More resources for cows mean less resources for humans. Animals raised for food in the U.S. consume 90% of the soy crop, 80% of the corn crop, and 70% of its grain. That could feed a lot of people. According to the USDA, growing crops for farm animals requires nearly half of the U.S. water supply and 80% of its agricultural land.
4) Eating too much red meat can be hazardous to your health.

Answer 5

Red meat is a bit general - more specifically it's beef. When you take everything into account (land use changes for pasture, methane emissions from burps and cowpatties, etc.), livestock account for 18% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. I've got some discussions about it in the links below. Here's an article about it:

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html

Obviously if we eat less beef, there will be fewer cows raised by farmers, which will reduce those greenhouse gas emissions.

Answer 6

Eating the meat is not the source. The raising of the cattle is. It is supposed that the methane in cow gas is contributing to global warming. I think that is a load of crap...anyhow

Perhaps beef being high in saturated fat and cholesterol is a better reason to not eat it.

Answer 7

Cattle means eliminating Nature and exchanging it for pasture

A CHANGE OF DIET

You do not need to stop eating meat ,just stop eating cows ,they are very destructive .

They are not natural animals but are an invention of man.
.
Their feet and weight compact the ground and raise the salt to the surface ,
.
They change the natural pampas grasses because of their limited preferences

And they consume a lot of water ,

If not carefully managed ,they over graze and kill the grass by eating it down to the roots.

They are also expensive to raise because of disease and parasites(medicines and tick baths),as well as constant vigilance ,(extra labor)
On top of all that forests are cut down to make way for the grazing land ,

Mexico is being destroyed by tortillas and beef ,
their principal food (they hardly eat vegetables)

And now we are told over and over again that they contribute to Global Warming Although how this is determined beats me ,maybe they got fart meters

So bad cows ,but really bad people not so much the ones who raise them ,they merely respond to the market,but the ones who insist on eating them ,and those promoting the product.
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If only we could be persuaded to change our diets ,maybe make it a new fashion to eat wild life ,but managed and bred.

Wild boar,Rabbits ,Deer(many varieties), Pheasants ,Buffalo, Partridge ,Iguanas,Ducks ,Crocodile tail(delicious)vipers (double delicious)the list is endless,,can all be raised and produced with out harming the Environment under the trees using Natural Flora or Fauna with some extra food and salt licks thrown in. ,

And so turning forests into meat raising and tourist operations(controlled hunting and photography).culling the males ,

Ending up with sustainable situations with multiple benefits ,both economic and Environmental ,the meat ,the hunting ,the Eco tourism ,and the Environment as a whole.

The best example ever ,of sustainable grazing or land use for animals , which offers the maximum benefits, has never been employed ,

People are so clever .

And that was the African veld or prairies ,these places were jam packed with many hundreds of species of animals and grasses ,an immense treasure of meat ,and the food needed to sustain the production included in the landscape, with a quality and disease control build in ,(in the form of predators ).

All we needed to do ,was to protect it and cull the males for the market.

Man in his wisdom killed the animals ,changed the flora ,added cows and destroyed the place within a 100 years

This is what happened in South Africa ,Many places that once were full of wild animals are now deserted(abandoned) ranches because of desertification due to over grazing and over use of subterranean water supplies.

So when we talk about sustainability , Nature is still the master

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NOTE
The hooves of deer are pointed ,they punch holes in the ground (which is one method of reclaiming deserts ,punching holes in the ground)this forms a micro climate where one seed can sustain it self into germination by the one drop of condensation that is created by the hole,

Answer 8

RED MEAT CAN RAISE YOUR RISK FOR BREAST CANCER! NOT JOKING......I'm personally just plain scared of red meat myself, about bacteria and all that, it's the only thing that I am actually scared of besides the state of our world...I also lost 45 pounds just not eating it for a year!

Answer 9

its vegetarians trying to guilt people into stopping meat eating. they say its deforestation for grazing land(only in developing countries, everywhere else there is feed, and cattle ranching is high densiry). the other reason is their farts(methane) although this can be drastically reduced through a change in feed(once again cant really happen in developing countries). so pretty much unless you live in a developing country, its not that much worse than other types of meat. oh, another reason is transport, but all food has to be transported, vegetables often come much farther.

Answer 10

I bought into the hybrid adaptation, Now I'm a meat eating vegan.
I can run about ten miles on rice or potatoes then I have to start running on BK orMcD