One of the most stressed recommendations for those looking to lose weight is to eat less red meat, and to eat primarily chicken and/or fish as a source of protein. The benefit of this type of diet is far greater than the impact it has on ourselves.
I am a huge animal lover and cows are my favourite animal but in large numbers they are terrible for the environment. They eat grains and grasses that are difficult to digest causing them to release methane gas through belching, and passing wind. Methane is also released from their manure. The methane cows produce collects in the atmosphere and acts as a greenhouse gas. Other large livestock produce methane as well but cattle are the worst culprits.
Cattle are also an inefficient use of land and food when we consider how much food energy they provide compared to the amount they consume during their life span. If we took the land and food we use to rear livestock and used it to feed people, the world would be fed. I am aware, of course, that surpluses in grains are burned instead of giving them to starving people - but this too can change. "80 per cent of the world’s hungry children live in countries with food surpluses which are fed to animals for consumption by the affluent http://www.viva.org.uk/guides/feedtheworld.html."
If many people eat less meat or no meat there would eventually be a decline in livestock. If there are fewer cows and other livestock, less methane would be produced. Methane as a greenhouse gas is 5 times worse than carbon dioxide. Methane created by livestock is a large contributor to global warming. According to the Worldwatch Institute, about 15 to 20 percent of global methane emissions come from livestock. John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution and Diet for a New America, says that methane is 24 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the culprit normally at the center of global warming discussions http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-cows-methane-815.html. The amount of meat we eat is excessive and should be treated as more of a luxury.
Choosing not to eat livestock is merely a sensible choice. It is not a radical idea! I would never suggest that you become an Animal Rights Activist, a member of PETA, or to chain yourself to a tree endangered by a new condo development. (Not that I would discourage those who are members of these groups, either.) It is simply better for the global population and the environment. It is easy to make the choice in your own way; you can do it loudly or quietly. Together we can make better choices for the future!
