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Here is more proof that we should all eat less meat. A new study shows that farmers in the U.K. alone must cut meat and dairy production by one-third if greenhouse gas emission goals are to be met.
This comes from the environmental charity WWF. Meat production is incredibly hard on the environment. In the U.K., the government incentivized farmers to feed animals grain instead of allowing them to graze on their preferred feed in the 1970s and 1980s. This was due to a grain surplus.
The “zero grazing” movement meant that animals are now fed food that they don’t prefer – grain. Eating grain causes animals to release ammonia and methane through their farts and poop and that is a harmful greenhouse gas. All of that grain takes a lot of pesticides and water to produce. It’s a vicious cycle.
Pasture-raised meat and dairy do not have a problem of this magnitude but if we are to accept that into our diets, we would have to accept less. This study was done in the U.K. but definitely applies to other countries, particularly America where meat consumption is the highest per capita of any other country.
The WWF says that food waste must also but cut in half by 2030 if we are to make any progress on environmental goals. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, industrialized nations waste 670 million tons of food per year. 670 million tons…!!!
