Is meat bad for the environment?
It has become popular to blame meat production for the majority of our environmental woes. While meat production does have an environmental impact, there is far more nuance to the discussion. The belief that stopping the consumption of meat will be a net benefit for the environment is patently false when examined comprehensively.
The following information is a great resource to help you understand the complexity of this issue.
Shawn Baker MD
Videos
Peter Ballerstedt
- Health Without Guilt (2019)
- Reading the Environmental Hoofprints
- We Need a Ruminant Revolution (2019)
- Ruminant Reality: Diet, Human Health and the Environment (2017)
Frank Mitloehner
- Feeding the World Without Wasting It @7mins (2019)
- Points out the fallacies in the EAT-Lancet report (2019)
- Dispels Food and Climate Change: The 2050 Challenge (2019)
- myths of livestock impact on methane & air pollution (2018)
- Reducing the Footprint of Animal Agriculture (2018)
Sara Place
- Beef Sustainability (2015)
- Setting the Record Straight on Cattle and Climate Change (2019)
- The Real Impact of Beef on the Environment: Food Lies (2019)
- Sustainable Beef Production (2019)
- Sara Place on Beef Checkoff on increasing efficiency (2019)
- How to Green the World’s Deserts and Reverse Climate Change (2013)
Savory institute
- How to Green the World’s Deserts and Reverse Climate Change (2013)
- Running Out of Time (2018)
- Agriculture: Why animals should be part of our food system
- The Story of Meat (2019)
- The Story of Dairy (2019)
- The Story of Wool (2019)
- The Story of Leather
- Climate Workshop: Positive Animal Impact; Healing soil; Regenerating Land, Reversing Climate Change (2017)
- Holistic Management & Healthy Food Systems (2014)
- Holistic Management vs. Conventional Management – side by side comparison of grazing results (2019)
- How Cows Can Save the Planet in 90 Seconds (2018)
- SAVORY INSTITUTE HOLISTIC PLANNED MANAGEMENT (2011)
NAMI
- Myth: Going Meatless One Day a Week Can Have a Significant Environmental Impact
- The Meat Industry & The Environment Part 1: The Importance of an Environmental Management System
- Myth: Livestock Raised For Meat Primarily Use Land That Could Grow
Other
Articles
Scientific Research Articles:
- 100+ Scientific Articles Defending Beef
- 20+ Scientific Articles on Grazing management and range science
- 10+ Scientific Articles on Soil science
- Sustainable livestock systems to improve human health, nutrition, and economic status
- Environmental footprints of beef cattle production in the United States
- Assessing the Role of Cattle in Sustainable Food Systems
- Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate
- Essential amino acids: master regulators of nutrition and environmental footprint?
- Energy and nutrient density of foods in relation to their carbon footprint.
- The case for Regenerative Agriculture
Other:
- It’s the Soil Biology, Stupid!
- Soil carbon saturation: Myth or reality?
- 3500+ Resources on Defending Beef Pinterest
- Is Meat an Environmental Asteroid?
- Soil Carbon saturation: Myth or Reality? (2019)
- Meat and Global Warming
- BEEF IS HEALTHIER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE THAN EVER BEFORE
- CARBON FOOTPRINT EVALUATION OF REGENERATIVE GRAZING AT WHITE OAK PASTURES
- Understanding water footprint numbers
- WTF happens to all that methane?
- Frank Mitloehner: Cattle, climate change and the methane myth
GWP (global warming potential) and Ruminant Methane
This is a compilation of some great podcasts, videos and a twitter feed mainly on GWP (global warming potential) and what this means in regards to ruminants and methane emissions. GWP accounts for the different life spans of different greenhouse gases in assessing global warming potential of these different trace gases. Methane is short lived (due to hydroxyl oxidation). So when converted to CO2 equivalents, methane (especially enteric methane) is being way over-accounted in all the discussions on climate change.
- Ruminant Methane, GWP* & Global Warming
- Farmers Unite for a Global Statement on GWP*
- Dr Michelle Cain on Twitter explaining GWP*
- Why methane should be treated differently to long-lived GHG’s – Dr. M. Cain (Oxford Martin)
- The role of ruminants on climate change mitigation. “The good and the bad”
- Facts & fiction around environmental impact of livestock – F. Mitloehner
- Methane discussion w. Frank clip Farm Journal Live Stream
- Methane – Part 3 of lecture by Dr. Frank Mitloehner (@GHGGuru) at the California Rangeland Conference
- Dr Myles Allen on Agricultural emissions and climate change at the 2019 Sustainable Food Trust Farming and Climate Change Conference
- The Methane Mistake: NZ Carbon Emissions