Eat less meat | Use Celsias.com - reduce global °Celsius

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Raising livestock uses valuable land and water, and emissions from cattle may be responsible for a huge 16% of greenhouse gases! Since most beef is now from grain-fed cows, rising meat consumption has contributed significantly to the current food crisis.

You can go veggie if you like, or you can just eat less meat, and save it for Sundays or special occasions.

16 comments about this action

Stuart Young

I think the importance of lower meat diets saving CO2 emissions needs to be emphasised. A recent widely reported study that did a comprehensive audit of the greenhouse gas emissions of our meals found that while becoming a localvore and reducing food miles did reduce carbon emissions, the CO2 saving was tiny when compared with the CO2 saving from cutting down on meat.

in July 2008

Patricia T.

One can lower meat consumption by preparing dishes like stirfrys, soups and other casseroles where the amount of meat required is much less than a meal of meat and three veg.

in July 2008

Jenny R.

That's a great idea Patricia. We actually make 500g of mince stretch to 6 adult servings in a shepherd's pie by adding lots of veges (carrot, swede and peas) and an extra large topping of mashed kumara (sweet potato for all you non-kiwis) or pumpkin.

in August 2008

Matthew W.

Does you have a question, solution or thought on this?
Add a comment and help others!

in August 2008

Adam M.

Good article on www.twilightearth.com about this

in September 2008

Charles M.

I was a big meat eater until I met my wife. She has been vegetarian for about 25 years and both our kids are vegetarian. I still eat some meat and fish, but far, far less than I did.

It takes approx 15 food units of input food to make 1 food unit of meat. That means 15 times as much land needs to be cleared to generate food - significant when you consider that most of the Amazonian rain forest clearing is to produce stock food sold on the international market.

The average American needs about an acre of land under grain and soy production to raise the meat that they will eat.

Every hamburger you eat per year is the equivalent of clearing about 50 sq ft of rain forest. Eating 2 per week? You're chopping down 5000 sq ft of rain forest. Well done!

in May 2009

Jeremy J.

I did one week as a full vegetarian for earth day. It was easy, so I'm expanding it now, going to try to keep the meat down too a couple of times a week.

in May 2009

Carol K.

I eat almost no meat at all. Some wild caught, un-endangered species of fish and veggies are my diet. Low on dairy also.

in May 2009

Whatever W.

I actually saw someone write, "People who eat fish aren't vegetarians," and I thought this was funny, because yeah, that is true, they aren't, but they are meat eaters. Anything that has DNA is meat to something, especially, meat to humans. Take the white part of the apple, and you don't have the meat of the fruit. Take the meat out of fish, and you don't have a fish, you have bones and skin. There is no such thing as eating something that isn't alive, even dead meat. It's still living, it's spoiling, just like vegetables. It's all meat. There is no such thing as a non-meat eater on the earth. Eating vegetables compared to meat all the time is healthy, but it doesn't mean the person is not eating a living thing. They are. Everybody is.

in December 2009

Whatever W.

Vegetarians are meat eaters, just not animal meat eaters. They eat living things. If they didn't, they'd die.

in December 2009

Cecilia D.

If anyone is interested there has been a film called "Meat the Truth" based on some Dutch research on the contribution to GHG's by livestock. http://www.meatthetruth.nl/content/view/113 The methan emissions are actually higher than previously thought.

in May 2010