According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, human diets consisting of  meat consumption cause more greenhouse gasses to spill into the atmosphere than both industrial and transportation contributions. The hidden environmental costs of food production are entwined in a dangerous and wasteful web of energy consumption. We are looking at a large build up of atmospheric greenhouse gases paired with heavy environmental costs due to transportation, refrigeration and fuel for farming, as well as methane emissions from plants and animals.

We enter into the meat industry and the amount of methane being emitted is disastrous. Cows emit between 2.5 and 4.7 ounces of methane for each pound of beef they produce. The global warming potential of methane increases 23 times and is equivalent to 6.8 pounds of CO2 per each pound of beef produced. Furthermore, the economically efficient CAFO (http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/) system is not the cleanest production method but FAO implies that the world average emissions from producing a pound of beef are several times the CAFO amount.

Solutions?

It is important to give careful thought to diet and the consequences for the planet if limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases is to be a realistic goal.