A few months ago, I saw an old post over at TreeHugger about the carbon footprint of a cheeseburger (since updated at Open the Future). It might have been the first time that it actually struck me that eating meat -- especially meat raised under the modern mantle of mass production -- had a relatively huge impact on the environment.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agrees. Pachauri, whose panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year, suggests people have a meat-free day each week to help tackle climate change:
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century.
'In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,' said Pachauri. 'Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,' said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian.
Here's how Jamais Cascio's original look at the data scores it:
To make it clear, then: the greenhouse gas emissions arising every year from the production and consumption of cheeseburgers is roughly the amount emitted by 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs. There are now approximately 16 million SUVs currently on the road in the US.
Want to keep your SUV? Stop eating beef. Or we could drop both from our diets and dramatically reduce carbon emissions.
