What is the link between eating meat and Global Warming?

At first glance, one would think that transport or the many factories are the biggest contributors of the total percentage of our greenhouse gas emissions. But in reality our meat consumption is currently the leading cause.

Indeed, when one takes into account the surface of the agricultural soils and the quantity of water used to produce the meat. But also, the massive loss of energies between the production of the product and its consumption, we can see that produce and ate animal products accounts for about half of global emission.

We will see in this report, How eating meat is it problematic for the environment causing a climate change?

First, world meat production increased five-fold from 1950 to 2000. By 2014, world production was 312 million tonnes of meat. In order to produce meat, the intensification of animal husbandry is paramount. There are more than 65 billion animals slaughtered a year to produce meat, which is equivalent to the slaughter of 2000 animals per second. Today, it is known that livestock emits 14.5% of greenhouse gases, a little more than transports. Which is totally aberrant. Our little caprices destroy our planet. The livestock sector alone produces 7.1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, or 1/7 of all greenhouse gas emissions. First, 45% of the greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to the production is to the transportation of food. Then, 39% come from the gastric problems of livestock. Finally, 10% is the result of the storage and use of slurry and 6% is caused by transport, slaughter of animals and storage.

Moreover, this massive production is not without consequence on the environment and more precisely on our forests. Large pasture areas are needed for animals to move and feed. Thus, 70% of the world agricultural area is used either for livestock grazing or for the production of cereals to feed them. Over the last forty years, nearly 800,000 km2 of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. Thus, to satisfy our meat cravings, the demand for exploitable surface is colossal. To meet this demand, man tries by all means to increase the amount of land and productivity. But at what price?

Deforestation, intensive monocultures and the use of fertilizers or the birth of GMOs whose effects on our organism are unknown in the long term.

This massive deforestation is explained by the fact that 323m2 of land is needed to produce 1kg of beef including fodder. On the contrary, only 6 to 17m2 of land is needed to produce one kilo of vegetables or starchy foods such as pasta and rice. Deorestation is not without consequence, it disrupts the water cycle and reduces biodiversity by destroying the habitat of millions of plant and animal species. In addition, soil trampled by livestock, prevents water infiltration that renders the soil unusable.

Then all those animals that will be slaughtered to produce our meat must be fed. To achieve this, the demand for cereals increases considerably. It is estimated that to produce 1kg of meat, 7kg of cereals are needed. This disproportionality worsens when it is known that the yield of animal production and its energy intake is much less than that of crop production. Indeed, 30 tons of wheat allow to feed 85 adolescents vegetarians during 1 year. For a diet totally composed of meat, the same amount of vegetables will serve to feed about 5 calves which will in turn eaten by only 1 teenager. In the end, with the same amount of vegetables, we will be able to feed 85 teenagers vegetarian facing a single adolescent who eat meat. This means that the energy input of an animal production is lower compared to that transmitted by a plant production. Thus, 70% of the agricultural area is exploited to produce meat whereas crops produce 10 to 15 times more protein than meat production.

Let us now turn to the excessive use of water in meat production. We know today that our planet does not have unlimited water resources. Yet, our over-consumption of meat requires a colossal amount of water. In fact, about 15,500 L of water is needed to produce 1 kg of meat. On the other hand, only "1800 L" are necessary to produce 1kg of products of vegetable origin like potatoes or cereals. Many factors can explain this important use of water for animal products. First, the water used