Eating less Meat won't save the Planet. Here's Why

Recently, it seems like cows can’t catch a break. “Our meaty diet is literally  eating up the planet.” “It’s the worst thing we eat when  it comes to global warming - Beef.” People say we need to eat  less beef to save the planet,   that cows are polluting the air with their  methane rich burps, they’re eating all our food,   drinking all our water and taking all our land  that we could be using to grow human food on! When you hear the specifics it  sounds like cows must be bad:  “To create 1Kg of steak, a cow needs  to eat up to 25kg of grain. We could   nourish an additional 3.5 billion if we  just ate the stuff we feed to animals.” “About three quarters of all the agricultural  land in the world is used for livestock.” “I found out that one quarter pound hamburger  requires over 660 gallons of water to produce.” “The livestock sector is responsible  for 15% of global man made emissions.” “Another solution to climate change is we could  stop eating animals, and it could be done today.” But are they really giving us the full story?   We’ll talk about each of these points  ... But first let’s cut to the chase: What’s the environmental impact of not  eating meat? Veganism is on the rise,   but Getting 100% of Americans to  go plant based is unrealistic,   so let’s be optimistic and say we got 10% of the  United States - 33 million people to stop eating   meat. Accounting for everything - the methane  from cow burps, the emissions from animal manure,   emissions from transporting and processing meat  and so on… What would be the actual reduction of   the United States planet warming greenhouse gases  if 33 million people went totally plant-based? To discuss this, I’m joined here  with professor of Animal Science   and Air Quality Specialist at the  UC Davis - Dr. Frank Mitloehner.   By the way, Dr. Mitloehner says of course  livestock have an environmental impact,   in fact his job is to research ways to  reduce livestock’s environmental impact. “This is reminding me of something you  said that was really surprising to me when   I first heard it - that if the entirety  of the U.S. was to go vegan for a year,   then the reduction in emissions would be like…” “The entire U.S. going vegan would be 2.6  percent.* So if everybody were to do it, 2.6%,   if one tenth of that would do it, then it  would be 0.26%. That’s not even measurable,   okay? We’re talking about changes here that are  not even measurable. And take it from a person   who measures these things. I measure methane. On  the ground, I measure it in the air, I measure   it from space. I can tell you - any change less  that 1 percent is not measurable. Not measurable.” Now hold up, how could the reduction be so  low? Well, there’s a lot we have to break down.   Let's start here. Do cows  really take all our water? “And it’s not just land resources, but water  as well. To end up with 24 hamburger patties,   it requires the amount of  water you see in this pool.” “So this big water footprint that everyone  talks about with cows and livestock,   where does that water come from?” “So the water input that people assign to  beef includes, and that’s the majority,   the so called green water. And the green water  is rain water.* That rain water would fall   on that land where the animals graze with  cattle present and without cattle present.   Now the vast majority of the water that goes into  a beef animal will go into the beef animal in the   form of feed - not in the form of water that they  drink. And guess what happens to that water a few   hours after its ingested? It’s urinated out. It’s  not staying in the animal. It stays in the animal   as long as the tea that you drank this morning  stayed into your body, or inside your body.   So that water is not all of a  sudden miraculously gone, okay.   It is going in and it’s coming out -  the vast majority of that is rain water.   So, to me, it is disingenuous to say  ‘oh look at all that water that goes   into growing cattle!’ would we say the same thing  about all the water that goes into trees to grow?” “Just one quarter pound hamburger takes  1,650 liters of water to produce.” “So, so but these people who come  up with these statistics of these   enormous amounts of water going into  beef, they’re counting rainwater,   they’re counting green water.  And that’s just not right.” …The real worry we have is overusing  our freshwater reserves for irrigation   and 70% of the world’s freshwater  reserves go to irrigating crops.   53% of the groundwater for crops  goes to rice, wheat and cotton. Sure, at 122 liters of non-green water per quarter  pound, beef uses more than say rice which is 90   liters or bread which is 55 liters.* But, think  about this: 94.5% of Californian Almonds water   usage is not green water. That’s 1097 liters per  quarter pound - almost ten times more than beef.   Think about that the next time  you’re ordering an almond milk latte. In the midst of the drought in California,  the massively irrigated almond counties are   the driest and have seen the biggest  decreases in groundwater reserves. “In Chile, the avocado thrives, but only by  drinking up the country’s scarce water resources.” Also consider that Nutritionists don’t say   “a human needs precisely two pounds  general food material per day.” We need to think about nutritional requirements  when we eat and beef is way more nutrient dense,   so yea, 122 liters used to make a  quarter pound of beef is not nothing,   but you can’t compare that to a quarter  pound of rice which uses only 90 liters   but …provides only 1/5th the protein  and much less vitamins and minerals. Also rarely mentioned is that cows also provide  highly nutrient dense organ meats like liver. I’m not saying that we should stop eating  rice or almonds to save the planet.   Everybody needs to eat, and different  people like eating different things.   Just if we’re gonna talk about water,  let’s look at the full picture. Now what about resources,  aren’t we wasting so much   food on cows that hungry people could eat instead? “In the world, take this, in the world, 84  percent of all livestock feed across all species,   84% is non-human edible. 16, one six,  sixteen percent of all feed is human edible,   but the vast majority of that goes into poultry  and pigs because they are monogastric animals,   similarly to humans, okay? The vast majority of  what we feed to ruminant livestock throughout the   world, the vast majority, well over 90%  is non-human edible. They are upcycling   nutrients and they are making available  feed that would normally be wasted.” The thing is Animal agriculture  doesn’t just take resources,   pump out meat and methane and that’s it.  Animal agriculture is part of a huge ecosystem. For example, a ton of otherwise  useless crop byproducts   produced when growing food for people can be  made use of by livestock. When you grow corn,   what do you do with the husks and the  other stuff that comes out of the ground?   You can feed it to cows. When you buy a package  of almonds, a ton of resources were used creating   things you can’t eat like millions and millions  of almond hulls. These can be fed to cattle. Just this week I went to a Japanese dairy  ranch. Plenty of soy is consumed in this   country and these cows are eating kilos  and kilos of the leftover soybean skins. Do you eat oatmeal? Well, livestock are eating  the otherwise useless oat hulls and straw.   Even things like scraps from bakeries, corn  cobs, cottonseed, brewers grains left over from   making beer and tons of other things are fed  to livestock. For every 100lb of food we make   for humans from crops, 37lbs of human inedible by  products are created. Livestock take 43.2 Billion   kilograms of stuff that we can’t eat and turn  that into edible animal foods like meat and dairy. So no, it doesn’t take 25kilograms of grain  to make 1 kilogram of beef. A 2017 paper by   Anne Mottet from the FAO took into account the  fact that we can’t eat most of what cows eat   so the number becomes just 2.8 kilograms of human  edible stuff to make 1 kilogram of beef. For pork   and chicken it’s a little higher at 3.2 kilograms  of stuff we can eat per kilogram of meat.  In any case, the obesity epidemic is not showing  that we need more general calories. Animals take   excess grain calories and turn them into a  high quality efficient source of protein.   Animal foods currently provide 48% of our  protein, but only 24% of our calories. By the way, if we want to feed  more people there’s a simpler   way to do that which I’ll talk about later. You might be thinking I’m missing the point -  if we freed up all that land the cows are using,   we could grow plenty of plant sources of  protein and healthy fruits and vegetables. “If you combined all the land in the  U.S. dedicated to raising animals,   you would get an area like this.   Now compare that to the amount of land needed  for crops we actually eat ourselves directly.” So, do cows really take all our land that  we could be using to grow food for people?   Here’s Dr. Mitloehner explaining  that without ruminants,   2/3rds of our food producing  land would actually go to waste. “Now take this, now take this. Of  all agricultural land in the world,   2.3rds of that agricultural land is what we call  marginal - meaning you cannot grow crops there.   The reason why you cannot grow crops there is it’s  too rocky, it’s too hilly, the soil is not good   enough or there’s not enough water. Marginal land.  2/3rds of all agricultural lands are marginal.   The only food producing land use for these 2/3rds  of all agricultural lands are ruminant livestock.   Only they can make use of that  land because they can eat grass,   that grass is high in cellulose, and that  cellulose they can digest, and they can convert   because they have microbes in their digestive  tract that can make that conversion. And so,   1/3rd of all agricultural land in the world,  that’s the remaining 1/3rd, is the arable land.   And the arable land is the land where we can grow  crops. So, particularly our ruminant livestock   is really unique in so far that these animals  upcycle, upcycle, non-human edible feed   into highly digestible and highly nutritious  animal source food such as beef or dairy.” So when you hear shocking soundbytes like this: “A vast majority is for agriculture,  and when you divide that up,   you see that land for grazing animals  far surpasses land for growing crops.” they’re technically right… but they don’t say Why.  The reason is mostly because you can’t just grow   whatever you want wherever you want - Just in  the United States, the soil conditions across   regions are quite different. There is a reason  California produces a huge amount of the United   States’ food - over 90% of all the walnuts,  almonds, pistachios, broccoli, strawberries,   grapes, kiwis, celery, garlic, artichoke, tomatoes  and other food comes from California with its warm   climate and good soil conditions. On the other  hand, there are tons of areas in the world where   the main thing that easily grows is grass  and other things that ruminants like cows,   sheep and goats can eat. If you don’t put  ruminants on that land, it will go to waste. Speaking of making use of our lands,  Livestock also contribute a very   valuable resource for growing fruits and  vegetables - natural fertilizer, manure. “Yea, half of all fertilizers used  in the world are animal manure.   Half of all fertilizers used are animal manure,  the other half are chemical fertilizers. And all   fertilizers going onto organic crops are  animal manure or other animal products.” So while livestock take a  little bit of grain from humans,   50% of the fertilizer that makes crops like  these grains possible come from livestock. “To make our favorite food  group even more unsustainable,   about 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused  by humans are created by the meat industry.” Lastly, yes. Globally livestock  make up 14.5% of emissions.   But this number is misleading  and mostly irrelevant. Why? “It is important to higlight that there are huge  regional differences and they have to be accounted   for because otherwise we’re going on a wrong path  to solutions… because the world average doesn’t   matter. The world average doesn’t matter. The  world average emissions don’t matter in Paraguay,   they don’t matter in the United  States, they don’t matter in Japan!   Because they are just a world average. So this  is not finger pointing here, this is not about   saying we do things right in the developed world,  they do things wrong in the developing world,   we’re not saying that at all. But, if you now  have to come up with a global average number,   then that global average number  is heavily titled towards   being high because most countries in the  world are developing countries and 80% of   all livestock emissions in the world, eight zero,  eighty percent, occur in developing countries.” “We are now announcing today, that  in 15 public schools in brooklyn,   we will be instituting meatless mondays. There  is a climate crisis and the decisions we make   have an impact on that crisis.” So when people in the United States say we  should replace animal food with more plant food,   think about the fact that crop agriculture  accounts for more emissions than livestock. Where   crop agriculture accounts for 4.7% of emissions…  livestock only accounts for 3.9% of emissions   and everyone is talking about the environmental  impact of beef, but cows are only 2% of emissions.  So even if we were to cut out livestock  in order to reduce those emissions,   you have to remember the emissions from  growing more crops for food would rise. “So let me tell you this, so if you were  a citizen in the U.S. eating beef, then   you’d be in a country that produces 18% of the  world’s beef with 6% of the world’s beef herd.*   So we have a very efficient beef production here,  and when I say efficient, I don’t mean CAFO,   I mean you can be efficient with a  grazing system, you can be efficient   with a more commercial system particularly  the beef and the dairy sector are extremely   efficient here, while we for example have  9 million dairy cows in the United States,   India has 300 million dairy animals. And they  could produce the same amount of milk as they do   currently with their 300 with 10 times fewer cows,  10 times fewer cows. Without even a major effort.” Wait, but what about methane? Yes, methane does  warm the earth much more than carbon dioxide, but   the amount of methane is of course important. When  we measure methane in carbon dioxide equivalent,   methane emissions only account for 10%  of greenhouse gas emissions in the US.   Of that 10%, only 27% is enteric  fermentation - that is methane   from livestock burps. That’s only 2.7% total -  and that’s from all livestock, not just cows. Methane from cows and other  animals is part of a natural cycle   and is much different from the carbon dioxide  coming out of cars or airplanes. Grass takes up   carbon from the air by photosynthesis, cows eat  the plant and its carbon, in the cow, that carbon   is then turned into methane - which is carbon and  four hydrogens - CH4, methane is released into the   air when the cow burps. Then in about 10 years  it’s broken down into water and carbon dioxide.   What this means is that the cow not adding new  carbon to the atmosphere. The it emits is made   out of the carbon the grass got from the air  in the first place. What this cycle means is   if you maintain the same amount of cows they  won’t add additional warming to the earth.*   And over the past 20 years, the number of cows in  the United States has mostly remained the same. On the other hand, when you rip fossil fuels  out of the ground and burn them as fuel,   you add totally new carbon dioxide to  environment every time you drive your   car or ride an airplane... and that just  builds up and stays in the atmosphere. By the way, Ruminants adding methane to the  environment is not anything new at all. A 2011   study estimated that hundreds of years ago  before Europeans settled the United States,   50 million wild bison as well as elk and deer  produced an amount of methane equal to 86%   of that of present day farmed  animals’ methane emissions. “The single biggest thing you can do is to  cut out meat by one day a week. It will save   you a ton of carbon a year and that is the  equivalent of not driving for 6 months.” “In fact, the way they describe the impact of  livestock on the environment in my opinion,   is dangerous. Why do I say it’s dangerous? I say  it’s dangerous because we know that in places like   the U.S. or Japan or many other developed  countries, by far, the most impactful   human activity on climate is the use of fossil  fuel: Oil, Coal and Gas. That’s the transportation   sector, the power sector, it’s the cement industry  and so on. These three alone produce 80% of all   gases. These three fossil fuel consuming  sectors emit 80% of all greenhouse gases.   Livestock, approximately four or  five percent. That’s not nothing,   it’s something and it needs to be  reduced. But to suggest that what you eat,   whether you eat a burger this week or not  or if you eat sushi, whatever you eat - that   that will make a difference on our climate is  irresponsible. Why? Because it is a smokescreen   deflecting off the 800 pound gorilla, some  people call it the elephant in the room.   And that is our use of fossil fuel. That is  why this discussion can be even dangerous.” “No other lifestyle choice has a farther reaching  and more profoundly positive impact on the planet   than choosing to stop consuming  animals and live a vegan lifestyle.” Speaking of methane, plenty of things  emit methane. One big source of methane is   organic matter decomposing in landfills.  What’s in the landfills? Wasted food. “This is about 6 tons of food waste.  They’ll get 30 deliveries just like this one   every single day.” When it comes to food, there is something  much more worth talking about than meat.   1/3rd of all food produced in the world  ends up wasted. The FAO says that “If   food wastage were a country, it would be the  third largest emitting country in the world.” Food gets wasted for different reasons - in  developed countries, waste happens mostly at   the retailer and consumer end. In the United  States, 40% of all food does not get eaten. Another thing in that study that calculated  the emission reduction of everyone going   plant-based didn’t take into account was  food waste. This is important, because   what is getting wasted? Meat and dairy  makes up 14% of our food waste. But the   non-animal foods make up the majority of our  food waste. Fruits and vegetables make up 42%,   cereal grains including bread and rice  make up 22% and roots and tubers like   potatoes make up 18% of our food waste meaning  non-animal foods make up 82% of our food waste. So while animal agriculture isn’t perfect, another  side effect of giving it up would probably be more   food waste. Now whether it’s meat or vegetables,  all food waste in general is a huge problem   first and foremost - all the resources that  went into making all these foods get wasted   along with the food.And animals could be  a part of the solution, because the old   bakery goods or bruised fruit and vegetables  that won’t sell could be sold to livestock. The point is if we’re going to talk about  the environmental impact of our food,   let’s be real and acknowledge  that instead of meatless Mondays,   something like …no-food-waste Wednesdays  might be a lot more worth our time. “The main issues on the environmental  front are our use of fossil fuels.   The main issues on our food side is the enormous  food waste we generate. We are not using the vast   majority of the food we use in this country  and in the world and we can do much better.”

Channel: What I've Learned

Views: 3,018,078

Rating: 4.5483394 out of 5

Keywords: what I've learned, what ive learned, what i learned, eating less meat, eating less meat won't save the planet, save the planet, global warming, climate change, cows, methane, eat less meat

Id: sGG-A80Tl5g

Length: 23min 11sec (1391 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/OK_philosopher1138]

Excellent video. But too bad many vegans are not going to listen to these facts, because they are in denial about the reality itself. They only accept facts when they fit into their own woldview. Typical for religious fanatics.

Edit: Vegans probably attack this video with ad hominem. Professor had a job related to animal agriculture, so he must be biased or something.

It's never biased if vegan sells vegan lifestyle or vegan products however. No conflict of interest at all. And all vegans are better experts in areas related to emissions of animal agriculture than actual experts of emissions related to animal agriculture, like that guy interviewed there..../s lol

[u/HelpfulBush]

I wish they'd make a Netflix documentary about this!

[u/MathCoffeeDecaf]

Woh! What I've Learned has mentioned eating meat causing environmental issues in the past! I remember him blaming them for deforestation and climate change in an earlier video he made. He actually investigated this and changed his views on it. That is pretty awesome!

I remember he had a poll for his subscribers a few months ago asking if they believed cows were causing climate change and the majority said yes. This is a pretty awesome video!

[u/greyuniwave]

Here is a 1h more in depth lecture on the same subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_RFzJ-nFLY

Frédéric Leroy: meat's become a scapegoat for vegans, politicians & the media because of bad science

[u/[deleted]]

Very cool video! I was worried it was going to be shitty as "What the Health" but he breaks down things really well. I still want to do a bit more reading, but I ended up really liking this guy. I want to check out more videos.

I was only a vegan for a short period of a few months, but was vegetarian for over 8 years. I been slowly introducing some meat over the past year.

[u/greyuniwave]

Great and intuitive info graphics on the many misconceptions around meat

https://www.sacredcow.info/helpful-resources

[u/[deleted]]

This is big. That’s a popular YouTube channel. I’m so glad they did an episode on this.

[u/RuairiMilk]

Is there really a way to know which side is right one says one thing and the other says something else it’s so hard to find the real evidence and what’s build upon lies.

[u/TomJCharles]

It's always great to see the whole "we're feeding all our grain to cows" myth debunked.