10 shocking statistics on meat and global warming.
1. If every American (300 million) gave up meat for 1 day a week, this would have the same positive effect on reducing greenhouse gases as saving 90 million plane tickets from New York to Los Angeles! (source: Meat the Truth documentary, see video clip) [1]
2. If every American gave up meat for 2 days of the week, this would have the same effect as replacing all household appliances like fridges, freezers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers and so on and so forth, by energy efficient ones. (source: Meat the Truth documentary)
3. If all Americans gave up meat for 3 days a week, they would save almost 300 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would have a greater impact on reducing global warming than if all cars in the US were replaced with Toyota Priuses. (source: Meat the Truth documentary)
4. Livestock production produces more greenhouse gases (18%) than all forms of transportation (cars + airplanes) combined. (source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization)
5. If the average American were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent, that would be the equivalent of switching from driving a Camry to a Prius. (source: Eshel, University of Chicago)
6. $20 trillion would be saved from the cost of fighting climate change if the global population shifted to a low-meat diet – defined as 70 grams of beef and 325 grams of chicken and eggs per week. (source: Stehfest, Climatic Change)
7. Beef production generates more than 13 times the total greenhouse gases from producing chicken. (source: Fiala, Ecological Economics, picture)
8. Animals raised for food produce 1.4 billion metric tons of manure, which is 130 times more excrement than the entire human population put together, for a total of 87,000 pounds per second.
This contributes to livestock’s total gas emissions which include 37% of all methane (20 times more powerful than CO2) and 65% of all nitrous oxide (296 times). (source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
9. 70 – 80% of deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest is occupied by farmers who use the land for livestock feed and grazing. The rainforests are a natural defense against global warming, by converting CO2 into oxygen. Brazil is the world’s 4th largest climate polluter, as 75% of greenhouse gas emissions are from deforestation (source: Mato Grosso, Greenpeace Brazil, video).
10. The impact of livestock on global warming is rapidly increasing. Annual global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tons in 2000 to 465 million tons in 2050 (source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization).
* The calculations used in the documentary “Meat the Truth” derive from and have been validated by many sources including the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN FAO and the World Watch Institute. It was produced under the consultation of many scientific institutions, which can be viewed on its website: http://www.meatthetruth.nl/en/about-the-film/meat-the-truth-sources/
