When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.
Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week. If meat consumption in the developed world was cut from the current level of about 90 kilograms a year to the recommended level of 53 kilograms a year, livestock related emissions would fall by 44 percent.
“Given the projected doubling of (global) meat production by 2050, we’re going to have to cut our emissions by half just to maintain current levels,” says Nathan Pelletier, environmental scientist of Dalhousie University in Canada.
“Technical improvements are not going to get us there.”
“Food is of particular importance to a consumer’s impact because it’s a daily choice that is, at least in theory, easy to change.”