• CoderKat@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    They said emissions.

    Meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production, study finds

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/meat-greenhouses-gases-food-production-study

    As for the rest of what they said:

    The entire system of food production, such as the use of farming machinery, spraying of fertilizer and transportation of products, causes 17.3bn metric tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, according to the research. This enormous release of gases that fuel the climate crisis is more than double the entire emissions of the US and represents 35% of all global emissions, researchers said.

    In case you’re curious about plants, they’re actually only 29%:

    The use of cows, pigs and other animals for food, as well as livestock feed, is responsible for 57% of all food production emissions, the research found, with 29% coming from the cultivation of plant-based foods. The rest comes from other uses of land, such as for cotton or rubber. Beef alone accounts for a quarter of emissions produced by raising and growing food.

    • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What this fails to account for is that a whole lot of land that produces beef can’t produce edible vegetables. It’s not so easy as flipping a switch.