Eating Beef and Lamb are killing the worlds chances of carbon neutral.

  I looked at my Carbon footprint the other day and found that the biggest problem was that of eating meat a couple of days a week. Arable crops, some of which are fed to farm animals, occupy 12% of the planet’s land surface. Land for grazing occupies 26% for the production of pasture-fed meat and milk. This area, that farm animals feed upon produces just 1% of the world’s protein. This is not economically viable. The two worst culprits worldwide are sheep and cattle.  A review of evidence from over 100 studies found that when livestock are removed from the land, the abundance and diversity of almost all groups of wild animals increases. So these animals are also bad for the environment. The Knepp rewilding project in Sussex shows just how far production has to fall to permit the return of trees and other wildlife. This project generates just 54kg of meat a hectare which makes farming uneconomical.  So if I give up eating lamb and beef, which I virtually have then my Carbon footprint gets better. I still can eat pork and chicken and turkey. I also need to eat less cheese and milk based products and if we all did this then the future of the UK and the rest of the world could possibly look a little better.

https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/reports/fcrn_gnc_report.pdf



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