Red meat has a huge carbon footprint because cattle requires a large amount of land and water.

https://sph.tulane.edu/climate-and-food-environmental-impact-beef-consumption

Demand for steaks and burgers is the primary driver of Deforestation:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-beef-industry-fueling-amazon-rainforest-destruction-deforestation/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/marcel-gomes-interview

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-06-02/almost-a-billion-trees-felled-to-feed-appetite-for-brazilian-beef

If you don’t have a car and rarely eat red meat, you are doing GREAT 🙌🙌 🙌

Sure, you can drink tap water instead of plastic water. You can switch to Tea. You can travel by train. You can use Linux instead of Windows AI’s crap. Those are great ideas. But, don’t drive yourself crazy. If you are only an ordinary citizen, remember that perfect is the enemy of good.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    61·
    2 months ago

    The most important takeaway for the target group:

    “If you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint, eat less beef,” Rose advises. “You don’t have to give it up entirely, but cutting back or making substitutions can make a significant impact.”

    Any fewer beef meals you have helps. We’re also just talking beef here. If you choose pork, chicken, fish, or even game meat over beef you’re helping the climate.

    • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
      31·
      2 months ago

      It’s also important to consider that not only isn’t this about quitting entirely, it’s also specifically about beef (or other comparable meat). White meats in particular are still not good for the environment, but already like an order of magnitude better.

      It’s just that beef in particular - also a type of meat that is frankly not even that good if I’m being honest, we’re all just used to considering it the best 🤷 - is absolutely horrible for the environment.