Clearing forest for ranches has been (and continues to be) among the most ecologically destructive activities in the history of the world, especially in tropical places where it directly replaces rainforest.

In the USA (excluding Alaska), something like 1/4 of all land area is directly used for animal grazing land, and something like 2/3 agriculture production goes to producing animal feed. These take huge amounts of water, fuel, and other resources. Beef production in particular is one of the leading causes of global climate change via CO2 emissions.

I love steaks and hamburgers as much as the next person, but we shouldn’t pretend it has a low environmental cost.