There's and easier way
In the US, dogs and cats consume about 19% ± 2% of the amount of dietary energy that humans do (203 ± 15 PJ yr-1 vs. 1051 ± 9 PJ yr-1) and 33% ± 9% of the animal-derived energy (67 ± 17 PJ yr-1 vs. 206 ± 2 PJ yr-1). They produce about 30% ± 13%, by mass, as much feces as Americans
Wetlands are responsible for a third of all the greenhouse gases emitted in the atmosphere, followed by agriculture and livestock (in general) at 25%.
It's absolutely not given that removing beef from our diet would make things much better.
Also considering the fact that billions of people have just entered the club of those who can afford eating red meat and won't stop now.
The most likely scenario is that we will slowly switch to other sources of proteins and they will replace us as meat eaters, basically making no change whatsoever in the output.
It is - the food input & land requirements are less efficient - and it’s absurd to say that eating pork or chicken instead is so miserable that people won’t abide it.
that would be great, if only more than 2.5 billion people did not eat pork for various religious or cultural restrictions.
food restrictions are among some of the most difficult habits to overcome, proven by the fact that they resisted for thousands of years.
we could also eat insects or worms, but we don't it, what makes you think that 1.8 billion Muslims would suddenly start eating pork like it's not a big deal?
In my opinion Paracelsus said it right: it's the dose that makes the poisons.
Americans who eat the most red meat per capita (a lot more than anyone else), could eat less meat in general.
How?
Simple: by making it a lot more expensive.
Between 2020 to 2022, Europeans consumed 32.4 kilos of pork, while the per capita consumption of beef was significantly lower, at 10.3 kilos in total.
How Much Beef Does the Average American Eat? The average U.S. consumer eats 25.9 kilograms (57.1 pounds) of beef per year.
For the last 60 years, U.S. meat consumption has risen steadily. In 1961, the average was 93.7 kilograms (206.5 pounds) of meat per year. By 2020, that number had risen to 126.73 kilograms (279.4 pounds) per year.
The most notable period bucking this trend of growth is from 2008 to 2013, a decrease that likely resulted from the 2008 recession.
proving that the economic angle is effective in reducing the consumption of meat in the US.
I used “other common protein sources” to avoid having to list every single alternative from fish to nuts, and I’d note that the populations for whom that’s true traditionally ate proteins which were not beef because it’s comparatively expensive: chicken, fish, legumes, nuts, cheese (still way less CO2), etc.
That’s the key thing here: we’re not asking people to eat Soylent green or extruded nutrient pellets, or to never eat beef, but simply to restore the range of foods from their own cultural tradition prior to the mid-20th century western promotion of beef as the highest status protein. My grandfather grew up eating beef twice a year (when his cousins dairy culled the herd) and it was fine - I’m sure he’s do it again if it meant his great grandchildren had a better world.
that's my point exactlt.
switching beef with pork wouldn't make a big impact, because
- it's already not the preferred source of protein anywhere
- Americans eat too much meat anyway, regardless of where it comes from.
Reduce is the most important of the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) but the western World settled on the least important, recycle, because it can be turned into a profitable business, while reduce promotes moderation, which is like swearing in a church for many Americans.
I am Italian and still eat nuts, legumes and eggs for proteins much more than meat, especially beef.
It's the culprit of the Mediterranean diet and it's shared among many other cultures that built their culinary traditions around the same ingredients. Chinese traditional food is much more similar to my own family's traditional food in center Italy than the typical US diet will ever be.
So maybe Americans should simply embrace other, better diets, instead of replacing some type of meat with some other type of meat. intensive farming of pigs it's not much better than beef
The environmental impact of pig farming is mainly driven by the spread of feces and waste to surrounding neighborhoods, polluting air and water with toxic waste particles. Waste from pig farms can carry pathogens, bacteria (often antibiotic resistant), and heavy metals that can be toxic when ingested.
The thing is, we have no reason to believe halting climate will do anything other than boost the economy. The reason for inaction despite the fact that it’ll make tons of new jobs, and remove major consumer costs and widespread reductions to health & quality of life caused by cars, is that certain specific sectors of the economy will shrink. The fossil fuel industry has spent half a century funding science deniers and consolidating their political power to prevent action on climate change or their pollution. They’re not acting on behalf of the entire economy, just their shareholders.
A simple example: beef is a solid order of magnitude worse than other common protein sources (with the possible exception of lamb in some countries). We could see huge reductions in our food-related emissions simply by eating pork or chicken instead, and almost nobody would say that’s an intolerable lifestyle hit but the beef industry isn’t going to let that happen easily because it’s bad for their revenue even if it’d mean most people save money.