On November 8th, 2016 I gave up beef. Here’s why I’m challenging you to do the same.

The 2 facts and 4 point argument I used to convince myself

I love beef. I love the first bite of a medium-rare cheese burger fresh off the grill, juices oozing. I love beef stroganoff so much I cooked it at my own birthday dinner party last year. But on November 8th, 2016 I gave up beef. And I’m asking you to do the same.

To be clear, I am not (and do not intend on becoming) a vegetarian; I still love meat and fish and giving those up is currently beyond my will-power. But I have come to the conclusion that the negative consequences of consuming beef are so large, and the costs of giving it up so low, that I now believe that eating beef is a morally dubious act akin to buying a gas-guzzling pickup truck.

It sounds like a hyperbolic comparison, but lets start with two facts and I'll build my argument from there.

1. Beef is by far the worst mainstream food product for the environment.

I bet you knew that a unit of beef was worse for the environment than an equivalent unit of chicken, pork, or turkey. Maybe you thought it was 30% worse; maybe you even thought it could even be 100% worse. But if you are anything like…