Why going vegetarian won’t save the environment (or your city)
Has someone ever made you feel guilty for enjoying a burger?
Maybe they told you to eat a healthier alternative since all red meats have a high saturated fat content. Maybe they mentioned the carbon footprint beef leaves on the environment.
But did that make you reach for something else when a friend or family member decided to go out and grill?
Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change discussed agricultural practices and their impact on the environment. In the article, “Land is a critical resource” Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II said, “Balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and animal-sourced food produced sustainably in low greenhouse gas emission systems, present major opportunities for adaptation to and limiting climate change.”
While Roberts implies eating meat, especially beef, adds to greenhouse gas emissions, this report finds various ways to manage vulnerabilities besides eating less meat such as preventing land degradation and ensuring equitable access to food.
Taking a localized look at this issue, Fort Collins has a passion for farming with the Fort Collins and Larimer County farmers markets held throughout the year and the many farms nearby.
Some of these farms include Raisin’ Roots farm, with pesticide-free veggies; Garden Sweet Farm, where you can pick your own berries and flowers; and Sunrise Ranch a little farther away in Loveland, which has an entire page on its website dedicated to sustainability and their “holistic” look at farming. Each of these farms have Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs for people to join and receive deliveries of locally grown products offered through a subscription or membership.
This continues Fort Collins’ strong ties to agriculture. This city’s beginning happened in 1862 as a military camp on the Cache la Poudre River. After the gold rush in 1859, settlers who did not find success with mining turned to other types of work such as subsistence farming. Once the railroad made its way to Fort Collins in 1877 it became an agriculture hub and home to Colorado Agricultural & Mechanical College before being renamed Colorado State University in 1957.
Even though living in Fort Collins provides us with access to healthy and environmentally conscious options, does switching to a plant-based alternative make a difference?
This question does not have an easy answer. The overall complexity of what exactly causes climate change and how to stop it implies there is not a singular way to “save the environment.”
However, reducing the amount of meat people consume could demonstrate a more effective solution than cutting it out completely. Articles like HuffPost’s “Is the movement to eat less meat actually making a difference” has proved eating less meat can create large impacts. According to Sujatha Bergen in this article, the Natural Resources Defense Council health campaign director, “If the average American cut just a quarter pound of beef a week from their diet, about one hamburger, it would be the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road for a year.”
Yelling at others to go meatless might meet some resistance, but convincing people to gradually reduce if not completely remove meat can ultimately have a bigger impact in the end.
After all, beef is not the only food with a carbon footprint. Technically all food produces emissions, but the information from HuffPost and the NRDC, have examples showing even though chickens do not produce methane, they can create pollution and dead zones from manure, and even yogurt and cheeses have environmental costs.
If we remove beef, then the next top emission producer will simply replace it and we start this process once more. Overall, almost every aspect of our life has an environmental cost, but we must now learn how to spend it wisely.
If you plan to reach for a burger in the nearby future, do not feel guilty about supporting this aspect of agriculture, but remember Meatless Mondays could happen any day of the week if you want it to, and look for local produce to help your city and the environment.
