How to Kill the Planet One Burger at a Time (a statistical analysis)
Like most Australians/Americans/Brits — I love my meat. But I was intrigued by the numbers the clean meat industry were putting out there about its impact on the planet. I tend not to pay too much attention to climate activists, vegans and “greenies” but do pay attention to the underlying science and data.
What that data says is something quite compelling; that burgers (and meat in general) are killing the planet. And reducing our intake of meat is the single best direct impact we can have on the planet.
Here’s why.
Americans eat, on average, 3 hamburgers each week[1]. That’s 156 burgers a year per person or a total of 51 billion hamburgers nationally per year.
One hamburger (with ~150 grams of beef) has taken 2,300 litres of water, 246 sqm of land and 75kg’s of greenhouse gas emissions, to make.
But what does that mean?
Well, for every kilogram of beef we consume (that lovely Christmas Day eye fillet) it has taken enough water to shower us for six months, enough land for 3x basketball courts and the CO2 emissions from a Toronto to Mexico City road trip in a Toyota RAV4! That’s probably not a popular road trip but the maths worked!
