I love to eat cows – steaks, hamburgers, tacos – yum. I love to eat pigs – pork chops, ribs, bacon, sausage – delicious. Chickens? I love them too – all the way from their little legs and wings to their thighs and breasts – even gizzards! Salmon, trout, sturgeon, halibut? Can’t get enough of it. Every cell in my body is a ravenous carnivore. Just to put it all in perspective, I read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle while eating a juicy hamburger. Now, have I thoroughly turned off all of the vegans and vegetarians out there? Probably, and I do apologize, but this post today isn’t for you. You already know what I’m about to say and you’ve been practicing it for years. The world needs more people like you.
Today, this article is for people like me – people who love meat with every bone in their body but are open to learning more about how their consumption of it is affecting their quest to live a sustainable life.
We’re keen to refurbish our homes or call in an office clearance team, but there’s more we can do. Having a comfortable living or working space is great, but it’s essential we consider the bigger picture. Monitoring your personal meat consumption is one way you can contribute to environmental preservation while also saving a fair bit of money.
You probably know already that eating meat is more expensive than eating fruits, vegetables, beans, and other seemingly less delicious alternatives. What you might not have considered is the huge environmental impact eating all that meat creates. But how much more expensive is it and what impact does it really have on our global eco-system?
The dollars and cents of meat
When you compare all the work and resources it takes to raise a cow to maturity and get it onto your dinner plate versus what would be required of, say, a cucumber, there’s no difficulty in seeing why you’re probably used to paying about 150% more for ground beef than your typical vegetable.
An animal like a cow requires enormous amounts of space, water, grain, hormones, antibiotics, and time to reach the status of tasty and consumable. The statistic that a vegetarian requires 300 gallons of water a day to produce their daily food compared to 4,000 gallons necessary for a meat-eater is just one shocking metric.
Looking back on my last few weeks of meals, I’ve realized that I probably eat meat, in one form or another, at least once a day, often twice. This is costing me a small fortune! If I scaled back my meat consumption to just once every other day, a small and easily achievable goal, I could really save some money. A quick back-of-the-napkin calculation brings it to around $37 a month! If I were to go wholly vegetarian, I’d save closer to $50.
I could save about $600 a year by practicing vegetarianism. Ya know, I’ve been meaning to do more traveling, and two years of vegetarianism would cover the cost of a round trip ticket to almost any major airport in the world. Compelling.
Don’t get too caught up with the money. It’s highly motivational for some, but there’s another very legitimate reason to evaluate your meat consumption.
The environment and meat production
The environmental impact of large scale meat production, especially in the United States, is tremendous. When you think of the biggest changes we can make to green our world, what comes to mind? I’ve always thought of things like solar panels and wind turbines, biodiesel, recycling centers, and electric cars. No doubt, these are all important pieces of the puzzle. But recently, I learned that the biggest and most important change that I can make is to reduce my red meat consumption. It’s not a change that immediately jumps out at you. It’s not a topic you’ll likely hear about in the news, and it’s not the forefront of technology so there isn’t much of a mainstream crowd cheering it on.
Come to think of it, most of the high value sustainable changes that have to do with personal conservation and responsibility never seem to get much attention. What gives?
Anyway, looking back, you might notice that all the reasons that meat is so expensive are the same reasons that it’s so unsustainable:
An animal like a cow requires enormous amounts of space, water, grain, hormones, antibiotics, and time to reach the status of tasty and consumable.
The space required to raise enough beef to feed our incurable appetite is exponentially higher than for a comparable amount of non-meat foods. They drink water by the gallon. There doesn’t exist enough grass to feed all the cattle that feed us, so their diet must be supplemented with grain that is grown elsewhere and transported to them. You know…so on and so forth.
It’s been estimated that over half of all fossil fuels used in the US are used to raise animals and as much as 80% of our farmland is dedicated to it as well. Reducing meat consumption is more important than driving more efficient cars when it comes to energy independence. And think of what we could do with all that farmland.
This isn’t all, though. I saved the best for last. Get this – cow farts (and burps) are a leading cause of ozone depletion. The methane gas they emit in their flatulence is 20 times worse than the carbon dioxide belching out of your neighbor’s hummer. Humans produce methane gas as well, but a cow produces 800 times more of it every day. Now, judging by Jessie’s habits, I’d say the margin is much narrower, but I’ll default to the scientists this time.
Suffice it to say that our taste for meat is really wreaking some havoc on Mother Earth.
But I didn’t crawl all the way up the food chain just to…
Me either. I know. I’m not asking you to become a vegetarian. I don’t want you to become a vegan. Not if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to deprive yourself of food you love. Like I said at the very beginning, I love meat too (refer to the opening paragraph for all the types and ways).
What I want you to do is become more conscious of how much you eat, especially red meat. You may eat all kinds of meat and not even realize that you’re experiencing the law of diminishing returns. If you eat meat every day, how much are you actually enjoying it? What if you only ate it every other day? Once a week? How much more would you appreciate it if you had it less often? Big changes start with small steps. Challenge yourself to cut back a little bit and you might find it’s not so bad. You might even discover you like it when you start feeling healthier and enjoying the meat you do eat that much more. You might not even notice that the change you make is keeping Ol’ Heifer from stinkin’ up the joint. Who knows what could happen.
As for me, I’ll be taking myself up on the challenge I proposed earlier: one serving of meat every other day. It feels like a great place to start. I know that if I can meet that goal, I can cut my consumption back even more and continue doing so until I’ve made a huge change to my habit without feeling any pain.
Now get out there and eat some veggies! And remember, a clean colon is a happy colon.
Do you eat too much meat? Did you realize how big of an impact factory farming has on our environment? Do you disagree and think we should eat meat until our colons explode?
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Great post! I’d argue that fishing can be just as damaging to the environment as well. We should pay more attention to where our food comes from.
But what about dairy consumption? Raising cows obviously takes a huge amount of resources, so aren’t dairy cows an issue too?
Beth,
You’re right. When it comes to meat consumption, there are all kinds of concerns that pop up beyond what I covered in this post. I’m just a beginner on this subject, so that’s how I chose to write the article.
I imagine I’ll be going deeper as I become more experienced with the topic and readers like you can add a lot of insight as well.
Ok, so in an effort to be what we adoringly call “light green” we will challenge ourselves (begining tonight) with meat every other day… so, thank you for the info. It should be fun!
What have you found in regards to processed foods (cereals, crackers, chips, fruit snacks, breads, etc)? It seems to me that this may be of equal detriment considering the amount energy it costs to take a whole product, strip and crush it until it is no longer recognizable, mix it with chemicals and preservatives, manufacture, package and transport. It seems like a large carbon footprint, but I’d love to know what you find on this topic too!
Another positive about going vegetarian is not having to worry about things like food poisoning from undercooked meat or mad cow disease. I know that doesn’t have so much to do with going green, but it’s still something to consider!
Natalie,
Good luck to you in your challenge! I’m thrilled to have e-buddy in this quest. I actually started this new diet about 2 weeks ago and while it’s been very easy to forget and slip up due to past habits, like most changes we make, it’s gotten significantly easier with each day that passes. I hope you’ll find the same to be true. Check in once in awhile and let us know how it’s going.
As for processed foods, I have done little to no research to date on that subject but your thoughts about it make sense. In general, the less work and material you put into a product, the less impact it will have. Perhaps I should consider it for a future post.
me in millions,
After a brief encounter several years ago with simultaneous projectile fluids from both ends of me (caused by left over Chinese food) I can attest that is certainly a worthwhile benefit!
me in millions, don’t disagree with the article at all, but do you remember the issues with spinach or tomatoes or peanuts or … you get my point.
if you need additional encouragement, i would suggest you see the documentary “Food.”
Inhumane living conditions for all the animals we eat would be another big incentive for me.
Here is a good video on meat: http://meat.org
[...] presents Eat Less Meat, Fill Cow Farts and Save $600 a Year and wins the award for most entertaining [...]
[...] Tyler at Frugally Green teaches us to save $600 a year by eating less meat. [...]
[...] Tervooren presents Eat Less Meat, Kill Cow Farts, and Save 0 a Year posted at Frugally Green, saying, “How often do you eat meat? Would you eat less if you knew [...]
Ok… we’ve been eating meat every other day for a month now. Gotta say it sucked at 1st. But good news for all you fellow meat lovers. It gets easier… I promise.
Keep up the good tips Ty.
Glad to hear it’s starting to work out for you, Chris.
[...] Save the Cow Farts!!! [...]
we’ve been slowly switching from red meat to turkey meat in much of our meals – tacos, sauces, even burgers are now minus red meat. to be honest, we haven’t much noticed a difference – in fact, the food tastes better in my opinion.
but i think we cand do more, and so this will be our next step – starting in the new year, only once every other day! thanks for the nudge!
An alternative viewpoint is always good: industrial agriculture is killing the planet.
http://books.google.com/books?id=_KGWcPH41qYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
very thoughtful post! i, too, am starting on my vegetarian journey. check me out here: http://conradvisionquest.wordpress.com/
i also added you to my blog roll…
[...] YOUR DIET. Eat less meat and you pack in savings, possibly more than a William McKinley, if those bills were still in [...]
“Get this – cow farts (and burps) are a leading cause of ozone depletion. The methane gas they emit in their flatulence is 20 times worse than the carbon dioxide belching out of your neighbor’s hummer.”
Um, I think you meant to say that cow farts and (especially) burps are a leading cause of *global warming*. Stratospheric ozone depletion is caused by different chemicals (although there is some evidence that increased methane emissions could slow the rate at which the ozone layer rebuilds itself: http://discovermagazine.com/2002/nov/breakozone/).
I decided to eat “less meat” 4 years ago, that turned into eating no meat because well I don’t miss it and if i don’t miss it, it saves me money, it’s healthier, animals don’t die, well why not?
Being a vegetarian would save me a fortune and like it says, avoids the worry of food poisoning. John
Becoming a vegetarian is has so many benefits including environmental reasons, i discover the other benefits of being a vegetarian by joining Vegetarian Newbie free newsletter http://www.vegetariannewbie.com
I could never give up my sirloin steak, never!
As with most things, there are two sides to the meat story. There are factory farms(CAFOs) and there are sustainable, well-cared for, pastured, grass-fed farms. Please take some time to hear the opinion of a former vegan, and why she changed her mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oOsLOotrRw
Lierre Keith is her name, and she has written a very well researched and logical book called “The Vegetarian Myth”. I too am appalled by the conditions in factory farming(animals and vegetable monocrops), but we need to understand that sustainable farming is a completely different animal(pun intended). Please take the time to hear both sides of the story before you take action. Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgmgKyPEQ6s&NR=1
Another video with more information about the book. The quality is sort of bad, but the information is valuable.
Here’s another one that has better sound quality!
Cool video Jeff, love it!
I have been a vegetarian for a while now, as well as feeling better for myself I save over half the amount in my weekly shop.
I switched a few years back to meat and fish bought, as much as possible, from farmers who use sustainable methods. I also buy most of it straight from the farm. It is much more expensive than the stuff at the supermarket, and tastes better too. I eat less meat and dont feel guilty about the meat I eat. It is local and was raised in humane conditions by folks who take good care of their land.
[...] $37 a month. Going completely vegetarian could add up to about $600 a year according to the Frugally Green blog. And this figure does not include the added money savings you could receive from eating a [...]
love the bit about :”cow farts”…but 2o times worse than a hummer,,, you should do your research and let me know how much worse a cow fart is than my brothers….