Eating meat creates 4 times more greenhouse gases

experts from University of Oxford they warn that eating at least 100 grams of meat a day, less than what is needed for a hamburger, creates four times more greenhouse gases compared to a vegan diet.

The new study was led by experts from the Livestock Project, who are working to understand the “health, environmental, social and economic impacts of meat and dairy production”.

“Our dietary choices have a huge impact on the planet,” said lead author Peter Scarborough, Oxford Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and researcher for the LEAP project.

Scarborough indicates that they used to get the results data from more than 38,000 farms in more than 100 countries.

“The results show that a diet rich in meat has the greatest impact on many indicators ecological including climate change and biodiversity loss. Reducing the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference,” he added.

Scientists have long been warning about the huge carbon footprint caused by humanity’s love for meat, fish and dairy products, especially beef.

According to experts, animal farming contributes to global warming due to emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and carbon from livestock and their supply chains. Apart from the deforestation that is sometimes carried out, which reduces the number of trees that absorb carbon dioxide.

For the purposes of the study, Professor Scarborough and colleagues linked the dietary data of 55,504 people with data on the environmental impact of the food they eat.

The people who filled in the questionnaire about the frequency of eating were meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans or fish eaters.

Meat eaters were divided into three categories depending on whether they had a diet rich in meat (on average consuming more than 100 g of meat per day), a diet with a medium meat diet (between 50 and 100 g) or a diet low in meat (less than 50 g).

Dietary data was linked to food-level data on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, potential loss of biodiversity and the risk of ‘eutrophication’ – an increase in nutrients in waters due to CO2, leading to fish kills.

The researchers found that the average person eats 100g of meat per day or more It creates four times more greenhouse gases than being vegan.

In addition, the researchers observed a 30 percent difference between a high-meat diet and a low-meat diet for most measures of ecological damage.