It largely depends on the way the meat is produced.
You may have beef that is corn fed so you use all the energy of multiple times more corn production and transport to feed them vs. just eating the corn.
Or you may have ranched grass fed beef that eats grass in a field that required nothing other than a fence. No plowing, destroying soil with pesticides and running heavy machinery. A few hundred years ago there were 3 times more roaming bison than there are cows in the US today, so gas isn’t really an issue.
Best reason to go cut down on meat is for health reasons. And be careful of where your meat is sourced.
Correction: it is a factor of 2 not 3. See reply for source.
“With a population of 60 million in the late 18th century, the species was culled down to just 541 animals by 1889 as part of the subjugation of the Native Americans,”
Grass feed ruminants produce more CO2 than starch feed, grass fed is less than 10% in the US and they still get soy from the rain forest feed, its not exclusive.
You compare wild animals to the 90 billions that are killed each year. To give you some scale: https://xkcd.com/1338/
It largely depends on the way the meat is produced.
You may have beef that is corn fed so you use all the energy of multiple times more corn production and transport to feed them vs. just eating the corn.
Or you may have ranched grass fed beef that eats grass in a field that required nothing other than a fence. No plowing, destroying soil with pesticides and running heavy machinery. A few hundred years ago there were 3 times more roaming bison than there are cows in the US today, so gas isn’t really an issue.
Best reason to go cut down on meat is for health reasons. And be careful of where your meat is sourced.
Correction: it is a factor of 2 not 3. See reply for source.
I have my doubts that this is correct, or a very conveniently selective statistic, especially considering this
From Wikipedia
“With a population of 60 million in the late 18th century, the species was culled down to just 541 animals by 1889 as part of the subjugation of the Native Americans,”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison
From USDA
“There are 30.1 million beef cows in the United States as of Jan. 1, 2022, down 2% from last year.Jan 31, 2022”
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2022/01-31-2022.php#:~:text=There are 30.1 million beef,down 2%25 from last year.
It was a factor of 2, not 3.
Note: the dairy industry is much worse.
You should read this:
https://ourworldindata.org/less-meat-or-sustainable-meat
Conclusion: “If you want a lower-carbon diet, eating less meat is nearly always better than eating the most sustainable meat.”
Grass feed ruminants produce more CO2 than starch feed, grass fed is less than 10% in the US and they still get soy from the rain forest feed, its not exclusive.
You compare wild animals to the 90 billions that are killed each year. To give you some scale: https://xkcd.com/1338/