Transcript What`s the Beef? - Sustainability at GW

What’s the Beef?
Confessions of a twenty-year-old
carnivore
By Andrew Beauregard
Why choose Meat?
• Americans consume the
second largest amount
of meat per capita
• Grocery lists are
something college
students control
• I need more
information to debate
my vegetarian friend
Quantifying my Impact
• Observe meat
consumption over
several weeks
• Estimate weekly and
yearly consumption
• Use Clean Metrics food
calculator to measure
emssions
Where I Stand
• I eat roughly 2 lbs. of meat per week
• The adds up 150 lbs. of meat per year
• The three main types of meat I eat are
chicken, beef and pork
• My meat consumption costs approximately
515.15 kg of CO2 equivalent
Breaking Down Emissions
• 75 lbs of chicken
– 1.81 kg CO2 per lb
• 37.5 lbs of beef
– 7.49 kg CO2 per lb
• 37.5 lbs of pork
– 2.63 kg CO2 per lb
(75*1.81)+(37.5*7.49)+
(37.5*2.63)= 515.15
What about context?
The American Carnivore
Meat Consumption per Person in the United States,
1960-2012
60
Kilograms
50
Chicken
40
Beef
30
Pork
20
Earth Policy Institute - www.earthpolicy.org
70
10
Mutton and Goat
0
1960
1970
1980
1990
Source: USDA, FAO, UNPop
2000
2010
2020
Solutions
Alternatives
Sources
• Barclay, Eliza. "A Nation Of Meat Eaters: See How It All Adds Up."
NPR. NPR, 27 June 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
• Clean Metrics (2011). Food Carbon Emission Calulator.
http://www.foodemissions.com/foodemissions/Calculator.aspx
• EPA (2013). INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND
SINKS: 1990-2011. Accessed online on Nov 10, 2013 at
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/usinventoryrepo
rt.html
• Laestadius, Linnea I., Roni A. Neff, Colleen L. Barry, and Shannon
Frattaroli. "Meat Consumption and Climate Change: The Role of
Non-governmental Organizations." Climate Change 120.1-2 (2013):
25-38.
• UNEP GEAS (2012). Growing greenhouse gas emissions due to meat
production. Accessed online on Nov 10, 2013 at
http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP-GEAS_OCT_2012.pdf