What is the Problem?

Our current diet is eating up the planet. Meat is the most inefficient way of feeding humans. In the last 50 years, the number of people on the planet has doubled, but the amount of meat we eat has tripled. Just last year, we slaughtered roughly 23 billion chickens, 1.5 billion cattle, and 1 billion pigs and sheep. Not only is this cruel, but there are also other issues in this process:

Problem 1: Climate Change 🌎
About 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are created by the meat industry, just as much as the pollution made by trucks, cars, airplanes… With a growing population and thus a growing global demand for meat, things are only going to get worse. The global demand for beef and other ruminant meats rose by 25% between 2000 and 2019, telling us that it is only projected to increase more in the future years. There are 4 main contributors to climate change in the process:

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1. Cows and other ruminant animals (like goats and sheep) emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest grasses and plants. This process is called enteric fermentation and it’s the origin of cows’ burps. Although methane is shorter-lived than carbon dioxide, it is 28 times more potent in warming the atmosphere. As a matter of fact, cattle are the №1 agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide. Each year, a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane. If you extend this to the entire cow population (~1 million), cattles are responsible for 220 trillion pounds of methane a year. 
2. Since the food we feed cows are treated with toxic chemicals and are doused in fertilizers in higher quantity than the plants can use, this leaves excess chemicals to contaminate the waterways. If it’s not being sprayed onto fields, manure is typically stored in open lagoons that are susceptible to leakages due to unintentional errors. This releases harmful substances like antibiotics, bacteria, pesticides, and heavy metals into the surrounding environment. As the manure decomposes it releases emissions including methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide which further contribute to climate change. 
3. More indirectly but also importantly, rising beef production requires increasing quantities of land. New pastureland is often created by cutting down trees, which releases carbon dioxide stored in forests. Lastly, further emissions are released during the slaughtering, processing, packaging and transporting stages.

Problem 2: Land 🏞If you go on a road trip and pass by the countryside, you might see this: 

…massive lands filled with animals. Guess what… a shocking 26% of the Earth’s ice-free land is used for livestock grazing, while another 33% of croplands are used for livestock feed production (crop cultivation). These giant pieces of land can instead be used much more efficiently if we turn them into industrial areas. This could include exploiting the space for the construction of solar farms that can help us create renewable energy and minimize the agricultural sector’s carbon footprint. This would not only help the environment, but it would also benefit cities’ development. For example, it stimulates the local economy 💰(investing into the future and saves money) and it expands renewables access to low-income residents 🏘.Problem 3: Natural Resources (water 💦 & food 🌾)Animals devour food and water every day. Then, they somehow make that water and food magically disappear. Meat and dairy production accounts for 27% of global freshwater consumption. Also, most of the food animals eat is there to keep them alive while they grow their tasty parts. Only a fraction of the eaten crops ends up in the meat we consume. For example, cows only convert about 4% of the protein and 3% of the calories into the beef we eat. The rest is lost. To put that into perspective, to create 1 kg of steak, a cow needs to eat up to 25 kg of grains and uses up to 15 000 L of water. According to projections, we could nourish an additional 3.5 billion people with the food we feed to animals.

Yes, this process of production works. But the reality is, with a projected population of 10 billion in 2050, we cannot sacrifice the environment, space, natural resources (water & food), and animals anymore. Meat consumption is like a black hole for resources. Some people say we should move towards a meat-free future, but thanks to cellular agriculture, we have a better solution.

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Question: Which of the following is NOT listed as a problem caused by the current meat industry?
A) Climate Change
B) Land Use
C) Energy Consumption
D) Depletion of Natural Resources

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