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

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Meat Consumption per Person in the United States, 1960-2012

Source: USDA, FAO, UNPop

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Chicken

Beef

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Mutton and Goat

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/usinventoryreport.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