Most of livestock emissions comes from just one animal: the cow. Cattle are responsible for vastly more emissions than chickens and pigs, in part because their digestive systems produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. From a climate-change perspective, serving roast beef at dinner is like driving 100 miles in a car. But cattle don’t just produce gas; they also take up a lot of space. In Brazil, swaths of the Amazon have been cut down to make room for cattle ranches, releasing huge amounts of trapped carbon. Brazil is hardly alone: More than a quarter of the earth’s ice-free land has been set aside for grazing.
Most scientists agree that eating less meat would help to avert a worst-case climate scenario. If all the world swore off meat, it would cut global emissions by 8 gigatons a year — the same as shutting down 2,000 coal-fired power plants. Adopting the Mediterranean diet, which includes poultry but limits red meat, would have the same impact as driving 70 fewer miles each week. The “Meatless Mondays” movement, now active in 40 countries, commits followers to going vegetarian one day a week. The effects add up: Skipping a single quarter-pound hamburger can save more than 400 gallons of water and the energy it takes to power a smartphone for 6 months. Do it every week for a year, and the greenhouse-gas savings are equivalent to biking 1,000 miles instead of driving.
Classroom discussion questions:
- How many students would support a “Meatless Monday?”
- Why is this an OM issue, and how can managers act to cut greenhouse gasses?