Millions of people reevaluate their eating habits every New Year after the festivities.
Many people are concerned about whether they should cut back on their meat consumption in an effort to lose some calories.
However, there is another reason to be mindful of – the environmental impact that eating meat has.
READ MORE: Why do people eat less meat?
What makes meat bad for the environment and why?
Many of the environmental effects of meat production and consumption are negative. It takes a lot of land and water.
Environmentalists have pointed this out as a reason for biodiversity loss, water degradation, and deforestation.
Cattle farming has been linked a large-scale deforestation. This involves the clearing of trees to make way for cattle grazing. Often, this is done by burning them, which releases more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
This often brutal process deforestation has been cited as a reason for human rights violations, particularly against indigenous peoples who live in the Amazon rainforest.
Environmental destruction has been exacerbated by illegal logging and aggressive landgrabbing, sometimes with the tacit consent from governments.
Some animal species are at risk of extinction due to the destruction of their natural habitats.
Food production, its been ClaimAround 25% of all global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by a single source: nitrous oxide, CO2, methane, and methane.
However, in recent years there has been a significant decrease in meat consumption in the UK. A StudyIt was revealed last year that Americans were eating 17% less meat per capita than a decade before.
However, if the UK is to meet the environmental targets set forth in the governments National Food Strategy it will be necessary to reduce meat consumption by 30% over ten years.
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