• notatoad@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Food production is 35% of global greenhouse gases. Meat accounts for 60% of the emissions from food production. So yeah, if we cut global meat consumption in half it would absolutely make a dent.

    Blaming the corporations is just a convenient way of putting the responsibility on somebody else. You can’t eat beef and then blame the farmer for the emissions caused by cattle production. You can’t drive a big truck and then blame the oil companies for the emissions. You can’t fly around the world and then blame the airlines. Corporations are selling stuff to people. Their emissions look huge because they’re the aggregate emissions of millions of people.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m not blaming the farmer, I’m blaming the megacorps that have control over the food supply. I’m blaming the lobbyists and corrupt politicians who push deregulation of industry.

      I’m blaming the 1% whose hoarding has left so many people struggling, forcing them to work against their own best interest.

      I said it in another comment, but you can’t blame someone for choosing to pay rent instead of buying eco-friendly products.

    • gowan@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      There’s a study kicking around blaming the 1% for ~40% of the emissions which they determine by assigning the carbon footprint of their businesses to the individual. While Charles Koch has a bigger carbon footprint than most I don’t think it makes sense to suggest he’s responsible for all his energy company’s emissions since someone else uses that power.

      • CoderKat@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        They said emissions.

        Meat accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production, study finds

        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/meat-greenhouses-gases-food-production-study

        As for the rest of what they said:

        The entire system of food production, such as the use of farming machinery, spraying of fertilizer and transportation of products, causes 17.3bn metric tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, according to the research. This enormous release of gases that fuel the climate crisis is more than double the entire emissions of the US and represents 35% of all global emissions, researchers said.

        In case you’re curious about plants, they’re actually only 29%:

        The use of cows, pigs and other animals for food, as well as livestock feed, is responsible for 57% of all food production emissions, the research found, with 29% coming from the cultivation of plant-based foods. The rest comes from other uses of land, such as for cotton or rubber. Beef alone accounts for a quarter of emissions produced by raising and growing food.

        • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What this fails to account for is that a whole lot of land that produces beef can’t produce edible vegetables. It’s not so easy as flipping a switch.

      • gowan@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        You misread that. Meat accounts for 60% of the global emissions of food production not 60% of the total.