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Loading...Americans Now Eat Less Meat – But the Rest of the World Wants More
Bad news for the meat industry, good news for the planet: Americans are eating less meat. The United States Department of Agriculture predicts that U.S. meat consumption will decline for the fifth straight year in 2012 – a decline of more than 12% since 2007. Beef, in particular, is no longer what’s for dinner in America: per capita beef consumption in the U.S. has declined nearly 25% since 1980.
Economic forces are one probable reason behind the decline. According to the USDA, U.S. prices for beef hit a record high in December 2011. The average price of ground chuck rose to $3.27 per pound that month — up from $2.70 per pound in 2007. Severe drought in the southern United States and wildfires in Texas created challenging environmental conditions for cattle last year and drastically drove up the price of livestock feed; in response many cattle farmers were forced to reduce their herds.
Consumers, still struggling to recover from a devastating recession, have responded to higher meat prices by choosing lower-priced plant-based protein alternatives at the grocery store. But falling incomes and rising food prices aren’t the only factor driving a change in the way Americans think about eating meat.
Rising public awareness of the negative impact excessive meat consumption can have on the environment — and specifically, climate change — has been shifting attitudes toward meat as well. According to WaterFootprint.org, on average, it takes 2,500 – 5,000 gallons of water to create one pound of beef — that compares to just to 244 gallons of water to create a pound of tofu. And the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology estimates that producing one pound of beef generates nearly 42 pounds of carbon dioxide — far more than most vegetable foods.
Environmental organizations have made serious efforts over the past decade to raise Americans’ awareness of meat’s negative impact on the environment, and recent initiatives focused on encouraging Americans who are not willing to adopt a fully vegetarian lifestyle to reduce the amount of meat in their diets have met with increasing success.
The Environmental Working Group offers a Meat Eaters’ Guide that uses simple graphics to show the environmental impact of meat and encourages consumers to make more eco-friendly choices. The Meatless Monday movement trumpets the health benefits of eating more meatless meals in addition to promoting ecological advantages, noting that people who skip at least meat once each week may benefit from a lower risk of cancer and heart disease.
As New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman notes, a recent survey shows that half of American adults now say they are aware of the Meatless Monday movement, and 27 percent of those who have heard of the campaign have responded positively by choosing to cut back on the amount of meat they eat.
This shift in American attitudes toward meat eating has the potential to be a hugely positive development for the global environment. People in the U.S. consume more meat than any other population in the world; one sixth of the world’s meat supply is eaten in the U.S. yearly, even though the country only holds one twentieth of the world’s population.
But the Earth’s gains from Americans’ reduced interest in steak dinners could soon be swallowed up — literally — by sharply growing consumer demand for meat elsewhere. In December, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a World Livestock Report that predicts global meat consumption will rise more than 70 percent by 2050. That prediction is based partly on projections that the world’s population may increase by as much as 35 percent by that date. But the biggest factor behind the UN FAO’s prediction of a sharp increase in global meat demand is not the projected increase in the world’s population but an increase in the amount of meat the average person in 2050 will want to consume.
As globalization has led to drastic lifestyle changes worldwide, over the past decade, people in developing countries have dramatically increased the amount of animal products they consume. In China, between 1990 and 2005, average yearly meat consumption rose from about 57 pounds per person per year to 119 pounds per person per year. Even in India, where the prevalence of Hinduism makes vegetarian diets popular — the average Indian eats roughly one tenth the amount of meat the average American does — per capita meat consumption rose to a record high in 2011.
Even as Americans make some small progress toward a less meaty, more sustainable diet, much of the rest of the world seems to be moving toward a more Americanized, less sustainable cuisine. To prevent Americans’ unsustainable food habits from spreading across the globe, people of all nations may want to consider officially adopting Meatless Mondays. And Tuesdays. And while we’re at it, why not Meatless Wednesdays, too?
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Read more: animal welfare, climate change, environmental issues, food shortages, globalization, meatless, meatless monday, real food
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+ add your ownit's ironic huh? fighting to end snuff and crush videos, all the while they make their own.
I would actually LIKE slaughterhouses to have constant video surveillance, which should be available on request over the internet.
PeTA and all the other AR organizations have shocked the world with their ‘undercover videos’, but many have been spliced with footage from third world countries where there are no animal protection laws, in order to trick people into going vegan. Many AR spies worked for months and months in order to compile 2 minutes of cruelty, but it is presented as a standard, daily occurrence. One AR group was forced to admit in court that they had the animals deliberately brutalised for the camera, and they aren’t the only ones.
What is hidden is often imagined negatively, and it is easy to exploit the emotions with horror stories. Let people see what goes on through surveillance cameras. Those who might be inclined to handle animals roughly will know they are being watched, and do a better job. If there is abuse, it’s recorded and reported, and that worker loses his job. Any person who is interested in the welfare of animals will be able to see for themselves what happens, and hopefully in most cases put their minds at rest. No animal should suffer pain or stress.
Thanks, Miss Diane. You know what is so wrong about Nigel's view of slaughterhouses? He is leaving out of the discussion all the places that treat the animals with care and do all they can to prevent the animal from suffering emotional distress and pain. Sure, these humane abattoirs are not as prevalent as the terrible factory variety, but if people like Nigel would educate themselves (like they claim WE should do) and visit them, they would see that better ways ARE out there!
ASSuming that we all get our meat and poultry from beastly factory farms is an insult to ANYONE who cares about where their meat comes from. Those of us non-vegans who are ethical go out of our way to ensure that we ONLY purchase from reputable small local farmers that care about their animals, and we look for labels that say Certified Humane, Organic, Naturally Nested, 100% Grass Fed and Free Range, No pesticides, no hormones, no de-beaking, and the list goes on. My theory is that Nigel and his band of vegenatzis don't WANT people to see the humane choices present in abattoirs...they want to keep people DUMB and UNEDUCATED and force the vegan choice on those not equipt to go meatless due to health or environmental surroundings.
I agree, Erica (and thanks for the Green Star...can't send you another one yet, though). Yes, Nigel is going down the same old worn vegan righteousness path, isn't he? I guess we shouldn't die ourselves, because geez, the morticians do their stuff behind closed doors, and HEAVEN FORBID that the M.E. do an autopsy on a murder victim to get information, that is, unless it's filmed and put out on public TV, right?
Let's see, make all operations open to the public for viewing......to HELL with privacy and respect. Fact is, most people know that animals that end up on our plates for food are slaughtered by someone.......they don't just fall over in the pasture and get themselves all packaged up. Most reputable abattoirs are available to the public if they are operating legally (have nothing to hide). Point is, who wants to watch? I know very well what goes on, but hardly want to watch it, anymore than I wanted to be awake and watch my own knee surgery, or for that matter, watch my own kids being born. Does that mean I thought the stork brought 'em here?
LOL! Lynda, your humor is priceless! And SO spot on! There's nothing like insulting others to get them to see your way, huh Nigel? You might want to place "TACT" in your word-a-day calendar.
Gee thanks Nigel. I respect you too...
I disagree with most of what Nicole (now Veronique?) has said, but do agree with part of it. A whole foods plant based diet is great, but not the only way to go and not even a way to go for many people, period. While we DO need to eat less meat and more whole grains, more fruits and veggies, I disagree about our bodies being designed as herbivores. Nope.......scientific research has proven over and over again that while some cultures were more vegetarian than others, meat consumption began back in the earliest known history (via fossils) and we've consumed dairy products far longer than 10,000 years, although maybe not from cows as we know them today, since cows as they exist today didn't exist then.
As much as some call for meat to be cut out of our diets, human greed will endure. Whatever the cost to the human in the form of heart problems, etc., the cost to the animal is unacceptable. The traditional practice of obtaining meat at source is to hide it from public view (slaughterhouse 'closed door' policy) and thereby avoid consumers witnessing the horrendous cruelty carried out by those who don't give a damn about animal welfare and ensuring the debate whether to eat meat is confined to the effects on the human alone. If we brought it out into the open the majority would instantly become vegetarians leaving only those who lack compassion for animals to put their greed before any moral thoughts.
Interesting discussion going on here but do we really need to be told constantly what we all should be doing by one generic sweeping and encompassing "solution"?
There are those who wish to give guidance for the entire populace of the planet with the directive that everyone should: "We all need to entirely cut meat out of our diets."
We? If you do not wish to eat meat, don't do it! But kindly don't speak for those of us who do eat meat, be it a few days a week, often or once a month. I will stick to meat, veggies, fruit, quinoa and look for organic sources but I will not tell someone else to eat meat if they do not wish to. Please don't expect everyone to go vegan or vegetarian either.
Thanks! We all need to entirely cut meat out of our diets.
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