Beans over beef: Cutting emissions starts at home
Beans are protein- packed and fibre-rich. And a team of researchers has found that if Americans ate the nutritional powerhouses instead of beef, the simple switch would have an immense impact on the environment.
Researchers from four universities found the substitution would reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) so drastically the U. S. “would immediately realize approximately 50 to 75 per cent of its GHG reduction targets for the year 2020,” Loma Linda University said in a statement.
Raising beef cattle results in more GHG than any other food, while growing l egumes produces one- fortieth the amount of GHG, the researchers found.
“Given the novelty, we would expect that the study will be useful in demonstrating just how much of an impact changes in food production can make and increase the utility of such options in climate- change policy,” lead researcher Helen Harwatt of Loma Linda University said.
She adds the trend toward consumption of “meat analogs” ( plant- based protein in meat-like formats) is encouraging. More than a third of Americans are putting meat alternatives such as Tofurky, veggie burgers, and vegetarian bacon and hot dogs in their shopping carts.
“Given the scale of greenhouse-gas reductions needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, are we prepared to eat beef analogs that look and taste like beef, but have a much lower climate impact?” Harwatt says. “It looks like we’ll need to do this. The scale of the reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions needed doesn’t allow us the luxury of ‘ business as usual’ eating patterns.”