10% Meat

What’s a sure fire way to create angst between environmentalists and American consumers? Suggest that everyone give up their carnivorous appetite for bacon burgers, char-broiled steaks, thick-cut pork chops, and crisp fried chicken in the name of saving the environment. Facts are facts: Raising animals and the feed to feed them, the water to water and process them, and the pollution created along the chain has a much bigger environmental impact than eating a vegan diet.

Facts are facts: Meat is a celebratory food in the history of most cultures that subsisted on so little – celebrating with meat suggests a small victory over malnutrition. Transportable animals also shaped the European expansion in the United States territories and settling of the West. The mere suggestion that meat should be abolished is a slap in the face of culture, history, and farming. It’s no wonder so few people have gotten on board that wagon train.

So, how about a different approach? It is fact that a large portion of our population is overweight or obese. We don’t need to “celebrate” a victory over lack of food. We are at a point where we should be looking to celebrate weight loss and improved health. Why not lose weight by reducing meat consumption? Data from the 1999 census shows that, on average, people in the U.S. ate 126 pounds of meat and poultry that year – or 5.5 ounces per day. A 10% reduction would still allow you to eat 5.0 ounces of meat per day or 113 pounds per year. That’s still a lot of burgers, chops, steaks, and tenderloins. And, what is a half ounce less meat anyway? 1 to 2 bites? The loss is so little it hardly seems worth arguing over.

Yet, the value of that small gesture is big. Imagine if 300 million Americans each ate 10% less meat per year. Total meat consumption would decrease by nearly 4 BILLION pounds. And, each person could lose four pounds of holiday party weight. Green house gas emissions, water consumption, and waste would decrease.

Now, if every year for four years we continued to decrease meat consumption by 10%, we would finally be consuming the recommended daily serving size of meat - 3.5 ounces. Each overweight person could lose 16 pounds. And, we would significantly reduce the impact of animal farming on the environment – all without giving up meat.

10% less meat: It’s what should be for dinner.