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Seeing Red Experts discuss hard balance of consumption

In the cafeteria sophomore Graham Longhofer eats a cheese burger. Cheese burgers take about 660 gallons of water to produce according to the University of London. "I Like that beef can be eaten in many different ways and that it comes from cows," he said.

By CK Knutson

Cattle are the No. 1 agricultural source of greenhouse gasses around the world.

However, if people in the U.S. were to decrease their consumption of red meat by just 25%, it would lower carbon emissions by 1%.

Red meat is any meat that has a red color when it is raw, such as cattle or lamb. These meats tend to have more of a negative effect on the environment and personal health. But being able to find the right balance of red meat consumption can be difficult.

“I wish it was as clear cut as it seems, the answer is actually pretty complex,” nutritionist Meridan Zerner said.

Although too much red meats can be harmful, they do in fact pose some benefits to your health when eaten in moderation. Iron is a nutrient vital to making hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen through the body, and is easiest absorbed through red meats.

However, overall red meat can cause serious harm to the environment. Due to the way cows process their food, their excrement produces a potent greenhouse gas—methane.

MAPS AP Environmental Science teacher Jeff Barrows provides insight on the effects of these greenhouse gasses.

“When light strikes the earth and reflects from the surface, it loses a little bit of energy, typically becoming infrared radiation,” he said.

The reflected light is then trapped by the greenhouse gasses and is emitted into the atmosphere. These molecules of greenhouse gasses act as a “ceiling” and hold this heat and energy down on the earth. These gasses have the ability to trap this energy because of the special way that they move.

“Methane produced by organisms we consume meat from is ultimately going to cause the same effect as carbon dioxide,” Barrows said.

In the U.S. if people consume red meat at the same rate, we will continue to pump methane and carbon dioxide, or CO2, into the atmosphere. Over time, this will just create a greater greenhouse gas effect.

“Large grass-eating organisms require so much energy to sustain them that they ultimately have a cumulative effect on the environment, eat more grass, produce more excrement, therefore create more methane gas,” Barrows said.

Cattle require a lot of resources and energy to raise, such as water, food and medical treatments. The energy and resource input is a lot larger than the output, meaning that they drain resources.

Small animals like chickens for example take much less energy and resources to sustain. While their excrement still does produce greenhouse gasses, it is in a much lower concentration than cows, which is why larger cattle create a greater impact.

Shannon College, a Manager of Animal Ambassador Experiences at the Dallas Zoo, explains that cattle cause more specific harm here in Texas.

“Cows are not really good for the environment we have here,” College said. “They are not designed for the climate.”

Texas has a lot of longhorn cows because they are the breed that is the most tolerant of the hot and dry climate. Longhorns usually eat sagebrush and other plants that can cause issues for Texas’ natural wildlife, but in some cases, the longhorns are being replaced by breeds that are less-suited for the Texas environment.

“A few years ago, Whole Foods actually bought property and moved out our wild mustang populations,” College said.

They took these mustangs out of their native territory, where they had previously controlled the plant populations to a sustainable level. Instead, “free range” cows were put into this environment. As a result, the cattle did not eat the same plants that the mustangs did and began to destroy their surroundings.

This environmental impact can become exponentially worse as the amount of cattle in the U.S. grows.

“The bigger concern for me when it comes to the beef industry is that our demand is not met by the supply that we have here in the U.S.,” College said.

The U.S. does not have the environmental capacity to sustain the amount of cows that people consume. To make up for the lack of red meat supply, the U.S. ends up importing a large amount of meat each year, leading to worse environmental effects from transportation and maintenance.

This huge demand for red meat has caused widespread deforestation, mainly throughout the Amazon Rainforest to make room for cattle farming.

Graphic by Sarah Small

Zerner explains that this large environmental impact isn’t the only cause for concern.

“When you look at the frequency that Americans consume red meat and the kind of red meat that they are choosing to consume, [it] is often a higher-fat cheeseburger or ribeye, a lot of heavier red meat options,” Zerner said.

Humans have a limited amount of space for saturated fats and a lot of meat that Americans frequently consume will fit into the category of saturated fats.

“There is a clear body of evidence that shows a high intake of red meat and processed meats can increase the risk for heart disease, cancer and diabetes,” Zerner said.

When considering heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends that humans eat red meat twice a week in a small proportion, preferably a leaner palm-size cut meat.

“I think our culture has made unsustainable choices more convenient to the point where it kind of makes it more difficult for you to be consciously aware and make positive changes,” College said.

Changing this issue would require a turnover that made local foods readily available and cheaper for everybody, promoting accessibility to foods other than processed red meat.

This type of accessible culture can be seen in Macedonia, where everybody eats foods that are grown on local farms because that is what is cheapest and most readily available. They do not have to pay for the cost of shipping, pesticides or other chemicals.

This kind of system could be a good development within the U.S. as it would lower greenhouse gas emissions and people would be eating healthier, less processed foods.

Overall, more sustainable farming techniques can be harnessed to ensure animals are helping the environment rather than harming it.

“Just a little less red meat benefits the individual and the planet,” Zerner said.