Why Your Cheeseburger is Melting the Polar Ice Caps

Some people choose to believe that the climate change blame is solely on the backs of big corporations and fossil fuel industries. Others may believe that climate change is simply a hoax. If you’re Donald Trump, you actually believe it’s one invented by the Chinese. But many climate change experts warn that our own habits have a much greater impact than we realize. 

 

Here’s how you can stop killing our environment and start making amends with mother nature…

 

In recent years the agribusiness industry has outrun the fossil fuel industry in carbon dioxide emissions. The University of California has found that roughly 25% of all climate change can be linked to our diets, and that’s twice as much as pollution from cars. Today, the single most effective way of fighting climate change is reducing your meat intake. I know, it’s hard to hear that your favorite Burger King Special is adding to our earth’s rising temperature. But It’s not as confusing as it sounds. 

 

Here’s how…

 

When it comes to the production of beef, cows fart and burp methane. In turn, methane gets trapped into the atmosphere, causing the earth to heat up, resulting in global warming. But how could something so minor be contributing to something so big? Well, there are around 1.5 billion cows, and imagine each one of them emitting 70 to 120kg of methane every year. Some farmers have been feeding their cows’ indigestible foods like corn to help with dairy production, but this only adds to that cow’s methane emission. 

 

According to the University of Michigan and many other sustainable research centers, per serving, it takes 0.03lbs of CO2 to produce potatoes, and 6.61lbs of CO2 to produce beef. On top of that, the land space needed for cows; think monstrously bigger than vegetables and grains. Today, due to an increase of average wealth, more and more cows are being bred every year. Meat is no longer a luxury item but rather a routinely staple in our diets. 

 

So next time….

 

When you order a steak, your favorite burger, a shepherd’s pie, or beef wellington, consider this: your personal choices are one of many that are contributing to our earth’s rising temperatures. 

Climate change is a global effort. You must take a stand, regardless of your origin, race, or creed, it’s the one issue that we all must band behind. So do your bit and be part of the solution, not the problem.

 

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Sara Bukair is an Arab-American studying at Stanford University. Apart from writing for Tempo, you can find Sara listening to musicals, watching the news, or working on her university projects.
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