February 4, 2009 | 121 comments

How Meat Contributes to Global Warming

Producing beef for the table has a surprising environmental cost: it releases prodigious amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases

By Nathan Fiala

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CLICK TO ENLARGE + U.N. FAO, 2003

Burgers or Tofu?

Annual beef consumption per capita varies from 120 pounds in Argentina and 92 pounds in the U.S. to only a pound in the small eastern European country of Moldova; the average is about 22 pounds per person per year. The colors of the countries and the distortions of their usual shapes reflect the amount by which beef consumption per capita varies from the world average. World beef consumption per capita is growing, particularly in Asia, because of economic development: as people earn higher incomes, they purchase foods they find more desirable.

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