How bad is eating more meat for the environment?

On the occasion of World Vegan Day, De DiBello tried to find out the reasons behind the meat-eating habit of humans and assessed how harmful human meat-eating is to the planet.

Humans have been eating meat since prehistoric times, but the consumption of meat has steadily increased over time. In just the last fifty years, annual meat production worldwide has quadrupled to 350 million tons. There are no signs of abating in this trend. Experts estimate that by 2050, the world meat production will reach 455 million tons.

Scientists have long been concerned about human consumption of meat and the effects of its consumption on the environment. Especially on the consumption of industrially produced meat. Experts do not consider this whole process to be suitable as it requires a lot of energy, water and land for its production. For example, a study on the environmental impact of farming found that meat production causes six times more greenhouse gas emissions than pea farming, for example. 36 times more land is also used.

Experts say that avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the biggest and most important ways to reduce the negative environmental impact on our planet. Additionally, without meat and dairy consumption, global farming land use could be reduced by more than 75 percent. Also, according to World Wildlife WWF sources, 60% of global biodiversity loss is due to meat-based diet.

Despite knowing all the above-mentioned disadvantages, most of us continue to eat meat. Benjamin Butler, a social psychologist at the University of Trier in Germany, attributes this trend to long-standing habits, culture, and the belief that it is essential to the body. “I think a lot of people just enjoy the taste,” he says. “Many traditional meals revolve around specific meat dishes,” he added, adding that the habit of eating animal meat means we often don’t even question what we’re doing. According to him, “The habit of eating meat often prevents us from thinking that eating meat is actually bad.” Most of the time, this habit prevents us from thinking that eating meat is actually bad because It’s just something we do all the time.”

When we eat meat, we don’t really realize how much pain the animal must have gone through to make it into our favorite food. This is because meat appears on our plate as a dish. There is nothing on the plate that reminds us of an animal. Butler, a German social psychologist, says that when meat eaters are against vegans or vegetarians or animal welfare activists, and from a different point of view, when meat eaters listen to someone talk about this topic, they A simple logic is offered to justify his theory, “Humans have eaten meat in all ages.” Research shows that men are more likely to consider meat as an essential part of their diet. One reason is that some evolutionary misconceptions have been closely related to social attitudes. For example, hunting animals and consuming meat has been considered a sign of men’s strength and courage.

For a long time, scientists believed that the main reason our ancestors evolved into a human body shape was because they ate meat, and that a creature like Homo erectus, or an ancient human form with a small brain, could have evolved. Energy was needed for brain growth and brain development and this energy was obtained from meat and bone marrow. This hypothesis is about a period of two million years ago. A new study, however, challenges this assumption and questions the primacy or inevitability of meat consumption in human evolution.