Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

354 ALICE CALLAHAN, PHD, HEATHER LEONARD, MED, RDN, AND TAMBERLY POWELL, MS, RDN
Fig. 6.25. Protein Scorecard from the World Resources Institute. Source: https://www.wri.org/
resources/data-visualizations/protein-scorecard
Beef is among the most resource-intensive sources of protein. A 2014 study published
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calculated that beef production uses
28 times more land and 11 times more irrigation water than the average of dairy, poultry,
pork, and egg production. 1
It’s important to point out that sustainable animal agriculture does fill some important
roles that plants can’t. For example, much of the world’s pasture land is on steep terrain that
wouldn’t work well for growing food crops. And animal waste—in the form of manure—is
an important fertilizer, including in organic food systems. So, animal agriculture and eating
meat aren’t inherently bad for the environment, but it would probably be good for the planet
if we ate less meat, as shown in the graphic below.
Fig. 6.26. Shifting High Consumers’ Diets Can Greatly Reduce Per Person Land Use and GHG
Emissions from the World Resources Institute. Source: https://www.wri.org/resources/chartsgraphs/animal-based-foods-are-more-resource-intensive-plant-based-foods
In terms of environmental impact, making small shifts can have a significant impact.
Consider the following approaches 2 :