Is Being a Vegetarian Better for the Environment?

People chose to be a vegetarian for all kind of the reasons. Some don't like the idea of killing animals, some think vegetarianism is a healthier diet, and some people become a vegetarian because they think being a vegetarian is better for the environment.

Our food production system, from fertilizer manufacture to food storage and packaging is responsible for one-third of our greenhouse gas emissions. Animals like cow, goat, sheep ferment food before they digest it, and this fermentation will produce methane, it is estimated that a single cow will release 100 kg of methane per year. That is almost the same as a car's greenhouse gas emission every year.

Different meats and different production systems have varying health, climate and other environmental impacts. The argument of being a vegetarian is better for the environment is base on the fact the we feed our animals with plant, then we eat the animals, therefore we use more resources and produce more greenhouse gases than if we simply eat the plants.

However, it is not that simple, from this diagram you can see that while in a kg per kg view, meats and diary production looks really bad. But the reality is that people need certain amount of calories per day to live, and when you looking from a cal per cal perspective, pork or chicken can be a better choice than broccoli.

So, is being a vegetarian better for the environment, yes, however, if your chose your choice of meat carefully, you can be just as un-harmful to the environment as a omnivore.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/vegetarian-or-omnivore-the-environmental-implications-of-diet/2014/03/10/648fdbe8-a495-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_story.html

http://www.nature.com/news/one-third-of-our-greenhouse-gas-emissions-come-from-agriculture-1.11708

http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/