Meat is one of the favorite foods of the people in Indonesia. Regardless of age, from children to adults, it is rare for them to dislike meat-based foods. Usually, they process meat into various kinds of preparations, so now we can find meat-based foods easily. Almost on every coastal road there are always sellers of processed food made from meat, be it light or heavy food.
But, do you know that behind the delicious taste, eating meat can have a bad impact on the environment. Be it meat that comes from cows, goats, pork, chicken, or anything else. However, of the several types of meat, beef is the biggest contributor that can affect the quality of the environment.
In the FAO study, it is stated that livestock produces 14.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For example, in cows that are able to contribute methane in the air. Cows are known to produce methane in two main ways, namely through digestion and feces. In addition, cows also emit methane gas through belching and digestive gas. One cow is estimated to be able to produce 250 to 500 liters of methane gas per day. Meanwhile, quoted from CNNIndonesia, there are about 1.4 billion cows living on earth at the beginning of 2020. Therefore, scientists think that consuming beef in excess can have a bad impact on the environment.
The negative impact of eating meat on the environment
Causing Climate Change
In one of the articles of National Geographic Indonesia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (the world’s food agency) published a study which stated that beef is the largest producer of the most carbon-intensive emissions by 18%. This figure exceeds the emissions of all motorized vehicles in the world combined. If this is not addressed immediately, the amount of carbon emissions will continue to increase, so that it can accelerate climate change and have a negative impact on the quality of the surrounding environment.
Reducing Earth’s Oxygen Amount
If the consumption of meat is increasing day by day, automatically the animal husbandry area also requires a large area of land. It is not strange that now many people are cutting down trees and even burning forests that should be a source of oxygen for life but are used as animal husbandry land. In fact, what we know is that trees or forests are a source of oxygen for human life.
Triggers Cause Various Diseases
Not only has a negative impact on the environment, it turns out that consuming meat, especially beef, can cause various kinds of diseases. Thus, it can have an impact on the quality of human health. Excessive consumption of beef can cause various diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Usually people consume beef to increase body weight. However, if consumed in excess it can lead to obesity. Not only obesity, beef also contains purines that can trigger gout.
How? Still want to eat too much meat? Let’s start implementing a healthy lifestyle by regulating food intake patterns. Not only eating meat, we also have to balance it by consuming processed foods with basic ingredients from plants so that the health quality of the body and the environment is getting better.
Source: zerowaste.id , pramborsfm.com
Image by istockphoto.com
