Is Eating Meat Bad For Climate?

Written By Teacher: Elizabeth Ward

My name is Elizabeth Ward. I am a former Early Childhood, Elementary, and English as a Foreign Language educator. I have taught third grade Science and Social Studies as well as Kindergarten in both urban and rural Oklahoma public schools. I taught online EFL to students of all ages in China for four years. I also have experience in curriculum development and content design for teachers in the physical and digital classroom. As a former teacher I have a passion for supporting teachers and making their jobs easier. I currently live in the greater Houston area with my husband and four dogs. 

The environmental impact of eating meat is a complex and relevant topic that intersects with science, ethics, and culture. Exploring this subject helps students understand the connections between food production, greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainability, fostering their ability to critically evaluate evidence and perspectives. By examining how individual choices fit into larger global systems, educators can empower students to think deeply about their role in addressing environmental challenges. Consider exploring this topic with the resources featured in SubjectToClimate’s Food and Climate Change Teacher Guide.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

All kinds of agriculture, from raising animals to growing crops, affect the climate in some way. “Food production is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions as it uses machinery, entails land conversion and animal emissions, and requires transportation and storage,” says Elodie Blanc, research scientist at the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. “Those greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.” The machines and fertilizers used on farms, and the trucks and ships that transport food, add greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere directly. Clearing forests and wetlands for farming has a more indirect effect, removing trees and soils that would otherwise store carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere.

None of this is unique to meat—but meat demands more of all these resources than crops do. Animals need to eat, so farmers must use fertilizers, machinery and land to grow feed for their animals. Animals, especially cattle, also need a lot of land. The large majority of deforestation in the Amazon region, for instance, is due to farmers clearing land for cattle ranching.

Meat also contributes to climate change in one way most plant-based foods do not: animals (especially ruminants like cows and sheep) directly release the greenhouse gas methane as they digest their food. Methane is a short-lived greenhouse gas, but it’s also a powerful one: while it persists in the atmosphere, it traps around 100 times as much heat as carbon dioxide.