You often hear of people going vegetarian or vegan out of concern for animal rights, or for their health, both respectable reasons to cut out meat. But today a growing number of people are shunning meat because of its impact on the planet.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently released a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow, citing livestock production as a primary contributor to global warming.

Here are 7 reasons — based on the FAO findings — why meat is anything but “green”:

1. Livestock production leaves a hefty carbon footprint, accounting for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world’s cars & SUVs combined.

   Aside from carbon dioxide, the livestock sector emits 37 percent of global methane, a greenhouse gas far worse than CO₂; and 65 percent of nitrous oxide.

2. 2.4 billion tons of livestock-induced CO₂ emissions are a result of the deforestation of over 7.4 million acres of trees cut for pastures and feedcrop land each year. This loss of forest means the destruction of billions of trees, each of which had the potential to offset around 1,400 pounds of CO₂.

   According to the FAO report, “Some 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed crops cover a large part of the remainder.”

3. 60 percent of US corn crops and 40 percent of soybeans are used as animal feed. We could be using the land and resources needed to produce these crops to grow food for human consumption. Instead, we are using it to feed farm animals, which are extremely inefficient converters of grain — Note: it takes 6 to 10 pounds of grain to produce a single pound of beef.
4. Livestock production is the #1 cause of soil erosion in the United States. Without a healthy topsoil, we can’t grow the crops that are necessary to feed people. Many civilizations throughout history have collapsed for this reason. In the United States, it is estimated that we have lost 1/3 of our topsoil in the last two centuries.
5. Meat production is heavily reliant on pesticides, which are toxic both to people and to the planet.

   “70 percent of the volume of herbicides used in agriculture can be attributed to animal feed production in the form of soybean and corn,” according to the FAO study. Of all chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in the U.S. diet, 55% are supplied by meat, while only 6% are supplied by vegetables, 4% by fruits and 1% by grains.

6. The livestock sector is the leading contributor to water pollution by Nitrogen and Phosphorous in the United States. It also makes a strong contribution to water pollution by pesticides and antibiotics (accounting for 50 percent of the volume of antibiotics consumed in the United States).
7. Animal agriculture consumes 1/3 of fossil fuels produced in the United States. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the production of one calorie of animal protein requires more than 10 times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. Fossil fuels are used heavily in the production of herbicides, fertilizers, to power machinery on the farm, and for transport between the farm and the store.

Before you next put food in your mouth, consider what it took for it to arrive on your plate. Think of the impact your meal might have had on the planet.

Never mind changing lightbulbs and shopping with a cloth bag; the best way to “go green” is to change your diet. Considering the alarming toll the meat industry imposes on the environment, you can significantly reduce your impact simply by going vegan or vegetarian.

(Or start small and join UF students who have pledged to go meatless one day a week during Meatless Mondays.)