What do meat and carbon emissions have in common? Unfortunately, a lot more than some may believe. There is a lot of attention towards the transportation sector, yet livestock emits a similar amount of greenhouse gases (Greenpeace). Green transportation is important, but why haven’t we seen the same attention towards animal agriculture? Meat lobbyists have a disturbing amount of power in the United States government. They’re blocking certain environmental solutions so large meat corporations can continue to rake in cash. The meat industry has never looked out for the environment, they’ve only looked out for their profits.
A meat alternative that is becoming increasingly popular is the Impossible Burger. Impossible Foods had come up with a way to bring beef to the American table without having to raise livestock. The Impossible Burger is entirely made from plants and tastes remarkably similar to the classic American beef patty. If one were to eat an Impossible Burger instead of a beef burger, they would use 96% less agricultural land, 86% less water, and emit 89% less greenhouse gas emissions. Not to mention, they’re putting huge efforts into decreasing their product’s price to compete with beef (Impossible Foods). Unfortunately, meat lobbyists are working against companies like Impossible to slow their growth, and they’re very good at their jobs. They helped pass state laws that prohibit vegetarian companies to use the word ‘meat’ to label and advertise their products. In Arkansas, companies can’t even advertise their products as ‘veggie burgers’ (Daniel). This shows how powerful the meat industry is. In some states, companies who produce meat-like products can’t even say they sell a ‘meat alternative’. This slows the level of interest the product may peak amongst people at the grocery store. If a non-vegetarian family isn’t eating a product like Impossible’s, they’re eating beef. 58% of people in Colorado and California have said they are unlikely to cut meat out of their diet for environmental reasons. Even if they are aware of how meat affects the planet, many people aren’t willing to give up meat. If companies like Impossible can make products that are just like meat and have competitive prices, the public would opt for the meat alternative and we can move faster with climate mitigation. The beef industry does not want this to happen since they want people to continue eating beef at current levels. The more beef a person eats, the more money the industry makes.
What’s even more appalling is that the government is putting money to produce more beef. A lawyer and animal rights advocate has said, “The meat industry has been successful at convincing the government to help it continue to sell its products to consumers. Our government is spending $80 million on beef alone to yield $400 million in extra sales each year of beef. It’s telling people to eat beef” (Roos). This profit is great for the economy, but the environment suffers. As we have seen with fossil fuels, lots of people in the United States government are willing to sacrifice the environment for people’s pocketbooks. A great economy is unquestionably important, but there is a climate crisis.
We need to take action to prevent more extreme and prevalent “natural” disasters. However, taking action with our diets is unlikely. The beef industry manipulates both Democratic and Republican political figures by putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into their campaigns. In 2018, livestock companies gave almost $280,000 to Ted Cruz alone (Roos). When money is in the mix, it is very easy to manipulate people. Lobbyist Patrick Boyle has said it for himself: “I think the ultimate objective of a lobbying organization… is to be sure that when the legislators enact bills,… our insight is part of their decision making process” (Johnson). Lobbyists aren’t even trying to hide that they want to influence politicians. When the meat industry funds political campaigns, elected officials are more likely to act in their favor. If a bill were to discuss limitations that should be placed in the meat industry, there is a very small chance it would actually pass. This is one of the reasons why the American government doesn’t focus on the meat industry when climate change and the environment comes up. The meat industry’s power is too grand to do much about it. So, there’s a lot of attention towards clean transportation and renewable energy. Other methods of limiting greenhouse gas emissions are pushed into congress because there is a chance they’ll be passed. Although it is great other aspects that contribute to climate change are being discussed, they’re missing a big piece of the puzzle. This piece is missing because meat lobbyists manipulate people with campaign money.
With their congressional power, the beef industry was able to change the USDA’s dietary guidelines. In 2015, there was a proposal to take sustainability into consideration when writing these guidelines. However, beef lobbyists got 30 Republican senators, many of whom had received money from the meat industry, to write a letter to the USDA to leave sustainability out of the recommended diet. When the 2015 dietary guidelines were published, ‘sustainability’ was nowhere to be seen (Roos). It is disturbing that meat lobbyists can halt environmental progress. They knew that if the public was more aware of how beef affects the environment, their sales could decrease. The meat industry has traded progress towards climate change mitigation, deforestation, and water use for profit.
It is important that we as environmentalists bring this issue to light. In 2014, the United States was responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet we hold less than 5% of the world’s population (Environmental Protection Agency, World Atlas). Americans hold a lot of responsibility when it comes to climate change. One big way we can battle this is to raise awareness about the work meat lobbyists do to inhibit progress. The meat industry contributes significantly in our high level of emissions. If we are to decrease our involvement in damaging the planet, attention needs to be given to how meat lobbyists manipulate American politicians. The American people need to encourage those in congress to quit being puppets for the meat industry and put laws into place to protect the planet against the meat industry.
Bibliography
Daniel, Martha. “The Shadowy Beef Lobbyist Fighting Against Plant-Based ‘Meat.’” Eater’s Digest, 11 October 2019, https://www.eater.com/2019/10/11/20909222/impossible-meat-future-war-ceo. Accessed 11 March 2021.
Environmental Protection Agency. “Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data.” EPA, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#Country. Accessed 11 March 2021.
Greenpeace. “Promoting Sustainable Food.” Greenpeace, https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/sustainable-agriculture/. Accessed 11 March 2021.
Impossible Foods. Impossible, https://impossiblefoods.com/better-prices-2021. Accessed 11 March 2021.
Johnson, Steve. “The Politics of Meat.” PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/politics/. Accessed 11 March 2021.
Roos, Olivia. “Impossible Burger on more menus, but America’s beef industry isn’t budging.” NBC News, 10 February 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/impossible-burger-more-menus-america-s-beef-industry-isn-t-n969576. Accessed 11 March 2021.
World Atlas. “Countries By Percentage Of World Population.” World Atlas, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-by-percentage-of-world-population.html. Accessed 11 March 2021.
