> Poultry production is so efficient that, kilo for kilo, it has a relatively
low carbon impact – roughly on a par with olive oil and almost a 10th of that of
beef, according to the Carbon Brief website. But higher welfare standards
require more land, more heat and more feed, which mostly comes from
land-intensive soya. If we want to eat “happier” chickens, there will be an
environmental cost.<p>Not only "poultry" (which includes all farmed birds, like turkey or duck, and
not just chickens) but also pig meat production emits about 10 times fewer
greenhouse gasses than beef production (rasining cows for their meat). Even lamb
and mutton and even breeding dairy cattle emits three times fewer greenhouse
gasses than beef production:<p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food" rel="nofollow">https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food</a><p>Chicken and pig meat are way more sustainable than beef and even cow milk dairy
is, and -worldwide- we eat many times more chicken and pig meat than beef:<p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-consumption-by-type-kilograms-per-year?country=~OWID_WRL" rel="nofollow">https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-consumpti...</a><p>Meanwhile, almost 75% of greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production,
most of it from burning fossil fuels:<p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector#energy-electricity-heat-and-transport-73-2" rel="nofollow">https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector#energy-electr...</a><p>Only about 18% comes from agriculture in general, including farming, but not
only. Only about 6% is specifically from meat production, the majority of which
comes from cows and only a small portion from smaller ruminants, lambs and
goats, and other land animals, chickens and pigs.<p>The obvious conclusion to draw from this is that the most effective way there is
to reduce the impact of your dietary habbits on the environment is to stop
eating so much beef. And if you want to reduce the impact of your behaviour, in
general, on the environment, the best way is to stop wasting so much energy and
stop burning fossil fuels, for example by driving less, flying less, using
public transport, turning off the light when you don't need it, turning on the
heating and cooling only when you need it, making sure you don't overuse your
household appliances (don't put the washing machine on for a pair of socks) and
so on.<p>Good news is, you can protect the environment without giving up meat :)