Unsustainable meat consumption New online calculator shows the effects

Now everyone can see for themselves how his meat consumption affects

Meat in Germany is as popular as ever. Every German consumes over 60 kilograms a year. For 80 million people, an unimaginably large meat mountain comes together. The big problem is that to meet this need, the climate and the environment are destroyed, antibiotic-resistant germs promoted and wasted vast amounts of water. In a new online calculator, everyone can now calculate for themselves how their personal meat consumption will have an impact within the next ten years.

Meat is a special food. It used to be eaten in exceptional cases and for celebrations. According to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in 1850 only about 15 kilos of meat per capita were consumed annually. This consumption has quadrupled with a simultaneous increase in the population. In contrast to vegetarian foods, a much greater and more resource-intensive effort must be made to produce the popular end product, because an animal must first eat and grow itself before it can be eaten.

The current consumption of meat has devastating consequences on the climate, the environment, water consumption and the formation of resistant pathogens. (Photo: Kalle Kolodziej / fotolia.com)

A new calculator shows the effects of meat consumption

According to the Federal Ministry for Renewable Resources, more than 40 percent of the grain harvest ends up in pork, beef and chicken feed troughs. Per kilogram of meat must be invested over three kilograms of vegetable feed. To cover these feed needs huge areas are needed. The EU alone cultivates around 13 million hectares of farmland in South America. Only soybeans for animal feeding are planted there. For the production of new cultivation and grazing areas huge rainforest areas were and are being cut down.

Antibiotics and mass breeding

Another problem of meat consumption: To produce the masses of meat, logically also masses of animals must be kept. For this purpose, thousands of animals are crowded together in the plants in the smallest space. A condition in which disease germs spread very quickly. To prevent this, antibiotics are administered. 75 percent of the antibiotics used in Germany thus go to the animals that land on the plate and only 25 percent to sick people. (Further information: Antibiotic slurry turns fields into breeding grounds for resistant bacteria)

Double boost of CO2 emissions

Looking at mass animal farming in terms of climate change, there is a double negative effect. On the one hand, forest areas are transformed into grasslands that can convert much less CO2, and on the other hand, the animals, especially cattle, also produce large amounts of CO2. A single cattle release about 200 liters of methane gas per day into the atmosphere. For the same amount, a small car has to cover around 18,000 kilometers.

Every kilo of meat counts less

A new and free online meat calculator of the calculator portal blitzrechner.de shows each individual person, how the personal meat consumption within the next ten years will affect and which resources must be used for it. It also calculates how much can be saved if one waives a self-selected portion of the meat. (Vb)