Can Your Burger Really Save the Planet?
Choosing a veggie burger won’t stop climate disaster, but here’s why you should do it anyway.
Burgers have recently become a main course on the menu of climate action. Whether it’s the Impossible Whopper, the promise of cell-based meat, or the debate over grass-fed beef, hamburgers—and how they’re made—are being served as a symbol of how we can disrupt and reduce one of our greatest impacts on the planet.
But that doesn’t mean the solution is as simple as changing what’s on your grill.
Agriculture is responsible for up to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. About half of that comes from livestock production, and the biggest culprit, by far, is beef production. Researchers say that countries like the United States will need to cut beef consumption by 90 percent to...