236
Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds
(www.theguardian.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
236 points (95.7% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
7393 readers
333 users here now
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Do you think say perhaps AI emissions are less of a luxury product than food?
As wasteful as our AI usage is it still has a function that couldn't be substituted. There's no other tool that could be used for, say, a certain subset of public health analysis or massive archival projects or image analysis.
Granted if we were using it in only those cases we'd need a fraction of the capacity. But the emissions we'd cut are much, much smaller than the savings from the meat industry. Last I checked all US datacenters (not just AI) were less than 3% of emissions. Building and running a computer isn't as disruptive as constantly moving millions of tons of meat + feed + equipment and minutae.
Commercial meat is a luxury because it can be entirely replaced by other calories + nutrients + supplements. And this is just a discussion on emissions but the other benefits of going meatless are just as notable (eg: agriculture is the #1 cause of ecosystem collapse; large public health benefits)
This is a take I've never heard before, it's not how I think luxury goods are defined, and I'm now genuinely curious as to what you consider a luxury product. Do you think that eating some chicken is the same as wearing a Hermes handbag, or driving a Lamborghini?
This reads to me like it cannot be replaced without supplementation, which seems to be a critical flaw for people who are unable to supplement. I'm also of the opinion that calories are not a useful measure for nutrition, since our bodies are not bomb calorimeters.
The problematic nutrients are B12, D and Omega-3.
Food specifically for vegans such as plant milk is usually fortified with B12 and D. Vitamin D can also be gotten by touching grass. Linseed is a good Omega-3 source.