Which meat causes less environmental damage per pound? Beef, Swine, Poultry, Fish, etc?

Question

I know beef damages the environment with all the farmland (grain) that goes into feeding, butane gas from farts, farmland runnoff causing eutrification, transportation, etc. but I'm sure poultry causes similar problems and fishing is destroying our ocean ecosystems. I base 2/3 of my meals around meat and dread the idea of going vegetarian. What is the least environmentally-damaging meat I can eat?

Answer 1

Poultry by far.  Little impact to the environment, but the chicken are treated like absolute c**p.

Fish is probably the worst as overfishing is ridiculous.  Beef and Swine have larger mmmm  methane outputs.

Answer 2

Poultry are the most efficient at converting food (grain, grass, slugs....) to meat.

Answer 3

beef/ranching, well managed, doesn't hurt the environment, its called succession. Plants grow back, unless you have a rancher who's staying on one patch of land year around and never letting it grow, then its degrading. Nonetheless sooner or later even some of the farm grown beef is fed grains in the winter. Nonetheless you have just the grain fed beef but same thing, your feeding them grains, grasses regrow, whats the problem? if it was that much of a problem then people would be complaining about wildlife, deer, elk, antelope, moose, and wouldve been complaining yrs and yrs ago.

Birds dont need much

Fish needs decent amount of food

But its kinda called the food chain, unless there is poor human management now, its not going to matter. there isn't any issues with over harvesting of fish, look at the data, not the percentages. nonetheless the reproduction rate of fish (depending on species) is just fine.

If you want to eat something that doesn't damage the environment, why would you become a vegetation? isn't that "hurting' the environment at the source of the problem? afterall what then makes you different from that cow you eat, seeing how now you'd both be eating vegetation thats managed.

Answer 4

Who cares? Just pick the most delicious one!

Answer 5

The bigger the animal, the more combined environmental damage. Hoofs impacting on the earth. The amount they eat and poo is more. It depends on how they are farmed.

The best thing to do is buy organic meat, as you are paying for your environmental damage, in part.

Organic meat is farmed using sustainable methods and with the environments needs, what is taken out can be put back in naturally.

No need to go vegy if you support the organic farmers.

Answer 6

I would think fish that is caught wild- for regulated wild fishing, it does not hurt nature and cuts down on overpopulation. I dont want to get too detailed and talk about damaging gas fumes from the boat or anything- but I really think eating wild fish causes the least damage.

Answer 7

1 dead cow feeds more people ....

so on that hand..

BUT is the beef factory fed? or pasture based?  did it come from a farm/slaughter house near by or was shipped to you??

factory farmed ANYTHING is bad..

Pigs are intelligent as dogs..

Chickens are one of the most CRUELY raised animals of all.. and you get a lot of "waste" (bones etc) for the amount of meat...

from a health stand point you can reduce your changes of cancer by reducing your meat intake to only 20 % of your enitre diet or LESS (10%) is best...

eat FREE RANGE EGGS - ot get your own hens for laying.. like I did :)

HUNTED animals are the least environmentally harmful..

people who hunt will keep the wilderness intact so they can hunt.. (eg ducks - deer)