Avoiding meat and dairy is single biggest

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Avoiding meat and dairy is single biggest

way to reduce your impact on Earth 

    Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.

      The new research, published in the journal Science, shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. Loss of wild areas to cattle farming is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife.

     The new analysis shows that while meat and dairy products provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, they use the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produce 60% of farming greenhouse gas emissions. Other recent research shows 86% of all land mammals are now livestock or humans. The scientists also found that even the lowest impact by meat and dairy products may cause much more environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and cereal growing.

(Damian Carrington. www.theguardian.com, 31.05.2018. Adaptado.)

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