Want to cut down on deforestation? Eating plants saves trees

Saving trees saves the world

Our planet’s natural levels of greenhouse gases have always been tempered by trees, which evolved to feed on carbon dioxide (CO₂) and produce oxygen (O₂). Sadly, human activity has led to exponentially increased CO₂, and increasingly fewer trees to mitigate the mess. As if that weren’t dire enough, dead and dying trees release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere. So much wilderness is being destroyed that, behind the US and China, deforestation itself has become the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In other words, deforestation makes the climate crisis worse. Much, much worse.

Beef is the #1 cause of deforestation

Consumer demand for burgers and steaks accelerates deforestation at an unsustainable rate. The more beef people consume, the more trees the beef industry consumes to clear land for cattle and feed.

Global meat production has already tripled over the last fifty years, and demand continues to grow. Today, 41% of global deforestation—and 80% of Amazon deforestation—is driven entirely by beef production. Over 33% of habitable land is already relegated to animal agriculture, and an area at least the size of Switzerland is razed each year. Meanwhile, our planet isn’t getting any bigger.

Farmed animals eat... a lot

Although it is often cited as leading cause of deforestation, soy accounts for only a fraction of global deforestation when compared to beef. And, it’s worth noting that only 6% of soy is grown to produce plant-based staples like soy milk, tofu, tempeh, and edamame. Meanwhile, roughly 81% of soy is grown to feed livestock, primarily chickens, pigs, and dairy cows. If that sounds high, consider that livestock now makes up an overwhelming 60% of all mammals on our planet. That’s a lot of mouths to feed.

Food pyramid scheme

Farmed animals consume far more food than animal agriculture produces. In other words, more food goes into fattening up an animal than comes out of that animal after slaughter. Because meat production is absurdly resource-intensive, animal agriculture also costs more money than it makes. The rules of capitalism suggest the meat industry should’ve already failed time and again, but animal agriculture is continually bailed out by government subsidies. While we grow up learning about food pyramids, no one ever tells us the entire meat industry is like an inefficient and unsustainable pyramid scheme.

Methane

Though CO2 takes all the air out of the room in climate talks, methane is 86 times more potent. The #1 source of methane also happens to be the #1 cause of deforestation. Any way you slice it, beef production is a lose-lose endeavor for everyone on the planet. But, because methane from animal agriculture is absorbed back into the atmosphere in only twelve years, scientists are urging people to fight climate change in the near-term by eating responsibly today. In short, if we want to fend off climate chaos, the best place to start is by leaving meat off our plates.

Deforestation drives extinction

While ranchers and meat industry lobbyists will insist that humans have eaten animals for thousands of years, there’s never been another time in history when only 4% of surviving mammals live in their natural habitats. Today, humans and livestock raised for human consumption make up an overwhelming 96% of mammals on the planet. Due to reckless human activity, 83% of all wild animals have already vanished. 500 species of land animals went extinct over the last century, and another 500 species of land animals are in danger of going extinct within the next 20 years. More than 40,000 species total—including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians—face the same fate as the passenger pigeon, the Western black rhino, and the Tasmanian tiger. Scientists warn the Sixth Mass Extinction is not only underway, but rapidly accelerating—alongside deforestation. That’s no coincidence. For most animals, once their natural habitat is gone, chances of survival are slim.

War on wildlife

Natural predators who manage to survive habitat destruction, such as coyotes and wolves, often have little recourse but to prey on livestock instead of other wild animals. Because loss of farmed animals results in a loss of profit, the meat industry lobbies to have natural predators hunted and killed. In the US, the Department of Agriculture funds a secretive organization that wages war on wildlife. In 2020 alone, the USDA’s so-called Wildlife Services killed 433,192 animals, including 62,537 coyotes and 381 endangered gray wolves. When looking at these statistics, it becomes clear that the true cost of a steak is more than just the life of the individual steer who was killed—the meat industry claims the lives of countless wild animals, too.

Loss of biodiversity

Brazil is the world’s biggest beef producing country, and that’s not just bad news for cows. 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, and that tropical expanse is home to 1 in 10 known species. Rampant deforestation impacts 95% of animals and plants in the Amazon. 85% of these species—including the jaguar, giant armadillo, and squirrel monkey—are already endangered or at imminent risk of extinction. In other words, the most biodiverse region on our planet is also the most imperiled—thanks to global demand for beef.

Black Lungs of the Amazon

Because the vast Amazon rainforest consumes incredible amounts of CO₂ and produces so much oxygen, scientist call the region “the lungs of the planet.” Sadly, those lungs aren’t just burning—they're rotting from the inside. Brazilian government officials have been repeatedly embroiled in bribery and corruption schemes involving Brazil-based JBS, the world’s largest meat company.

While Brazil has imposed some meager limits on habitat destruction, JBS openly trafficks in illegally farmed cattle and illegal deforestation. Along with JBS, mining, illegal logging, and other shady industry practices are putting the Amazon at risk. Forestry crime has now become “the most lucrative of environmental crimes.” Activists and Indigenous peoples risk their lives to patrol and defend the rainforests they call home, but they are up against powerful, multimillion dollar opposition. The reality is that the meat industry, and the interests that protect it, are deeply corrupt. They won't stop at anything to meet their bottom line—but, together, we can say no to the industry that puts profit over the wellbeing of people, animals, and our planet.

Eat like a hero

When it comes to the future of our planet, your personal food choices matter. As we’ve all seen in recent years, as demand for plant-based options has grown, so has availability of those options. With plant-based alternatives like Beyond and Impossible burgers increasingly available at restaurant chains everywhere, you no longer have to forgo fast food to eat responsibly.

We're all in this together

World leaders may have been the ones to set the goal. But deforestation only ends when we collectively opt out of our own self-destruction. If we switch to plant-based eating, together, we’ll not only end deforestation but radically reduce emissions by virtually eliminating methane and dramatically cutting CO₂. A global plant-based future will require far less land to feed far more people—helping the fight against food inequity and world hunger.

While some of the land already cleared for beef production can be reallocated to produce crops for us, most of that land will no longer be needed for agriculture at all. Trees can be replanted and habitable land rewilded to create renewed habitat for recovering wildlife. As we enter into a new era of reforestation, rebounding wilderness will grow to absorb even more CO2, potentially averting the worst-case climate scenarios. Trees can be our most powerful allies against the climate crisis—but only if we leave them standing.

Take a stand for forests by starting your plant-based journey today.