Vox: Americans should eat less meat, but they’re eating more and more

For most of the past decade, meat consumption in the United States was falling. In 2014, Americans ate 18 percent less beef, 10 percent less pork, and 1.4 percent less chicken than they did in 2005, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

For environmental, health, and animal welfare advocates, this was great news. Surely it meant that efforts to raise awareness about the disturbing impacts of meat production were inspiring people to cut back on hamburgers and bacon. As Paul Shapiro, vice president of Farm Animal Protection for the Humane Society of the United States, wrote in 2012, "The pressure is being felt all over, and for the first time in decades, our overconsumption of meat is beginning to get reined in." [...]

According to a recent analysis from Rabobank, a Dutch bank, consumption of meat in the United States rose by 5 percent in 2015 — the biggest increase in 40 years. And, the author notes, in the coming years per-person meat eating is expected to reach highs not seen in more than a decade. [...]

We now know that the de facto industrial model of raising livestock has had all kinds of negative impacts: It’s a major contributor to climate change, antibiotic resistance, water pollution, and air pollution. The people who raise and kill the animals often work in unjust, unhealthy conditions. Feeding the billions of animals we raise for meat with corn and soy takes up precious land and puts pressure on wildlife. And we have good evidence that high meat consumption is linked to risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some forms of cancer, and premature death. [...]

As food historian Rachel Laudan has argued, eating meat is the expression of being modern, progressive, and civilized: "Here’s the challenge of meat for those who want to persuade people to eat less. ... For many in the United States and for many, many more around the world, meat eating is not just matter of taste or the environment, it’s a foothold, it’s a stake in the rich, modern world. It’s a sign that they too can leave behind the hierarchical societies of the past and be full citizens and enjoy what we already enjoy in the United States."

read the article