I’m new here and I love your podcast. I am trying to convince my boyfriend to go Keto. He’s avoided red meat for decades because of the environmental impact. I believe the environmental impact is only from factory farmed CAFOs?? Not sure. I’d love to see a show on this topic. Thanks for all you do!
Show idea - environment and meat
anon2571578
#2
If he’s against eating the meat from a local cow due to their farting, but is perfectly willing to eat out-of-season or veggies/fruit from out-of-country that have to be shipped from around the world in plastic, it seems a little disingenuous to state the environment as the reason. But even then, red meat isn’t required for Keto.
CarlKeller
(Carl Keller)
#3
If we worry about the environment we should stop eating sugar, the largest crop in the world, because:
Ethanol is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gasses when used and are a major contributor to air pollution and climate change. But despite some governments encouraging farmers to reduce field burning — which is done in part to protect farmworkers by removing sharp leaves and harmful animals — more than half of sugarcane croplands in Brazil continue to be burned.
We should also stop eating the second largest crop in the world, corn, because:
Scientists at the University of Minnesota attributed around 4,300 premature American deaths annually to air pollution resulting from corn production. To do so, they modeled the emission impacts of producing corn and compared them to local pollution-related deaths—and they found a striking relationship.
https://www.popsci.com/air-pollution-corn-production-premature-deaths#page-2
And how about rice, the third largest crop in the world:
At between 50 and 100 million tonnes of methane a year, rice agriculture is a big source of atmospheric methane, possibly the biggest of man-made methane sources.
http://www.ghgonline.org/methanerice.htm
And let’s quit eating anything with wheat in it because:
A 2017 study found that ammonium nitrate fertiliser accounts for 43% of all the greenhouse gas emissions in the production process of a loaf of bread.
And then there’s Roundup, the most widely used pesticide. The WHO said:
that it was “probably carcinogenic,”
and (laughably) lumped it into a category with red meat. 
The vegans are at it again
Alecmcq
(Alec)
#5
Is sugar seriously the largest crop in the world?? That’s amazing. No wonder we have an obesity and T2D epidemic. I would have guessed that rice would be, given that one third of the world lives in China and India and rice are staples there.
collaroygal
(KCKO, KCFO)
#9
Get to know Dr. Peter Ballerstedt to understand why natural grassland is better of the environment than wheat fields, etc. And get him familiar with the darker side of plants. As someone who refused to believe they could be harmful, this was very eye opening for me. I am not carnivore, but I pretty much stick to green leafy veg with some cauliflower and broccoli for variety, I do eat raspberries for fruit. I am now 3 yrs into Keto/lchf, 2 of those at or below my goal weight. I now acknowledge that while not celiac, I have a major sensitivity to grains of all sorts. I was vegetarian for 3 yrs. and they were the most unhealthy 3 years of my life, now I know why. I was basically a grainarian then. Hope he sees the light before he wreaks his health.
And get him familiar with the darker side of plants. As someone who refused to believe they could be harmful, this was very eye opening. I am not carnivore, but I pretty much stick to green leafy veg with some cauliflower and broccoli for variety, I do eat raspberries for fruit.
and
Pubgirl
#10
Thank you. I’m just trying to learn. I’ve been buying grass-fed beef and dairy products for years (since I first saw Food Inc.). I just didn’t know the science behind how every crop affects the environment, and I don’t know how the environment would be impacted if all farmers farmed properly (a la Joel Salatin).
charlie3
(charlie3)
#11
All the land on the planet that can be used to produce food for humans is probably already in use. Some of that is suitable for row crops, the rest is grazing land or pasture because it can not be cultivated for reasons like too dry, too stony, poor soil nutrients, wrong climate, etc. If all the grazing animals suddenly disappeared 100’s of millions of people would starve because the grazing and pasture land would be abandoned, not repurposed. Animal foods aren’t going anywhere. If everybody in America started eating keto or carnivore there might be a lot less farm commodities available for export which would mean less influence on other nations. May be the government want’s us to eat crap so there is more to export. That influence should not be ignored.