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Promoted Challenge!
10/01/07
davidc suggested this challenge and received
8 votes before it was promoted.
Challenge Activity
These people have all recently accepted this challenge.
08/28/08
sonyck_rayne accepted this challenge, reducing CO2 by 1 lb so far.
08/28/08
jenchick79 accepted this challenge, reducing CO2 by 1 lb so far.
08/28/08
Sparton117 accepted this challenge, reducing CO2 by 1 lb so far.
08/28/08
ua_girl_001 accepted this challenge, reducing CO2 by 1 lb so far.
08/28/08
hellochicago accepted this challenge, reducing CO2 by 1 lb so far.
Right Now, Less Cow Published on Feb 28, 2008
Challenge
Are you a meat lover? Give it a rest! Don't eat any meat for two days this week.
Individual Result
By not eating meat two days this week, you will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 13.2 lbs.
Rally Impact
3364 people have reduced CO2 emissions by 21.62 tons by completing this challenge so far. That's equal to turning off the electricity of 20 homes for about 1 month!
Challenge Details
Your doctor has asked you to eat less meat. Your wallet has asked you to eat less meat. Now your friends here at Carbonrally are asking you to eat less meat. Sounds like a conspiracy, doesn’t it? It isn’t. As always, there’s a carbon connection. It’s time you were fed the facts on meat’s place at the climate crisis table.
Again this week, the Featured Challenge comes from our Challenge Workshop. This one was suggested by davidc and has received 8 positive votes. We would also like to give credit to Kathryn for her suggestion to go whole hog (just a figure of speech) and become a vegetarian. Well done!
The Carbon Connection
Everyone’s gone meat crazy. On average, Americans eat about 200 pounds of meat every year. That’s an increase of around 50 pounds per year since 1960 and the trend shows little signs of stopping. Worldwide, meat consumption is expected to double in the next 50 years. Unfortunately, aside from the harmful effects on personal health and Earth’s natural resources, this meat pig-out carries with it a massive impact on climate change. As much as 22% of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and nearly 80% of that figure can be directly attributed to livestock production.
Livestock already uses 30% of Earth’s ice-free land either as pasture or as cropland used to grow feed for the livestock. Half of the cropland in the United States is used to feed livestock. The need for additional land for pasture is responsible for deforestation. In Latin America, more than 70% of forests have been converted to pastures for grazing livestock.
Planting, fertilizing and harvesting grain like corn to feed livestock requires a lot of energy. And, given that it takes about 7 pounds of grain to grow 1 pound of beef, we can start to see how choosing meat over veggies is far more costly in terms of energy and CO2.
And that’s not the end of it. Energy is needed to transport livestock to meat processing plants. Energy is needed at the packing plants to produce and package the meat. And then more energy is needed to transport the meat from packing plants to your grocery. Almost all of that energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the meat you eat probably isn’t coming from a farm just down the road. The United States is the world’s largest importer of beef, with most of that coming from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
When you eat less meat, you save fossil fuel and keep more greenhouse gases out of Earth’s atmosphere.
Getting It Done
Take a deep breath. Relax. We’re not asking you to become a vegetarian (although you can if you want to). We’re just asking you to try eating less meat than the average American normally does. According to a recent study by University of Chicago researchers Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, even small reductions in the amount of meat in a diet correlates to large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Still think you need help meeting this Challenge? Here are a few simple suggestions:
- Don’t starve — substitute! This Challenge isn’t asking you to stop eating for two days, but rather to just avoid eating meat for those days. There are plenty of alternatives, and cheese, eggs and milk are fair game. Don’t worry that you won’t be getting enough protein! The average American is already getting about 110 grams of protein per day, which is about twice the amount recommended by the latest version of the USDA food pyramid.
- If you’re out at a restaurant, take a closer look at the menu. Many restaurants have meatless meal choices on their menus.
- And if you’re cooking at home, you don’t need to invest in a vegetarian cookbook in order to come up with meatless dinner ideas. Get on your computer and surf on over to All Recipes.com or Vegetarian Kitchen to find ideas, tips, and recipes.
- Don’t give yourself the option: buy less meat at the grocery next week. Considering that meat is probably the most expensive item in your shopping cart, you’ll be saving big bucks and can afford to buy a nice bread from the bakery or maybe even a bottle of Chardonnay.
- Finally, don’t substitute fish for one of your meats. Many large fish, such as swordfish and tuna, are caught far from shore and are transported great distances to get to your plate. The carbon emissions associated with transporting the fish are significant enough to count the fish as a meat to be avoided.
Have you already cut down on your meat intake? How have you convinced your traditional “meat and potatoes” family members to eat less meat? Please share your thoughts, experiences, and tasty meat alternatives with your fellow hungry Rallyers in the Challenge forum section below.
Rules of the Challenge
This Challenge asks you to not eat any meat for two days in one week. Skip the breakfast sausage. Don’t have that turkey club sandwich for lunch. And have fun exploring your meatless dinner options. By not eating meat for those two days, you will reduce your CO2 emissions by 13.2 lbs for the week. This Challenge lasts for one week and is repeatable.
Learn More
New York Times: Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler
United Nations FAO: Livestock Impacts on the Environment
Humans’ Beef with Livestock: A Warmer Planet
Fighting Global Warming with Food
See the Math
We’re a bit sheepish about this, but the math for this Challenge is too involved to show here. We have based the following on the 2006 University of Chicago study:
- Doing without any meat for one full day every week results in reductions of 340 lbs CO2 per person per year. That equals 6.6 lbs CO2 per week.
- This Challenge is to do without any meat for two days this week. So we double the above number to get 13.2 lbs CO2 per week.
- For the purposes of this Challenge, we are not identifying what types of meat you are eating or what types of meat you are likely to do without during the Challenge. Eating less meat — any meat — is a good thing. However, if you have a choice, eat less beef for this Challenge. Carbon emissions associated with beef production are many times greater than that associated with pork and chicken.
- There is an assumption that enough people eating less meat will lead to a proportional decrease in carbon emissions linked to meat production.
Of course, now our stomachs are grumbling here at Rally Control. So, we’re off to get a slice of cheese pizza and an apple. What are you going to eat this week?
Save the Cow, Save the World.
Discuss Right Now, Less Cow:
Does wild Game (venison) count? Don’t have any beef in freezer, but a friend gave me quite a bit of venison. The deer was not raised for food, it ended up being food. Not that we eat a lot of venison, but that’s what is in my freezer. Just wondering.
I’m Vegitarian :D another very easy challenge. I’m glad to know that my choice of not eating meat also helps the enviorment.
Interesting! Meat = Climate.
Um. Been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for 20+ years now…
This challenge is going to be a bit hard seeing as how my family is a little meat crazy and not very supportive on this, but I’m looking forward to accomplishing it and it seems like a healthy decision as well
I’ve been meat free since 1993 (15 year). So, how much carbon have I saved? (36135 lbs.?)
My husband and I are eating very well as “almost” vegetarians. We are 62 years old. It’s never too late to do something for the planet and to reduce the terrible way we treat farm animals. I have learned that dairy is not a great choice because cows have to live their whole lives as milking machines. What other creature drinks the milk from another species? Just humans—and it is not good for our health. Good luck to all of us taking this challenge!
Since I am a vegetarian, I am going to try and work on my hubby.. (who used to be a vegetarian as well.)
I found this one really easy, so maybe I ought to ramp up my challenges.
This might be hard for me because I am a meat – lover! ): But I haven’t been having any bbqs or going to any. So that’s a good start already! Yay me. (:
Go watch Earthlings, it’ll be easy!!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1282796533661048967
I grew up vegetarian but then I got married to a meat eater. So I started eating meat. I like this vegetarian diet. Its good and I feel way better.
I like this challenge- it’s better for your body and better for the environment. Meat is expensive and the portions in which they are served in this country are just BAD for you!
i don’t consider myself a vegitarian but i eat meat less than once a week on average, in fact i don’t eat meat at home. i do eat dairy almost every day, so like some others i’m going to try eliminate that for 2 days a week
This is wonderful! I’m at my max. number of challenges at the moment but I think I’ll start anyway!!!
~Live4Life
There are so many veggie taking this challenge-does that even count? I am taking this challenge after giving it a few days of thought-although my father will make a fuss (he is Italian to the bone) I can and will take this challenge. Good luck to all!
I’m already a vegetarian! Something that might be helpful is to find vegetarian replacements for meat. For instance, they make fake chicken nuggets that are quite good.
my sister is a vegan so we have all this stuff that doesn’t have anyy meat in it so i hope she will help me with this!
I tried my best to not eat any meat for seven days but yesterday, I finally cracked and ate a hotdog!
I am not going to lie…I love meat! But I love the planet even more. I’m not going to eat ANY meat this week at all, and see how long I can stand to not have a steak :)
My family eats meat all the time. I am really trying to push my family to drastically reduce the consumption of meat. I don’t like meat that much anyway. I find this challenge easy for me. I love veggies and salads so much more anyway.
I’ve been veg for four years now, but I clicked to accept this, because last week, My best friend became a veg after clicking a link on one of my sites… to Peta.com. The videos discusted him, and it’s been 11 days since he’s even touched anything with gelatin or rennet. Yay, Peter! Also, my girlfriend turned veg about six months ago because she agreed that my eating habits weren’t difficult- and definatly not cruel. So, now, I’m just going to pass on the word to people who don’t know about it… =] I know of a few people who would do it for sure.
From the challenge: “we’re off to get a slice of cheese pizza and an apple. What are you going to eat this week?
Save the Cow, Save the World.”
If you’re eating dairy products, your carbon footprint still includes all the grain it takes to feed the livestock. And as dairy cows are still slaughtered for human consumption when their milk production is exhausted, you’re still fully participating in the system. This challenge may be a good start, but I don’t know that swapping your burger for a piece of cheese pizza will really make that much of an environmental difference—or even save a single cow.
its going to be hard for me because i love meat also because of fourth of july weekend
Wow… I’ve been a veggie for almost 6 years… I didn’t friggin realize it was THAT good for Mother earth! Yay for VEGETARIANS!! lol I cheated huh.
I love a great steak—but lately have been falling back from eating meat. I took this challenge and it was a lot easier than I thought.
Go Vegan ;)
I haven’t eaten any meat in over a week and I feel great and I bet the earth feels a little better too!
im a vegetarian and i love animals! i will never touch a piece of meat again in my life
haha i feel like i’m cheating by being a veggie :P
I took this challenge cuz i Knew it would be easy for me cuz i have been a vegetarian for 3 years! So my friends call me Veg head!
i accept this challenge. although im going to a casino tomorrow and were going to go eat at a buffet… but ill stick to my wordd (:
“but the math for this Challenge is too involved to show here” What the hell does that mean?
Already a Vegan, does that count? :)
This turned out to be quite easy—a lot of days I eat mostly non-meat without even thinking about it, so it was a matter of tailoring one meal each day at most.
I haven’t eaten any meat in the last two years, and I must say it is the best decision I’ve ever made. I’m healthier, more active, and less moody. GO VEGAN.
I signed up for this challenge, but now feel at bit weird, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 30 yrs, so it really isn’t a challenge, but just an attempt at getting more points. So to appease my guilt, feel free to contact me if you are in need of support. Good luck to all!
Vegans and vegetarians don’t count for this, you already make 0 impact! So don’t take this challenge! It would be like a guy taking a challenge to go without tampons!
I’m a vegan anyways-so no problems!!:)
This is something we really haven’t thought about too much. Well, at least I didn’t until the emails and updates on the news let me know how much all that meat really hurts Mother Earth. I love my meat but I have started to cut it back already, so this challenge shouldn’t be too hard for me AND I get to help Mother Earth, as well as myself!!!
well.. i’m broke and i’m living off ramen and PB & J right now anyway. lol..
Meat is definitaly expensive
I don’t eat much meat anyway. I guess now I have the 2 day incentive to go a bit more without eating meat. This is a good way for me to start my carbon footprint.
I accepted this challenge because I already go some days without eating meat and I figured it would be a good goal for myself. It may be a little hard though considering I live with my dad and his gf and all she ever makes for dinner is some kind of meat product. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had hamburgers and french fries, we have it like every two days and I’m not very fond of it. I usually try to just eat what’s given to me because I may come off as disrespectful to them if I don’t eat it, but I’m thinking this may be a good start to eating healthier.
Ive done the challenge and still am on a roll.
Wow those facts about meat from globalwarmingblows really freaked me out, im not a veggitarian but im trying to cut my meaty meals back to 2 per week
I already don’t eat beef or pork… I haven’t had meat in over a week now.. I don’t eat much already, but.. I’ll try to eat even less!
I peeps! hey i already am a vegetarian and here are some facts that i hope ya’lls find helpful, just to add on. 1) meat packaging and the factories that butcher the meat contribute to 18% of green house gasses. 2) meat often has been injected with antibiotics which are unhealthy to you, me and the earth. 3) red meat has been known to cause over 15 deadly diseases. 4) 1 hamburger can often contain cow poo and meat from almost 50 other cows 5) chickens are often slaughtered in a very violent manner. first, their beaks are cut off. then, they are dumped into an electric bath alive, then if they survive that, the y go through a second one. if the are still alive, they are butchered alive. thanks for listening!
I think I can doo this. I hope.
This is a great summer challege – I’m down for eating more grilled veggies and pastas and less moo. This may help me become the vegetarian I always wanted to be!
Frankly it was natural to accept this challenge for me because I’m lazy in the kitchen—-for some reason, I find it much easier to prepare vegeterian food than meat. So I already eat meat less than four days a week on average.
wow this is so cool. i didnt realize how much cows contribute to carbon waste. now i am going vegetarian!
something else- it said fish is just as bad as cow b/c it has to be shipped far. if i live on the coast, does that mean it doesnt have to be shipped?
This will be an easy challenge! I’ve been a vegetarian for about 6 months now, so maybe somebody else in my family will join me for at least two days!
I am a mostly vegetarian.. I only eat meat like once a week and then it’s only like a slice of turkey on a sandwich but I’m taking this anyway…
I used to be a veggie after working as a butcher’s assistant one summer. That lasted 3 years. This week I decided to go “mostly veggie” again for health reasons. Now I can count the pounds of carbon as I count the pounds of fat. sweet.
I’ve been a vegetarian for about 15 years, so this should be a piece of cake (make mine chocolate, thanks)! :)
i guess this should be easy for me, considering the fact that I have been vegan for almost 7 months
I’m all ready vegitarian, i’m glad some people are at least doing SOMETHING!!!!!
I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life. This should be easy! Yay!
I accepted this Challenge!!
I’ve been a vegetarian since early February anyways (and all my friends think i’m crazy, lol) so I really don’t have a problem with this. Some people might consider it even cheating, haha. =D
This is so awesome!! I absolutely love this challenge bc it’s simple(kind of) yet does so much good to the earth. Even though there’s still quite a bit of summer yet, i plan on sharing this at school. Thanks!!
I was a veggie for a while but then I started up again so I have no idea how I am gonna do!
i’ve been a vegitarian for two months now. so it’s alreay done
I’ve been a strict vegetarian for over three years. so this challenge was pretty hard not to do for me.
i’m a veggie already :]
Oh my gosh, this challenge is going to be sooo hard for me, I love eating meat and often times I’ll just stop for fast food while I’m out running around. I know this is horrible for the environment so I’m going to try to cut back!
im already a vegetarian, but had no idea that it was saving energy!
I already don’t eat red meat, but i’m willing to give up all meat for 2 days! I never realized my eatting meat caused any harm to the earth.
this challange seems a little hard but i think i can do it. I used to be a vegintarian but i stopped bc of all the fast food resturants out there
this challange seems a little hard but i think i can do it. I used to be a vegintarian but i stopped bc of all the fast food resturants out there
I’m already a vegan, so this is easy.
Already a vegetarian, but okay. :)
RIGHT NOW LESS COW SAVE THE WORLD FOR A BETTER PLACE
GO GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EAT LESS MEAT EAT LESS MEAT, PROTEST EVERYONE!!!
i will try my best!!!
Wow! I am new here to this site and I have to say I never thought that by me consuming meat I was hurting the earth! Thanking for taking off my blindfold. I am so up for this challenge!!
And if anyone wants to give me some advice about the challenges that you be wonderfull! Peace, SamiDee
Hi Aintezbeinggreen,
Thanks for the comment and raising a valid point about this particular challenge. There are two reasons we published this challenge. We wanted folks to be aware of the energy and CO2 associated with consuming meat even a few times a week. We also hope that by reducing demand for meat products through many people taking this challenge, we’ll eventually reduce meat production. Certainly it is valid to say that there is a lag when this CO2 reduction would occur.
We’ll look into the implications of your idea on the Carbonrally scoring system, and potentially make some tweaks that will make this more clear. Thanks for thefeedback and please keep it coming!
This one puzzles me – we can’t make individual claims for C02 reduction until there is a measurable, correlated reduction in meat production. I know we need to start somewhere and the health benefits are clear but lets be a little more upfront about which challenges have direct, immediate benefits (ie. don’t idle your car) and which one require a substantial group effort like this one.
wow… yea i’m a born vegghead so this should be simple
Even for those of us who love chicken, fish and beef, giving it up for only 2 days a week seems easy enough.
This is easy for me. Most of the meat we eat is what we hunt; caribou, moose, salmon. The Nature Conservancy does not count game you obtained yourself as contributing to the carbon footprint you leave. Not to mention these meats are more healthy for you. However it will be easy to forgo storebought meat for a month.
I turned vegetarian 50 days ago and i intend to keep it that way.
i rarely eat meat, and when i do, i make an effort to only consume local free range chicken/turkey or wild caught Alaskan salmon.
i have had one bite of beef in my life. it’s not something i feel that i need to have—protein from plants is more healthy, and more satisfying!
i will pledge to cut these items out of my diet from now on.
sooooo easy!!!!! i’ve been vegetarian for 3 years now! yay!!!
Save the cows!!! Not a beef eater anyway. lol Seriously, the challenge is an easy one and healthy choice, especially considering the quality of meat available on the market anyway.
Already a vegetarian. Will try to eat less Dairy Products
uhmm.. does it count if the meat eaten is fish that your daughter caught in the pond in the front yard with a stick that had fallen off a nearby tree and some fishing line (well, and a hook and a worm from the vermiculture compost bin)? The only carbon involved is the carbon she and her Dad breathed on the walk to the pond from the house and back…
:D (Okay so that is probably cheating to count, though it’s in line with the spirit of the challenge.. :))
I’ve never been a huge meat eater, but I’ve found that as I get older, I’ve been sneaking in more and more.. This will be a great challenge for me, because I get to pull out those veggie magazines I’ve gotten and put in my ‘to read at some point’ shelf, and try some recipes! :-)
I became a vegetarian 25 years ago, (of course, I was a mere child at the time). And believe me, this is much easier than you might think. In addition to helping to heal the natural environment, lowering your cholesterol, raising your energy level, you ‘ll be able to look cows, chicken and fish straight in the eye without feeling self-conscious!
We implemented this into our lives a couple of years ago. We only eat meat about 3 times a week and also ensure we are only eating small portions. For example, if we are cooking a stir fry, we will only put one chicken breast in for the two of us; or cut up one chrizo sausage through some pasta. Only when we think our bodies need it do we sit down to a steak each, which is prabably once every 6 – 8 weeks.
Like alison said, being Catholic makes this challenege alot easier. BTW kosher soups like Tabatchnick are very affordable and tasty. http://heateatreview.com/category/brand/tabatchnick/
The week I signed up for the challenge, I had already not eaten meat for one day prior to signing up for the challenge, so not eating meat the 2nd day was a piece of cake! I’ve implemented this challenge into my current eating habits without a problem and plan to continue the challenge indefinitely. Thanks for this wonderful idea!
i was a fake vegetarian for a few years, id get very bad meat cravings and i cheat and binge. i got tired of the whole thing and totally went back to being carnivorous just a few months ago. its just right for me to take this challenge then.
So my challenge would be – if you eat meat the rest of the week, make it local meat. That too will account for a huge reduction in carbon miles on your food.
Hi All: Just a reminder about how Carbonrally works. The challenges are designed to motivate us to make small actual changes in behavior. So, for example, if you are already a vegetarian, this challenge isn’t really for you. Please see this blog post for more info. Please consider taking an alternative challenge this week, or maybe recruit some new members as another way to contribute. THANKS.
I am a vegetarian, I complete this challenge every day.
Eating less meat is healthier, easy to do for a couple of days, suggestion pasta! pasiefert@optonline.net
This challenge was the hardest one yet for me, especially because we cannot bring any dairy (anything with milk or eggs) into our home due to the food allergies of one of my children . Still, I did it and am inspired to try it again.
This was my first challenge and far harder than I excepted being a true meat eater! I have however, become fond of salads for lunch again. Dinner is the tough one…
For about 6 months, I have switched to only making 2 meals a week with meat of any sorts. Going out to eat is not a problem (I only do it about 1 every 3-4months). I’m glad to see this challange made it through.
Yay from a vegetarian!!
SBux: The Carbonrally team wrote this challenge and provided the details, but the inspiration for it was DavidC’s suggestion in the workshop. Thanks.
This challenge was originally proposed by Davidc. It does apply to poultry and seafood… more on that in the detailed challenge above.
So- this only applies to beef? What about poultry and seafood?
Already a vegetarian. I am going to try to eat less dairy instead.
This is something that I am very passionate about. Once you see how easy it is to do without for Lent and for those two days a week, you will start to feel better inside and out.
and is all the info above this what the creator put on it or the carbonrally team?
who made this challenge???
Finally, a challenge I can really sink my teeth into!
This was an interesting and thought provoking challenge. Also, easy to do during Lent for us Catholics! Thanks!
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