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Is there a way to reconcile society’s love affair with the taste of meat and dairy with the pressing need to reduce carbon emissions? Science writer Bob Holmes bores into the data — and offers up bottom lines for individual consumers and society at large.
Marketed to meat lovers, plant-based burgers like Impossible and Beyond claim to taste like the real thing and to have far lighter environmental footprints. Here’s what the numbers have to say.
Scientists find that a small amount of animal products could have a place in our diets without wreaking environmental havoc. But it’s far less than what we consume today, and only if farmed in just the right way.
Beef, chicken and dairy made from cultured cells could offer a smaller footprint than conventional farms. Companies are working on scaling up and bringing prices down.
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