Play the above audio file while reading to get the full experience. It is a stream of consciousness “instant” composition that goes along with this post.

Beef. BBQ, seared, tataki style, fillet mignon. Because I do eat it regularly, it’s occurred to me, or rather I’ve noticed that, the quality of meat has been declining. Not at the top dollar steak houses, but at the mid and lower tier establishments. Then I wonder if it’s just me, and of course, it probably is. But the point is that I still wonder up some unconventional ideas.

What if the government, realizing just how terrible beef is in terms of net energy output (more on the in the next paragraph), began a program to deter citizens from eating so much of it? Making everyday meat products less desirable would cause people to start evaluating other options for a lunchtime sandwich. It would also probably end up being a program that is pretty successful in reducing greenhouse emissions and enhancing sustainability of food sources.

If you aren’t hip to the “meat has a crappy net energy output” deal, lets think of food as fuel for a minute, because, well, that’s exactly what it is. Although most meats are great sources of protein and energy (calories) for humans, they offer very poor efficiency in terms of production. Let’s say that one cow can provide 10,000 units of “fuel” to humans. This is an arbitrary number for example’s sake. Now, during the cows lifetime (up until it is slaughtered and made into various meat products) this sucker might eat 100,000 units of fuel… you know, corn, slop, or whatever the particular farm feeds it.

Meat math time: 10,000-100,000 = (-)90,000. So a net loss of 90,000 energy units. In addition, it ruins potential farmland, farts methane gas, and poops everywhere (well, the poop bit is actually good fertilizer, right?).

Now let’s take an apple. This fruit takes mostly nutrients that are renewable to grow. An apple tree can provide 10,000 units of fuel to humans and it can do so on a consistent basis, every year with little in terms of resources. The apple tree just sits there, drinks the water that falls upon it and gives us nutritional energy for “free”.

Fruit math time: 10,000-0 = 10,000. A net gain of 10,000.

Those examples are very general and don’t take into account lots of other factors, but for the sake of brevity, let’s keep it simple. Most people should already know the junk in the last two paragraphs, but if ya don’t, well, now you do! The thing is, I know it. My friends know it. But we ignore the ramifications of it out of convenience. That is, it’s convenient for us to forget that this excellent tasting steak (and other meats too) are something we probably shouldn’t indulge in every day (regardless of what the bogus food pyramid tells us). If we were to cut down our beef consumption worldwide, and say, just eat it as a treat and not a staple, it could go a long way to ensuring a sustainable ecosystem in the future.

You don’t have to go vegetarian to save the planet. Just eating meat in moderation can help.

Enjoy it, savor it.