ABSTRACT
Across many cultures, eating meat has been seen as something to aspire to because it implies wealth and status, and because meat is a concentrated form of easy-to-absorb protein, vitamins, minerals and energy that are essential to a good diet. There is still a great deal of meat eaten across the world, and, as people in economically developing countries get richer, their instinct can be to eat more meat because they can afford to. In 2015, the three biggest meat-consuming areas were China, the European Union and the US, with about half the meat consumed being pork. Chatham House says that the global meat industry generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transport put together. Livestock production also results in forest loss and increased carbon dioxide emissions as forests are cut down to provide pasture, or are degraded through animal grazing.
