YSK that apart from not having a car and voting, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat.

You forgot number one: By far, the best thing you can do for the climate is not have children.

I could devote all my time to recycling, reducing carbon emissions, not driving, voting, not eating red meat, including forcing everyone i know to do the same - and the net result would be an iota of a drop in the ocean of change. i.e. nothing.

As others have said, until there is a global shift on how the world operates and the major oil companies, cruise lines, and airlines all shut down, nothing you or i can do will matter.

No thanks.

Looks slightly off TBH, sources? Nuts being lowest, while Palm oil being quite high. Nuts are efficient, especially when considering caloric value, but I'm pretty sure something like a potato is better per kg. Palm oil AFAIK is a very efficient (most efficient vegetable) oil, might be that the destruction of highly carbon rich forest is factored in there maybe...

Coffee is a big one for me along with cheese. I'm waiting for cheese to get better with vegan alternatives, the last time I tried shredded vegan cheese it melted and tasted like plastic, although that was 3 years ago now, and I am willing to try again.

Coffee is something I think can be helped if people were more picky on what brands they chose from. I do not believe Starbucks is the most sustainable coffee brand, as they trained me when I worked there to believe.

or eat the wealthy is a better start

Until Exxon and BP are no longer in business and global shipping transitions to zero emissions, there is nothing an individual human can do that will have an impact in any way on global climate. They problem is systemic, not individual

The metric of per kg of product, while entirely fair, can be a bit misleading when it comes to making high impact decisions in your life. The switching to tea example is a good one to criticize because on this chart coffee is quite high up there, but I consume only 15g of coffee a day, compared to probably close to a kg of meat, egg, and dairy. Eliminating coffee would not be a high climate impact decision.

Just eat plants.

Rice and refried beans for me! (my cholesterol is high)

The prevalence of people telling everyone not to have kids in the context of our current culture is weird.

Alt-right: "Hey we're trying to have as many kids as possible so there's more of us, and less of you. Do us a favor and don't have kids."

Evidently a lot of people on the left: "Sounds good dude."

May I propose a reasonable alternative? If you don't want to have kids, cool, don't have kids. If you want to have kids, have the financial and social security to do so responsibly, and a partner who wants the same thing, then have kids (but also go vegan, ride a bike, and raise them to do the same).

Aka, you do you.

People will look at an image like this, read that 80% of deforestation in the Amazon happens for cattle, and go “I’m powerless, Exxon is bad” and continue to not only eat meat 5x a day but also actively try to convince other people that reducing their meat consumption is silly and they might as well keep eating it as much as they want because grocery stores will stock it anyway and Elon Musk rides a jet.

How is dark chocolate so high? :o

how does hunted vs farmed meat compare?

Not disagreeing that meat is bad for the environment, but I think not having kids is probably way above cutting out meat.

Can we please have a source for the YSK statement you made in the title and the graph?

I have seen data on not having kids being the biggest choice a person can make to prevent future emissions. You also didn't mention flying less often, or not flying when a reasonable alternative exists. What is the relative impact of all of these things compared to dietary changes? Numbers on that would be helpful.

Accounting for emissions per kilogram isn't that fair, can we account for emissions per 1000 kilocalorie? Or emissions per protein?

We need significant subsidies invested into vat grown meat. But now Big Ag is getting it banned in every state it can. Texas and Florida have already banned it.

Being alive is bad for the environment.

Veganism is good, necessary even, but more than voting we need to actually overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism. Profit will destroy the planet unless we take control of the reigns from capital.

You can't survive around here (eastern Kentucky) without owning your own car. The nearest Walmart to me is a half hour drive at 60mph and we don't have taxis in any of the towns around me. That's 7 hours of walking, each way. No buses or trains either. The closest store of any kind to me is a Dollar General and is about 2 hours each way if I walk.

Not loving that the exact source of the data in this graph is not clearly linked in the description.

Sure, but like ~8 companies produce like 75% of the pollution. Their biggest con was shifting the responsibility to individuals to change their habits instead of forcing them to clean up their factories

question, how come beef is so cheap it's it takes so much resources?

if it's just subsidies, then we should get rid of them

I get that individuals aren't the problem impact wise but couldn't it be the case that if the majority of people life a more sustainable life it will be easier to create laws that put stop the real poluters bc people are in support of such regulations?! If the majority of people think the existence of billionaires is immoral, it will be easier to tax the rich...

I thought pork was red meat

That's almost certainly the biggest dietary change you can make.

But for overall impact, there's one winner and it's bigger than everything else put together.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change-have-fewer-children

Capitalism hates this one weird trick.

Cute.
I'd be more interested in adding private and commercial airliners, long-haul trucks and tanker ships to the list for comparison.

I thought it was overthrowing oppressive world governments and holding environmentally-damaging businesses accountable for their actions, hm.

When populations are starving to death in 2044, pat yourself on the back for not eating red meat.

Suuuuure buddy red-meat is the problem here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMErlqYmgsE

How much less red meat to offset all the private jet that flew to Venice for bezos’ wedding?

so how many burgers do I skip to compensate for one of Musk's jet joy rides?

Do billionaires count as red meat? I am asking for a friend.

I have a motorbike I use infrequently, I eat red meat rarely, and I have no children. I feel like I'm doing my part.

perfect is the enemy of good.

I wish vegans and vegetarians would be a bit more willing to promote this viewpoint. It’s insane how many otherwise normal people will refuse a single meat-free meal for no reason other than identity politics.

Hello, I would like to place one order of Kaczynski

YSK this is BS. You ain't gonna stop corporate-created climate issues by eating one or two fewer cows. In fact, nothing you can do, will.

EDIT: Wow, lots of corporate troll bots downvoting me for not singing their song. Only the hugely polluting companies can make a difference, not individuals.

We rarely eat red meat in our household, but we do have a car. They fucked our local public transportation system so badly we ended up not having a choice 🤷‍♀️

YSK you should stop guilting us peasants.
Everyone knows who's to blame.
Tired of this shit.

It's never about personal responsibility. You can smug about not eating red meat, driving electric or not having children, but it doesn't change the reality: the climate is changing.

All you fuckers act like your individual choice to not eat meat or have kids won't just have another eat up the same resources or have kids in your stead. We need smart people to have ethical kids and we need extreme systematic political change for any real affect whatsoever. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD dropped red meat, while still a good chunk, it's only 6% of our global annual emissions that we'd save. The top 3 sectors for emissions are energy transportation and general industry which makes up about 75% of global emissions, at about 25% each. The individual choices not mattering as much as political systematic change is huge, and that won't happen if the Trumpers are having most of the kids and we're having stupid divisive arguments about what our individual food choices should be.

Yeah let us do the microscopic differences while some industry totally ignores it...

What about not having children?

Taking planes, another big CO2 contributor. The sky is full of planes burning fuel.

Am I blind or isn't chicken on that list?

I can travel by train? Lol. Nice bubble you must live in.

This can easily be solved with a bottle of food colouring. I've compleltly replaced my red meat with blue meat. Problem solved.

No the single greatest thing you can do is not having children.

Also it's morally the right thing to do if you have the choice.