It's the Brian Larrow Show on WNYC.

Good morning again everyone.

And now we turn to our climate story of the week,

which we do every Tuesday on the show.

Tens of billions of cows, pigs, and chickens are raised and slaughtered each year for food globally.

What makes this a climate story?

Well, their burps, manure, and the fertilizer used to grow their feed account for somewhere

around 11% of global greenhouse emissions according to the United Nations.

Other studies say it's really more like 19% we'll get into why those different numbers in a bit

shifting to a more plant-based diet could mitigate some of the impacts of the climate

crisis as many of you know in, Oxford University published new research that

show that people who follow a plant-based diet account for 75% less in

greenhouse gas emissions than those who eat more than 3.5 ounces of meat a day.

A vegan diet in particular results in what Oxford calls significantly less harm to land, water, and biodiversity. But for many Americans the thought of going

vegetarian or all the way to vegan might seem impossible, might be impossible.

While Gallup reports one in four Americans want to cut back on

meat, only 5% of adults are vegetarian or vegan and most give up their diets at

some point. Joining us now to discuss how meat agriculture impacts the climate

and to explain how to incorporate this information

into our lives in a sustainable and doable way is Kenny Terrella, staff writer for Vox's future perfect

section with a focus on animal welfare and the future of meat. He's also the author of

meat slash less, so a slash between the two words, meat slash

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