Meat Consumption

The Unfortunate Truth about Christmas Dinner

1 Comment

Dinner is Not Always a Winner

If you’re like me, Christmas dinner is something you look forward to every year! The big meal, the giant amounts or dessert. (for me the dessert really makes eating all of the healthy stuff worth it) Your parent’s may buy a turkey, ham or chicken to celebrate Christmas eve dinner or Christmas day dinner. My family usually loves to make a big Christmas dinner. (But we prefer our bagels in the morning where you can make sure you sit in the seat facing the Christmas tree, so you can eye all of the presents) 

The Main Problem

Meat has always been a big contributor to carbon footprints and pollution. From keeping the livestock alive to, processing the meat, and to delivering it to the grocery stores.  Did you know that beef can generate anywhere from 634 to 749 kilograms of CO2? Last year, Christmas dinners produced more greenhouse gas than a flight from London to New York. 

Don’t Ditch the Turkey

Now, I’m not saying go vegetarian. Meat is part of a healthy diet, it is up to us on how we choose to regulate the amount of meat we consume on a daily basis. If I had to pick a meat to eat on Christmas it would be turkey. Turkey has a lower carbon footprint than other meats like beef or lamb. Turkey’s carbon footprint is 20kg of CO2 vs the 634 to 749kg of CO2 in beef. 

A Few Tips

Meat is a tradition in many homes to eat on Christmas but there are many ways to lower your carbon footprint but still eat the same meat. 

Try to buy food locallyBy purchasing your meat locally you are not buying meat that has traveled far and wide from a big polluting factory

Buy seasonal produce
Try to avoid fruit or any food that is not grown in your hometown 

 

Watching your waste
After my family ate our giant Thanksgiving meal we had a bunch of leftovers. (There was no way we could eat it all) Instead of throwing away the food we went around our little town looking for less fortunate people in need of a warm plate of food. If you don’t think your neighbor will come over and help you finish off your dinner, there are a lot of people out there who would love a plate of food. 

A few last words

It’s up to you and your family to decide on what to serve on Christmas dinner. 

Thank you for Reading!

Written By

Madeline , 12 , Colorado
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1 Comment. Leave new

  • I beg to differ with you! Meat is not a necessary part of a healthy diet. I stopped eating meat in 1974, and I am pretty healthy; I am rarely sick, in fact. I attribute my good health partly to good luck but also to my vegetarian diet. I accept that some people crave animal protein and cannot do without it, but I am not one of those people. I applaud your blog and appreciate your bringing the impact of eating certain kinds of meat to the attention of your readers. I hope you will consider letting even the turkeys live out their lives in the future.

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