What is a plant-rich diet?

 According to Project Drawdown, shifting to a plant-rich diet could significantly reduce greenhouse gases associated with food production. Plant-rich diets do not need to be vegan or vegetarian, based on the methodology used in Drawdown's calculations.

The adoption of a plant-rich diet assumes the following criteria are met:

1. Adopting an individual daily nutritional regime of 2250 kilocalories per day;
2. Consuming reduced quantities of meat-based protein (particularly red meat, which is constrained to 57 grams per day);[5]
3. Purchasing locally produced food when possible (a 5 percent localization factor is applied globally).

venison: red meat on the hoof

Photo by J. Harrington

Caloric intake has been estimated by several sources, one of which notes "Estimates for the average American's daily calorie intake vary widely from about 2,500 to 3,600" So, the first problem we're faced with is a plant-rich diet that reduces GHG production would probably necessitate Americans going on a diet. That may or may not be the biggest problem, however. The way Criteria 2 is phrased makes it difficult to be certain what's meant by "meat-based protein, particularly red meat which is constrained to 57 grams per day)." How much other (white?) meat does that allow? Let's put that question aside for the moment and focus on what should be considered red meat.

In terms of the science, red meat is actually defined by the level of myoglobin protein found within the meat. This is what can often lead to confusion, as this means that meat like pork, which is not red in colour when it is raw, is actually classified as red meat due to the levels of the myoglobin protein found within the meat.

Following the preceding definition:

Red meats include: 

• Beef (including burgers)
• Lamb and mutton
• Pork (including sausages and bacon)
• Veal
• Venison
• Goat  

Meats not classed as red meats include:

• Chicken
• Turkey
• Duck
• Goose
• Game birds
• Rabbit

 For today, we'll also skip over the questions of what constitutes "local" and whether a 5 percent localization factor is or is not appropriate. We'll also simplify our current estimates by assuming a plant-rich diet is limited to 57 grams per person per day of red meat. What does that translate to?

Using a handy converter, 57 grams times 7 days equals 399 grams/week or .88 pounds/week or 14.1 ounces/week. In terms most might be more able to relate to, that seems like about one steak or a couple of hamburgers per week. That's lots less than our family of two consumes, although our localization factor is way more than 5%. On top of the uncertainties mentioned above, Drawdown doesn't appear to have taken into account how the meat was produced, rotational grazing or feed lot. That also makes a difference in GHGs per ounce.

Meat

August Kleinzahler

How much meat moves
Into the city each night
The decks of its bridges tremble
In the liquefaction of sodium light
And the moon a chemical orange

Semitrailers strain their axles
Shivering as they take the long curve
Over warehouses and lofts
The wilderness of streets below
The mesh of it
With Joe on the front stoop smoking
And Louise on the phone with her mother

Out of the haze of industrial meadows
They arrive, numberless
Hauling tons of dead lamb
Bone and flesh and offal
Miles to the ports and channels
Of the city's shimmering membrane
A giant breathing cell
Exhaling its waste
From the stacks by the river
And feeding through the night

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