Fries with That?

That bacon cheesburger is more than just bad for your heart.

Cutting back on beefburgers and bacon could wipe $20 trillion off the cost of fighting climate change. That's the dramatic conclusion of a study that totted up the economic costs of modern meat-heavy diets.

The researchers involved say that reducing our intake of beef and pork would lead to the creation of a huge new carbon sink, as vegetation would thrive on unused farmland.

The model takes into account farmland that is used to grow extra food to make up for the lost meat, but that requires less area, so some will be abandoned.

...

Greenhouse gas emissions would...fall by 10% due to the drop in livestock numbers...Together, these impacts would halve the costs of dealing with climate change by 2050.

Madam and I have reduced our meat consumption radically but we are not completely vegetarian yet. I still feel the need to have my crisp bacon once in a while or my roast chicken or my meatballs and pasta. We may have meat twice a week on average and then only half of what I would guess most people have. I got used to smaller meat portions while in France and realized that I was actually enjoying my meals more when they weren't loaded with a bunch of meat.