Meat Atlas 2015 - Facts and figures about the animals we eat

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Food is a necessity, a satisfaction and it's very personal, however do you sometimes wonder where the steak, sausage or burger you are eating comes from? Personal satisfaction reflects ethical decisions, and private concerns can be very political in nature. Each of us ought to decide what we want to eat. But responsible consumption is something that an increasing number of people demand. Then again, they need information on which to base their decisions. How can normal consumers understand the global impact caused by their meat consumption? How many people realize that our demand for meat is directly responsible for clearing the Amazon rainforest? Who is aware of the consequences of industrial livestock production for poverty and hunger, displacement and migration, animal welfare, or on climate change and biodiversity?

This publication sheds light on the impacts of meat and dairy production, and aims to catalyse the debate over the need for better, safer and more sustainable food and farming.

Download Graphs as PDF files

All graphs are published under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Product details
Date of Publication
2014
Publisher
Heinrich Böll Foundation, BUND, Le Monde Diplomatique
Number of Pages
68
Licence
All rights reserved
Language of publication
English
Table of contents

2 Imprint

6 Introduction

8 Lessons to learn

10 The rise of the global market

12 Concentration: Economies of scale but less diversity

14 Making products from animals: The slaughter industry

16 Bright pink in the cold cabinet

18 Free trade versus safe food

20 The hidden cost of steak

22 Why farms kill fish: Biodiversity loss on land and in water

24 A species-poor planet

26 Antibiotics: Breeding superbugs

28 When the tank is running dry

30 The grain in the feed trough

32 The emergence of a Latin American soy empire

34 The climate cost of cattle

36 Ranchers in the rainforest

38 The glyphosate in your burger

40 A plethora of poultry: Chickens take the lead

42 Where keeping chickens is women's work

44 Imported chicken wings destroy West African businesses

46 Disquiet in the developed world

48 Half a billion new middle-class consumers from Rio to Shanghai

50 Urban livestock keeping

52 Turning scrub into pollution

54 In search of good food

56 Vegetarianism: Many roots, many shoots

58 What to do and how to do it: Individuals and groups

60 A greener policy for Europe

62 Authors and sources for data and graphics

64 Resources

66 About us