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Think for a moment about a hot dog.
What comes to mind?
Let me be the first to tell you that I think the concept of a hot dog is
absolutely revolting.
Pink rubbery mystery meat in a long tube-like shape that makes you wonder,
is it really food that most of us drench in ketchup, mustard,
sometimes relish to mask the strange salt-laden flavor?
But believe it or not, I love hot dogs.
Eating a hot dog pulls at my heartstrings.
To eat a hot dog is to hang out with my family at a baseball game.
It's a barbecue with friends in the backyard.
And here in the US, it's celebrating American independence on the 4th of July.
When I think of a hot dog, I think of family,
I think of friends, I think of fun.
My name is Adrian Kerester, and I love meat.
But I also care deeply about our planet, and
I'm concerned about the meat industry's impact on our environment.
After all, the meat industry is the leading cause of deforestation,
of water contamination, of air pollution, and of soil biodiversity loss.
It is also responsible for more than one-fifth of global greenhouse gas
emissions, which is more than all of transportation combined.
Because of this, I have tried to cut me out of my diet not once,
but five times, and I have failed every time.
I've heard countless stories of individuals who,
after watching one of the many harrowing documentaries about
the meat industry, have cut meat entirely out of their diet,
exclaiming triumphantly, and then I never ate meat ever again.
Was something wrong with me?
I turn to you, my Stanford classmates, for some help answering this question.
Over 50% of you, half of this room, have tried to cut meat out of
your diet before, and only a fraction of you have stuck with it.
I'm not here today to tell you to cut meat out of your diet.
It's not effective, and people don't like being told what to do.
I'm here today to give you the meat-lover's guide to environmentally
conscious eating, which I will do in two ways.
First, by diagnosing our love for meat, why is it that we eat meat so much?
And second, by inspiring individual action,
sharing with you some tips of ways that we can collectively
reduce our meat consumption and cut our carbon footprint, and
convincing you that your individual action does in fact matter.
All right, let's diagnose our love for meat.
Like a typical consultant, I sent out a survey, and I crunched the numbers.
Here are the top three reasons why we love and eat meat.
Reason number one, it's the default.
Over 80% of you shared with me that you eat meat because it's the default option.
It's easy, it's available, it's what your friends serve when they host you for
dinner.
It's embedded in your holiday traditions.
It's featured in the entrees at the restaurants you frequent.
The list goes on.
For me, meat is central to my notion of what makes a complete meal.
Growing up, family dinner was a daily sacred ritual.
Every evening around 7:30 PM, my family of four would
gather around the table to share a meal and debrief the day.
My memories of these dinners are deeply defined by my dad's dinner music,
dim lighting, candles, good conversation.
And my mom's absolutely delicious homemade meals that
were well-rounded and often followed a simple equation,
a meat-based meal with two sides, starch and greens.
Today, family dinners are typically vegetarian, and
my notion of what makes a meal has evolved.
But I find that I have to work extremely hard to fight this default bias.
Until we position plant-based options as the default, and
reposition meat as a secondary, or a side,
or even a specialty option, meat will always be the go-to.
Reason number two, it's all about the protein.
Over 70% of you shared with me that you eat meat because
it's a high protein option, and you're not wrong.
However, we don't need nearly as much protein as we think.
In fact, the average American eats over 100 grams of protein a day,
which is roughly double the recommended amount.
This fact doesn't shock me.
After all, the diet industry pours millions of dollars
into convincing us that protein is the beacon of health and wellness.
But it did make me wonder what foods could I eat to
get my recommended 50 grams of protein a day sans meat?
It's actually really quite easy.
For example, instead of eating two servings of chicken,
one at lunch and one at dinner, we could eat two eggs at lunch and
spinach feta chickpea salad with some almonds at dinner.
We don't need to rely on meat as our main source of protein.
And finally, reason number three.
We still don't really love the alternatives.
Over 50% of you shared with me that you eat meat,
not because you love it, but because the alternatives are too expensive,
too carb heavy, too greasy, and sometimes just too bland.
So what can we do?
At the beginning of this presentation, I shared with you that I'd provide
the meat-lover's guide to environmentally conscious eating.
If you love meat, but you want to reduce your carbon footprint and
help save our planet, what can you do?
Where can you start?
And does it even matter?
While there is no one-size-fits-all option,
I want to challenge each of you to do three things this week,
better meat, in smaller portions, less frequently.
Why better meat?
It turns out that not all meat is created equal.
Beef and lamb are significantly more harmful to the environment than chicken or
turkey.
If you do purchase red meat, look for options that are certified organic, or
pasture raised to support meat production systems that don't use environmentally
harmful pesticides that contaminate our water, or ruin soil biodiversity.
Smaller portions, I challenge all of you to rethink your notion of what
makes a meal, and try meat as a side or a topping, instead of a main.
The USDA recommends a serving size of just three ounces of meat per meal.
Which, to put in context, is about a third of the size of the chicken
breast that you see typically at Trader Joe's or Safeway.
If you're out to eat, try splitting a meat-based entree with a friend,
in addition to a vegetarian, or a fish entree.
Finally, eat meat less frequently.
The best thing you can do for the environment and for
your long-term health is to reduce the number of meals you eat containing meat.
I challenge all of you to pick just one day each week to dedicate to be meatless.
Meatless Mondays have grown in popularity across the country, and around the world.
As someone who loves the social and cultural aspects of eating meat,
I actually don't prescribe to meatless Mondays on a regular basis.
But I don't cook meat at home anymore.
This shift has allowed me to drastically reduce my meat consumption from
nearly daily, to now only a fraction of my meals.
If you take just one thing away from this presentation, let it be this.
If everyone in the US were to not eat meat for just one day each week,
it would be the same as not driving 91 billion miles.
Which, if you do the math, is basically the same as not driving from
San Francisco all the way to New York and back 15 million times.
Small changes at scale really do add up to make a difference.
So I'll leave you with this.
Better meat, in smaller portions, less frequently.
This is something we can do as individuals with our families and
role model for our organizations.
Together with these small changes, we really can make a big difference.
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