There are several steps in getting meat onto one’s plate, many of which consume a vast amount of energy.

Firstly, in order to grow the grain to feed the cattle, a large amount of petroleum is needed (Is Meat Sustainable?, 2004). Petroleum is a high contributor to environmental pollutants. The product itself is toxic to many organisms, including humans, while being a distributor of other dangerous chemicals such as sulfur and nitrogen compounds (Pollution Issues, 2014).

Secondly, the meat is then transported. This in itself causes for a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions to be released into the air. Naturally, proceeding transportation, the distributors of the meat product will use large refrigerators, which emit CFCs into the atmosphere, and the consumer will refrigerate these products individually in their own homes. The cooking process of the meat is also in itself environmentally unfriendly.

With a combination of all of these aforementioned factors, it will take on average 28 calories of fossil fuel energy in order to produce one calorie of protein for human consumption (Pollution Issues, 2014). Meanwhile, the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline is needed to produce a pound of grain-fed beef in the United states (Pollution Issues, 2014).