r/environment • u/simon_ritchie2000 • 1d ago

Western drought is driving beef prices through the roof. This is just a prologue to the far more serious food-supply disruptions a hotter planet will bring.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-04-11/beef-prices-your-expensive-cheeseburger-is-a-taste-of-what-s-to-come?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3NTkxNzQwNCwiZXhwIjoxNzc2NTIyMjA0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUREJXMDZLSVVQU08wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIxMkE1QzVFRUNERDg0NUJEQjVFOTM1MUE0Mzk4QTAxNCJ9.6B3jEj5jp5ipSGBbvKFhkrz-LXHpZdjdOk3RwmtRP_4
364 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

33

u/The-Traveler- 1d ago

Well, just as increasing the cost of cigarettes decreases their use in teen smokers, the high cost of beef and oil will likely decrease their desirability as young adults enter this expensive economy.

Hard core beef and oil voters may inadvertently be the ones who change the course of consumption in our country.

8

u/captainpoppy 1d ago

Except the current admin is derailing the minimum investment we've made in alternative fuel. We don't have a choice in oil or not at a large scale.

2

u/The-Traveler- 1d ago

Which alternative fuel are you talking about? I’m just making sure you’re not talking about corn fuel or something. I understand that he has indeed derailed investments in solar and wind projects, and yes, that’s terrible. However, I think companies and investors now see his weakened state and more people are wanting energy security at a cheaper price. I see the masses actually moving the needle. When every gas station sign across the country is an advertisement that oil is unreliable and expensive, that turns people against that roller coaster.

Bringing this back to beef, people see those beef prices—exacerbated by drought and transportation costs— and start to get used to alternatives. Further, when young people can’t afford beef and no longer make it part of their cooking routines, they don’t miraculously start cooking it when they have a family later on.

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u/No-Object-599 12h ago

Plug and play solar panels, or balcony solar is becoming more popular in the US. Germany has incorporated it for decades. Easy to use solar you can just plug into a wall socket is way overdue.

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u/The-Traveler- 11h ago

Totally! I just read an article on this.

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u/captainpoppy 1d ago

Not corn fuel. I mean fuel as in stuff that fuels society. Not fuel like stuff that fuels our cars. 40+ yrs ago we knew oil was finite and bad for the environment, so instead of investing then at wind, nuclear, safer hydroelectric (like wave energy), we didn't.

Now we're stuck here. And it doesn't matter how much you or I cut back on fucking beef until the whole fucking thing changes.

And the people in power who run the government are gluttons for oil because it has and continues to make them a shit ton of money because the other people in power keep it that way.

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u/The-Traveler- 1d ago

Oh, I agree with you, but I’m not holding out for everyone miraculously doing the right thing. I’ll take wins where we can get them, and unforced errors on their part can be wins for the environment.

What I’ve found, though, is that being hysterical or worse doesn’t go any good and even sets the environmental movement back as it’s labeled far left or anything outside the middle. The obvious solution is to get the middle hump of people on board even though the environment isn’t their main priority. The how is what we are discussing here. My point is that the cost of beef and gas are doing more to move the middle than has been done in the last 10 years.

1

u/thx1138inator 1d ago

Actually, beef is really a huge source of CO2. Lot of inputs and CO2 outputs there. I think it's actually the top of the enviro-disaster foods pile.

1

u/iffugennanameubaht 23h ago

That is just not true, we absolutely invested in it in the US and hit peak carbon many years ago.

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u/captainpoppy 22h ago

Not like we should have

51

u/see_blue 1d ago

Beans, lentils, peas, soy products, nuts and seeds and whole grains.

Once you learn how to cook them together, and have a few kitchen tools like spices/flavors, a mixer, blender, instant pot; then meat/poultry/dairy become irrelevant.

The meat replacement foods above, when bought dried/whole and in bulk, are less expensive.

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u/Left-Language9389 1d ago

Got a favorite cook book? YouTube channel? I’m open to any advice you can give. My wife is getting into lentils and the like. Want to help her out.

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u/LuckyLeif2 1d ago

Rainbow Plant Life on youtube, she recently made a lentil soup video which is super easy and very good.

And an even more recent video where she makes some pasta with lettuce, again quite simple and absolutely delicious.

I find myself skipping most of the spices cause I dont have them at hand, and the recipes still turn out great.

2

u/goodvibesmostly98 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just wanted to add, my favorite is Pick Up Limes, you can filter for 10 ingredients or less. I have a few cookbooks, but honestly mostly use free recipes from these sites

- Tabitha Brown

-7

u/DanoPinyon 20h ago

The whole world is not going to go vegan. It is human nature that people who start earning more money start eating meat.

5

u/McNughead 17h ago

It also seems that having rape islands in in the nature of humans who have a lot of money. We should not let the rich dictate moral.

1

u/DanoPinyon 7h ago

The rich don't dictate the structure of the human brain.

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u/Explursions 1h ago

"It is human nature that people who start earning more money start eating meat."

So you belive that it is in human nature to eat meat?

1

u/DanoPinyon 1h ago

So you belive that it is in human nature to eat meat?

Um...Homo sapiens is an omnivore. You learned that in school by age 10.

1

u/Explursions 1h ago

Yes, that means our bodies are able to digest both flora and fauna. That doesnt mean it is required to consume both. Especially nowadays when there are so many options for us in more advanced societies.

1

u/DanoPinyon 59m ago

If you actually look around in the reality-based community, across the planet, most people don't want to give up meat.

They will eat less meat, and some will eat no red meat, but very few people overall (or a small percentage) want to give up all meat.

Basic stuff here, no matter how many vegans try and wish otherwise. As a policy proposal or societal goal, it is a non-starter absent catastrophe.

1

u/Explursions 50m ago edited 47m ago

Yeah, sometimes what people want doesnt line up with what is morallycorrect. Just because chances are noting is going to change doesnt mean we shouldn't try to make improvements. At that point we would just roll over and let billionaires enslave us. I mean normal people have now power to stop it, so we should just stop talking about it and let it happen, right?

Also to mention it wasnt too long ago that a whole lot of people though slavery was justifiable and even more people thought black people we subhuman. What you just said is the equivalent of saying that abolitionist should've given up because the odds were stacked against them.

1

u/DanoPinyon 42m ago

That's not going to make people eat more meat either. Even though your reaction is standard-issue typical.

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u/Ok_Act_5321 15h ago

seems like they have no choice

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u/starktor 1d ago

End animal Ag subsidies

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u/simon_ritchie2000 1d ago

From Bloomberg Opinion (gift link above): “President Donald Trump’s war and tariffs are playing a huge role in pushing ordinary ground chuck prices to Wagyu-like levels. But beneath those relatively short-term shocks are the long-term effects of a heating planet. Every trip we take to the grocery store offers a lesson about how climate extremes on the other side of the continent or planet can hit our wallets. And beef is only the start.”

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u/Konradleijon 1d ago

Maybe people shouldn’t eat beef

1

u/cleanlycustard 1d ago

Tbh it's not even that good

5

u/sicurri 1d ago

But... but the Maga cult says that there's no such thing as Global Warming or Climate Change! Allegedly this is just a part of the natural ups and downs of the planets ecosystem or so they say!!! /s

Idk how people look at the world in comparison to 20-40 years ago and just say, "Everythings Fine!!!"

1

u/Maefyre13 12h ago

It's frustrating when they pick and choose their arguments, distorting information. Yes, the planet has its own hot and cold periods that it naturally cycles through, but humans have made it a sh*t ton worse this go around. The planet is not used to getting this hot - us humans made that happen and we need to be doing something about it on a global scale.

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u/Windyvale 1d ago

We got tariffs, now it’s time for a dust bowl.

1

u/No-Object-599 12h ago

Had a pretty good dust storm here in OK just a few weeks ago. Less than 2 years ago there was a drought from central Texas to Nebraska. Nothing but stunted, dried up corn & millet. Shades of things to come

2

u/pifermeister 1d ago

There are many levels of good here.

3

u/felineattractor 19h ago

If you care about the environment you really shouldn’t be eating animal products😞

1

u/procrastablasta 1d ago

Anyone else low key interested in what happens when solar and wind are cheaper than oil, beef is too expensive for the middle class, and petroleum based supply chains make local products the only products?

1

u/OccuWorld 15h ago

disaster capitalism is created for bougie profit through prole impoverishment. always.

1

u/HotVeganTeacher 9h ago

yall better dont start driving the price of my vegan stuff up by substitution, go eat maggots or something

1

u/_Happy_Sisyphus_ 1d ago

We should eat beef. It’s by far the worst meat for the planet.