Layla and I are not big beef eaters. We enjoy having fish about once a week and the rest of the time we have veggie dishes, stew or pasta. Although on occasion we have a craving for a steak, burgers, or even some ground beef. We do understand there will be people who feel that eating meat is bad for the environment, but while Layla and I eat meat we do not eat much of it. We also believe that humans are omnivores and need to have some meat in their diet. We do not believe we need meet every day, or even every week though.The problem we have with eating meat is that you don't know what is in it, you could have hormones or even E.coli. As well, cattle ranching causes huge harm to the environment through the methane that is released into the atmosphere from cows and the amount of land that has to be bulldozed to make room for cattle ranches. Estimates say there are about 1.3 billion cows on Earth. This means for every cow, there is about six humans taking a piece out of it. While we still do drink cows milk, the move to goats milk or a severe limiting of our milk intake will come in the future.
For those rare times when we do eat meat, we will no longer be buying beef, but will instead be choosing an alternative that, ironically enough, was almost made extinct by humans for their meat; buffalo.
All the buffalo that we by from are naturally-fed, with no byproducts or other weird ingreidents. They are free-range and they are managed. There are no-feed lot additives, no hormones and are 99 percent fat free. Buffalo is not only healthier for the environment, but also for ourselves because they are high in Omega 3, protein and iron. They are the best solution that we have found apart from a tofu steak, to satisfy cravings for steak, burgers and ground meat.
On top of all of this, Layla and I will be eating less meat in general and switching more to fruits and vegetables.
Update: A link to an article regarding a UN report about the negative impact that cow farming has on the environment has been added as a comment. It should not be mistaken that what is being done with cows can be done with buffalo; having vast numbers of either will put more stress on the environment because it is unnatural for so many to exist (one cow/buffalo for every six people on the planet). The best solution would not only be to completely stop the chemicals being used in beef production (around the world), but also to minimize the amount of meat being consumed. Moderation is key; we are omnivores, not carnivores.
