Chicken: The Natural Gas of Food

Climate change presents both an opportunity and a threat — the ultimate evolutionary challenge to adapt or perish. Approaches like the Green New Deal view the climate crisis as a springboard to a more sustainable, just, and resilient society. But many take a narrow focus, attempting to reduce emissions within existing systems and power structures, prioritizing modest, short-term gains while leaving other crises unaddressed. This narrow mitigation strategy aims low, changing as little as possible, with strategies like switching from fossil fuels to natural gas rather than renewable energy, and switching from beef to factory farmed chicken rather than plant-based protein.

Just as natural gas is only “clean” when compared to coal, so chicken is only “environmentally friendly” when compared to beef. The carbon footprint of beef is roughly seven times that of chicken. But the carbon footprint of chicken is 11 times greater than that of lentils. Chicken also requires nearly twice as much water to produce as lentils. A single Perdue chicken slaughterhouse in California uses over 300,000 gallons of water per day, more water than a household uses in three years.

These “bridge” solutions also perpetuate other harms. Both natural gas and commercial chicken farming emit air pollutants that increase risk of heart attack, cancer, and stroke among local communities, often communities of color. Chicken farming is actually less regulated than natural gas production; factory farms are exempt from the Clean Air Act and other regulations. They are allowed to produce levels of dangerous pollutants like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide that would be illegal for an oil and gas facility, and expose local communities to toxins with no accountability or reporting requirements. A recent study found that air pollution from factory farms is responsible for nearly 16,000 deaths annually.

Chicken factory farms also expose people to dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. After driving behind a chicken transport truck, scientists cultured drug-resistant microbes from the air in their car. Consumer Reports tested chicken bought in supermarkets and found that 97 percent harbored dangerous pathogens, 50 percent of which were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic. And that’s to say nothing of avian flu, which breeds on commercial poultry farms and threatens to unleash a pandemic up to 60x more deadly than COVID-19.

Yet, like with natural gas, the industrial poultry industry strives to persuade us of the supposed health and environmental virtues of its factory farmed products, as in the case of the new greenwashing “One Health Certified” label created by poultry giant Mountaire Farms. The label’s holistic appearance belies its failure to set a single environmental standard beyond existing laws. Behind the scenes, Mountaire has been cited for repeated environmental violations and recently paid a $205 million settlement for contaminating drinking water.

At times, these industries’ attempts at misdirection are even more blatant. An advertising campaign by BP focused on the company’s low-carbon energy products, when more than 96 percent of its annual spend was on oil and gas. Environmental advocates sued BP, calling the ads misleading, and BP withdrew the ads in response. Poultry companies have been more successful in roping in environmental advocates to do their bidding, like poultry titan Tyson landing an endorsement from the Environmental Defense Fund through a partnership to grow corn more sustainably⁠ — without Tyson committing to a single improvement to its intensive chicken farming model.

By promoting the relative virtues of these “better than” options, we expand their production, and thus entrench the systems required to produce them. Over nine billion chickens are bred and slaughtered in the US every year, 99 percent of whom are raised on factory farms. One cow can feed a family of four for one year; one chicken can feed a family of four for one night. Replacing all beef consumption with chicken consumption would require raising tens of billions more chickens on tens of thousands more factory farms, polluting the air and water of even more communities and spreading even more antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Why rely on fossil fuels when renewable energy exists, and why rely on factory farming when plant-based protein exists? The transition to plant-forward diets can be encouraged in a gentle and inclusive way. DefaultVeg makes plant-based the default while still allowing everyone the choice to opt into meat/dairy, nudging people in a more sustainable direction while still respecting their freedom of choice.

The more we normalize plant-forward diets, the more acceptable and prevalent they become, creating a positive feedback loop that makes it easier for more people to choose plant-based foods. We’re already starting to see this happen, with one in three Instacart shoppers buying plant-based meat and milk products in 2020. Rather than trading one set of ills for another, let’s aim for a food system that is truly just and sustainable, by default.

You can help make plant-based food the default in your school, workplace, or community group. Sign up today to become a DefaultVeg ambassador.

Katie Cantrell is the Director of Corporate Outreach for the Better Food Foundation.