Cattle have numerous impacts on Earth’s climate and natural environments, despite misconceptions.

Studies have shown that cattle farming operations – even ones that are perceived to be ‘better’ like pastured operations – have negative climate and environmental impacts. Numerous cattle pastures in Brazil, for example, are created through deforestation. Cattle production can also drive land degradation, soil acidification, and overabundance of nutrients that disrupt the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Planet-warming greenhouse gases are also emitted throughout the entire cattle-product lifecycle, from farming operations to final product. Beef products, for example, have the highest carbon footprint of any food product (per kilogram produced). Several mitigation measures have been proposed by scientists for these issues; however, viral online misinformation continues to mislead people to greatly underestimate the impacts above.