Let’s break it down: proteins are the building blocks of life, keeping us growing and thriving. Most of us need around 43 grams of protein each day, but this varies based on age, activity level, and personal choices. I’m 15 and on a flexitarian diet, where my main protein sources are fish, seafood, beef, eggs, and dairy. But here’s what I’m exploring: what if I took beef off my plate and upped my fish intake instead? Would that help make my diet more sustainable?
When it comes to energy efficiency, food chains matter. For example, when I eat beef, the food chain looks like this: grass → cow → me. But if I shift to more fish, it’s plankton → fish → me. While the chain doesn’t get shorter, fish are way more energy-efficient. Why? Fish don’t have to keep themselves warm or fight gravity, so they don’t burn as many calories just surviving. They have a Food Conversion Efficiency (FCE) between 1.0 and 1.5, while cattle are more around 6.0 to 10.0, meaning fish turn food into body weight more effectively than cattle do.
Choosing to cut out beef and go heavier on fish has some major environmental upsides. First, it helps fight deforestation and reduce forest fires. In places like Brazil, forests are burned down to clear space for cattle farming, making beef responsible for 41% of global deforestation. Cutting back on beef also saves tons of water—going meat-free can slash your water use by 55%, and raising beef takes around 15,000 liters of water to make just 1 kilogram. Plus, cows release a lot of methane, a greenhouse gas even more powerful than CO₂, so fewer cows mean less methane in the atmosphere.
Adding more fish to my diet also has environmental advantages. Producing 1 kilogram of beef releases about 60 kilograms of greenhouse gases, while 1 kilogram of fish only generates about 4.81 kilograms. Also, fish are more resource-efficient: with 100 kg of feed, you can produce 56 kg of fish meat, while beef only yields around 4 kg from the same amount.
But there are downsides. Increasing fish intake can lead to overfishing, which throws off the balance in ocean ecosystems. If too many fish are taken, entire food chains could collapse, affecting both marine life and people who depend on fish for food.
After weighing the pros and cons, removing beef and eating more fish could cut greenhouse gas emissions, save water, reduce deforestation, and improve resource efficiency. On the downside, overfishing is a serious concern that can impact ecosystems and communities. But in the end, the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks, especially when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases.
Switching up my diet to be more eco-friendly is just one way to help the planet. But it’s also got me wondering—could other things in my life, like using air conditioning or driving, be even bigger environmental factors? What do you think?
