HUMMING BIRD

It’s actually averaged out more than that- close to 1,918 gallons for a quarter pound of beef!

Here’s some cool math on it, because I’m fucking cool and went and done did animal agricultural studies and livestock husbandry programs and was a literal animal ag worker when I was in my 20s.

One beef steer weighs approximately 1200 lbs at “slaughter weight” and requires 14,600 gallons of drinking water per year. The steer also requires feed of about 27lbs per day. 27 lbs of feed (usually soy and corn meal) crops require 100-127 gallons per lb, (taking the higher end of that) which equals to 1,251,585 gallons of water a year on top of just the drinking water.

So, per year a beef steer requires 1,266,185 gallons of water. This doesn’t include water used for sanitation or waste purposes.

The steer will also be raised for about 36 months before they are slaughtered for their meat, so that amount x3 is 3,798,555. (A steer can live a healthy 18-25 years if we didn’t slaughter them at a meager 3 yrs old, btw)

One slaughtered 1200lb steer will yield a 750lb carcass (since the entrails, skin, and other organs are not consumed by people typically), and of that 750lb carcass, 490lbs is boneless beef muscle used for human consumption.

So, 3,798,555 or well over 3 million gallons of water are required for 490lbs of beef, or 7,673.8 gallons per lb of meat from one steer. Our quarter pounder patty burger would then come out to 1,918 gallons of water for the beef alone (not including what it took to get that cheese since dairy cattle require even more drinking water, and those other other toppings)

So! If a person turns the tap on their sink every single day for about 10 minutes straight (or 2 gallons a minute, which is the average amount of water/minute) they use 7300 gallons of water in a year. That’s 1.2 million gallons of water to raise a steer for beef, vs 7.3 thousand gallons to, I dunno, shower for 2,650 minutes a year. Damn I could take a half an hour shower every single day and it would STILL be under at 21,600 gallons a year. But the patty of beef equivalent is this:

19,18 gallons of water = One quarter pound beef patty OR water from the tap running for 3 months straight (still less at 1800 gallons!)

(And in case you were wondering, a quarter lb of beans takes 152 gallons of water to produce, which make some pretty phenomenal burger patty substitutes)

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

It’s no secret that climate hazards are rising, with headlines of floods, hurricanes, and wildfires taking over the news. Now, a report from CDP, a nonprofit climate disclosure group, found that 4 out of 5 cities have experienced “significant climate hazards” this year. One-quarter of cities surveyed also expect to see more frequent “high-risk” climate hazards by 2025.

Researchers surveyed 998 cities for its Protecting People and the Planet analysis, finding that 80% of responding cities reporting they faced significant climate hazards — including extreme heat (46%), heavy rainfall (36%), drought (35%) and flooding (33%) — in 2022. For 28% of the cities facing significant climate hazards, these extreme weather events threaten at least 70% of the cities’ populations. Most respondents facing significant climate hazards also expect to see more intense or more frequent hazards in the future.

“From the deadliest floods in Pakistan’s history to the worst drought across the continent of Europe in five centuries, 2022 has been another devastating year for climate change events,” Maia Kutner, Interim Global Director of Cities, States and Regions at CDP, said in a statement. “Every day, the world over, we hear routine phrases like ‘unprecedented’, ‘worst ever’ or ‘first time in history’ that do little to convey the staggering impact the globe’s rising temperature has on the planet and its people.”

Like bro I was so READY I got stuff for everyone including kids with allergies, diabetes, etc. Then we only got 3 small groups of kids. :(