📊 True Cost of a Burger Calculator

I want to help you confront a major threat to our global environment: cows. At the rate we produce beef worldwide, emissions from livestock threaten our climate and natural resources.

As Reveal puts it, on average, we eat about three burgers per week. A quarter-pounder at a fast food joint costs 3 or 4 bucks. That’s pretty cheap. But what we don’t pay for at the counter, we end up paying for in other ways.

It takes about 1,800 gallons of water to make a single pound of grain-fed beef. That means a single quarter-pounder takes roughly 450 gallons of water and clocks in at about 6.5 pounds of greenhouse gases.

As Reveal notes, one research group figured the cost just in greenhouse gases, water for growing cattle feed and health care at about $1.51 for every burger. Multiply that by the billions of burgers we eat, and the hidden costs add up quickly.

It’s not the cow’s fault. It’s the system we’ve created to mass-produce beef. You don't have to give up meat entirely to make an impact. Even small choices make a big difference.

As Reveal explains, cutting out just one burger per week would remove as much greenhouse gas pollution as taking your car off the road for 350 miles. Let's see what happens if you skip a few.

For further related reading, check out:

• Hidden Confessions of the Mormon Church - Reveal