Global meat consumption per person has roughly doubled since 1961… and we can see why. We're living our best lives, we're optimising and we're protein obsessed. But... is this all normal? And just how much damage is it all doing?

This is a longer one but it answers all your questions on a rightly emotional topic…

What small changes make a difference? Do we just hate farmers and butchers? Where does cheese fit in? Is all meat equally bad? Does tofu deserve its bad rep?

No vegan ultimatums. A bit of humour. Lots of truth bombs. Enjoy.

Instagram recipe pages to follow:
@prrrunch
@veganezer
@fitgreenmind
@ellysplate
@three_burger_dude
@benrebuck
@calumharris

Source references:
Ocean heat (Hiroshima bombs per second, 2025): LINK
Ingredients share of food emissions: LINK
Animal feed-to-food efficiency (7% average, beef 3%): LINK
Per capita meat consumption since 1961: LINK
Wild vs livestock mammal biomass (120 million tonnes): LINK
Global meat production (basis for 600 million tonnes slaughtered): LINK
Land use, calories and protein from livestock: LINK
Land use and emissions of food (Poore & Nemecek, Science): LINK
Cow methane, pasture vs feedlot (Harper et al.): LINK
Greenhouse gases per kilo of food: LINK
Subsidies and burger prices (AIER): LINK
Global lactose intolerance (65–70%): LINK

Introducing... Season 3!

We have a great season in store for you, giving you the down low on which food choices really matter. This will cover food waste, plastic, food miles, meat, seafood and the rest...

We're really proud of this one, so fetch your favourite coffee and enjoy!

Episode show notes:

Calorie efficiency (the 7% statistic): LINK

Land use of food production (the 80% statistic): LINK

Food carbon footprints: LINK

Rocket calculation:

(1) McDonalds purchased 875,566 tonnes beef in 2024, divided equally across 365 days = 2,398,811kg beef / day

(2) 1kg beef produces 99.5kg CO2e of GHG emissions

(3) 1x Falcon 9 rocket launch produces 387 tonnes CO2e (FAA estimate)

...sorry not sorry... but we're taking another week before our Season 3 with some big (not so happy) news.

The UN announced this week that we will cross the 1.5 degree threshold, even under our best case scenario.

Is it the end of the world? Maybe. So let's do what well behaved citizens do and talk about how we feel about it...

We've hit 1,000 streams!! That probably sounds super small, but if you're reading this you're one of the few who know it's a big deal to us.

Now that people are listening, we're getting asked "Why are you called Tipping Points?" Who are we to keep you lovely people waiting on an answer...

A super quick wrap up of everything we spoke about in season 2... If you're just here for the takeaways - listen to learn the best ways you can travel.

In the last full episode of our series, we add public transport to the mix, and with that option added we rank all of the mainstream ways to travel from best to worst...

SHOW NOTES / SOURCES

"Taking the Eurostar instead of a short-haul flight cuts a journey's footprint by around 97%." Source: Our World in Data — Which form of transport has the smallest carbon footprint?

Cycling whilst fed by bananas or cheeseburgers – figures from: How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything, Mike Berners-Lee

A different episode today: we're taking a break from our no-blame encyclopaedia for the first of our bonus episodes. It's a more political and discussion-based experiment. We hope you enjoy...

*Small correction to the episode: It was UAE and not Saudi Arabia who has left OPEC.

This is the last of three episodes where we explore the best ways to power our cars... we put hydrogen in the same conversation as electric cars and biofuels and answer if it's the "fuel of the future" or just hype.