However, meat-free living is not for me.

Adding meat back into my diet, I found my health and vitality improved substantially. Without getting bogged down in details, I’ll reinforce that I wasn’t missing iron, B12 or protein; my body simply thrives on regular animal protein.

Despite enjoying animal products, there are sustainability issues: meat typically has a high carbon footprint, contributing more to global warming than a plant-based diet. Though food carbon footprints vary by country and different farming practices, Australia is part of the problem.

Cows and sheep have the highest carbon footprint of Australian-farmed meat animals, followed by pork then chicken (Eady et al., 2012). All are much higher than Australian-farmed vegetables. Even organic meat isn’t consistently better when it comes to carbon footprint (Eady et al., 2012), though there are other reasons to seek organic meat.

The Australian lamb and beef industry should be given some credit. They have reduced carbon emissions by 57% since 2005 and have a ‘carbon neutral by 2030’ target (Meat and Livestock Australia, 2020), better than the current national Australian 2050 target. Some Australian red meat producers are already carbon neutral (Ridoutt, 2021). Compared to the rest of the world, Australian and New Zealand beef and lamb producers have better footprints on average (Cline, Crossin & Verghese, 2017). Largely though, red meat is an ethical problem that is hard to ignore.

So, what’s a meat-loving, climate-caring person to do?

I investigated two potential options.

Wild venison

Deer are an introduced species in Australia, with substantial environmental harm. Both Government and farmers alike spend time reducing the deer population via cull programs. Deer killed in these programs are typically ‘wasted meat’- but what if they weren’t?

Discovered Wildfoods is an Australian-run small business started by two people who were concerned about the environmental impact of invasive wild animals but devastated by the waste produced by the culling programs. They wanted a solution.

What they say: The company (and others) partner with professional game hunters to provide meat that has never seen captivity, antibiotics, synthetic hormones or the stress of an abattoir (Discovered, n.d.). This company is certified carbon neutral (Discovered, n.d.). They suggest the meat is low fat and higher inomega 3 than other red meats (Discovered, n.d.).

It seems there are some win-win situations in this model. It benefits farmers, who have reduced deer populations and (instead of paying hunters) are remunerated for the use of their land and supply of deer (Discovered Wildfoods, 2021). Habitat bordering farm properties is preserved and harmful wild populations are reduced.

Independent assessors at the Carbon Reduction Institute suggest that their carbon footprint is 1.1 CO2-e/kg (Discovered Wildfoods, 2021), which beats chicken and lands somewhere in the realm of legumes.

Even more interesting is that not eating these deer is going to increase their carbon footprint: every deer we don’t eat will either continue producing greenhouse gases, or else lay dead in a cull program, their carbon footprint ‘wasted’ while we pursue other food sources.

What does it taste like? My memories of farmed venison had me recalling metallic tang and strong aftertaste. It seems that wild venison is different. I sampled a range of the available cuts and all were subtle-tasting delights. In fact, the mince required a delicate approach to ensure the flavour wasn’t overpowered.

The verdict: 10/10 Yes, yes yes! A tasty, healthy alternative that’s as sustainable as a bowl of dahl. Sign me up.

Kangaroo and wallaby

Like deer, kangaroos are considered pests in Australia and are culled. Australian Wildlife Services describes an increase in kangaroo populations over the past 200 years due to greater pasture and water availability, as well as reduced Indigenous hunting and dingo populations (Wilson, 2021). According to Macro Group Australia (2022), there are more kangaroos in Australia than cattle – around 50 million.

Macro Meats is an Australian-owned business that sells kangaroo under the brand K-roo. They sell a variety of kangaroo cuts, as well as value-added products such as marinated meats, sausages, meatballs and more.

What they say: Macro Meats say that kangaroo is low fat and higher in omega 3 than other red meats (Macro Meats, n.d.). Their meat is wild not farmed and so has never seen antibiotics, hormones, grain feed or the distress caused by live animal transport. They use a ‘top to tail’ approach, to prevent meat wastage (Macro Meats, n.d.).

According to an RMIT systematic review, kangaroo has the lowest carbon footprint of all common red meats, at 4.10 CO2-e/kg, also falling below pork, turkey, mussels, lobster, and many fish varieties (Cline, Crossin & Verghese, 2017). Australian Wildlife Services suggests that kangaroo meat can play a large role in Australia meeting its climate targets (Wilson, 2022).

There seems to be wide-ranging benefit to eating kangaroo: overabundant kangaroos threaten both farming productivity and revegetation programs (Wilson, 2021). However, culled kangaroos are often left to rot (Wilson, 2021). Farmers rarely receive compensation for land use and carcasses, and there is concern for kangaroo young and how culling programs are managed (Wilson, 2021). Both commercial and non-commercial killing are legislated separately, and kangaroos are far better protected by commercial kills that provide meat on the table (RSPCA, 2020). As a result, the RSPCA recommends non-commercial licenses be phased out.

For this to be successful, someone needs to eat the kangaroo meat.

What does it taste like? I didn’t like the taste of kangaroo steak, fillet, kebabs or ‘kanga bangas’ (sausages). The flavour is strong, gamey and a little overwhelming. Nonetheless, there is one product I love: kangaroo burgers.

Commercial beef, pork, and chicken burgers can struggle to maintain flavour, and I’m often disappointed. Kangaroo burgers never leave me wanting. I can honestly say that there’s no reason I’d ever buy a beef burger again after finding these.

The verdict: 7/10. While you’ll never find me lining up for a roo steak, I have certainly found a way to lower by burger carbon footprint. A definite occasional plus for me and the environment.

Sustainable choice or greenwash?

Kangaroo and venison seem to be genuinely good choices for people, animals, and planet. While there’s not enough kangaroo and venison for everyone to switch out all their red meat, that doesn’t mean it can’t provide a partial alternative. While I’ve only looked at two sustainable meat solutions, there are likely more. I haven’t investigated Australian supply of camel, wallaby, emu, wild boar, or many others but at least a few are probably solid choices.

On this planet, there’s room for many climate-positive sustainable solutions.

Plant-based diets are only one of them.

Plant-based diets aren’t the only solution but changing your red meat sources probably shouldn’t be your only change. Try to avoid highly processed foods, as processing adds substantially to the carbon footprint (University of South Australia, 2021). Consider a meat free day, a red-meat free day, or using half the amount of meat and adding in some legumes or tofu.

If you can, choose local: air-freighted produce has a much higher carbon footprint (Cline, Crossin & Verghese, 2017) and is unnecessary since Australia has such a wide range of options. Try to support the farmers providing those options as directly as possible: If farms fail, our local food chains disappear. Decreased local demand may also force farmers to ship more produce internationally. To help, you could try buying at farmers markets, farm gates or local butchers to ensure profits stay local. If you do buy at supermarkets, try to buy Australian.

Sometimes sustainability rhetoric can be overpowering, as if there’s only one solution for everyone, and the solution is often pitched as “plant-based vs planet-haters”. I love the earth, but I also love meat, and I think there’s room for nuance. Venison and kangaroo are part of that nuance.

References:

Clune, S., Crossin, E., & Verghese, K. (2017). Systematic review of greenhouse gas emissions for different fresh food categories. Journal of cleaner Production, 140, 766-783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.082

Discovered (n.d.). Discovered Wildfoods – Discovered Foods. https://discoveredfoods.com/

Discovered Wildfoods (2021) Inquiry into health and wellbeing of kangaroos and other macropods in New South Wales: Submission No 171. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/submissions/71524/0171%20Discovered%20Wildfoods.pdf

Eady, S. J., Sanguansri, P., Bektash, R., Ridoutt, B., Simons, L., Swiergon, P. (2012). Carbon footprints for Australian agricultural products and downstream food products in the supermarket. Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society 7th Conference, Melbourne. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?pid=csiro:EP104701

Macro Group Australia (2022). Sustainability http://macromeats.com/sustainability/sustainability/

Macro Meats (n.d.). Kangaroo meat Australia. https://k-roo.com.au/

Meat and Livestock Australia (2020) The Australian red meat industry’s carbon neutral by 2030 roadmap. https://www.goodmeat.com.au/contentassets/e501cd2919064183b57372897a0e1954/2689-mla-cn30-roadmap_d7.pdf

Ridoutt, B. (2021). Climate neutral livestock production – A radiative forcing-based climate footprint approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 291, 125260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125260

RSPCA (2020). What is the difference between non-commercial and commercial kangaroo shooting? https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-difference-between-non-commercial-and-commercial-kangaroo-shooting/

University of South Australia (2021) Australians urged to consider environment as well as health when reaching for sweets and pastries. https://www.unisa.edu.au/media-centre/Releases/2021/australians-urged-to-consider-environment-as-well-as-health-when-reaching-for-sweets-and-pastries/

Wilson, G. (2021). NSW inquiry into the health and wellbeing of kangaroos https://www.awt.com.au/2021/04/28/nsw-inquiry-into-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-kangaroos-2021/

Wilson, G. (2022). Kangaroos and greenhouse gases Australian Wildlife Services: Resource management and conservation services https://www.awt.com.au/2022/08/23/kangaroos-and-greenhouse-gases/

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