The amount of fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet is three times more than that of a vegetarian diet. One calorie of meat protein requires 78 calories of fossil fuel as opposed to the 2 calories of fossil fuel required to produce one calorie of protein from soy beans.
Deforestation is aggrevated by livestock production. The rainforests are especially sensitive and 55 square feet of tropical rainforest is consumer in every quarter-pound.
Meat is inefficient as 90% of protein is wasted by cycling grain through livestock. Livestock eat 80% of corn grown in the US as opposed to the 20% eaten by people. It is following Pareto's law perfectly.
Regardless of personal views or dietary preferences, it is clear that a vegetarian diet is more environmentally sustainable. However, even from a human perspective, slaughters are one of the professions with the highest turnover and a high risk of injury.
However, humans were made omnivores and many of us find it difficult to completely eradicate meat from our diets. So why not instate a vegetarian day? Start small, set one day in the week where you skip the steak. One day is not so difficult. We can all do one vegetarian day per week. It can improve our health and reduce our carbon footprint. In an age of obesity and high cholesterol, I think we could all gain from one vegetarian day per week.
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