By: Jordan Mann

What industry causes the most damage to the environment? The answer is animal agriculture; the raising of animals for food.

This industry produces 18% of all greenhouse gasses. The burning of fossil fuel for cars, trucks, trains, airplanes and ships, comes in second at 13%. Almost half of all the water used in the US is for animal agriculture. It requires 660 gallons of water to produce one hamburger. A staggering 80% of all agricultural land in the US is used to raise animals or grow the food needed to feed them.

This industry tops the list for causing freshwater scarcity, species extinction, habitat loss, deforestation and marine pollution. Turning the world’s population into vegetarians is a losing proposition because meat tastes great and veggie burgers taste like….well, they do not taste great.

So, what can be done?

Patrick Brown, a former Stanford biochemistry professor, thinks he has the answer. Instead of making veggie burgers, Brown is making real meat from plants. After all, if a cow can do it, why not a scientist? Impossible foods broke down meat to the molecular level and then rebuilt that meat with molecules from plants; exactly what animals do when they eat plants.

The company is starting with ground beef, hamburgers. Their meat acts the same as meat from a cow. It looks and feels the same when raw, it changes color when cooked, and it has the same smell as cooking meat from a cow. It also supposedly tastes just like a hamburger made from meat from a cow.

Brown’s meat does not contain any cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics or slaughterhouse contaminants. It requires less land, less water and less energy to produce.

If Impossible foods can come through on their rhetoric, it will be a miracle. The company’s hamburgers are supposed to hit the market in 2016; they will be followed by cheeses and other meat products. For more information visit their web site at impossiblefoods.com.