Cut back on red meat; buy tasty, organic beef to lessen the environmental impact of meat production.

Your beef habit is ruffling the feathers of many grasslands birds, including this sage grouse.

RODALE NEWS, ITHACA, NY—We've heard time and time again that cutting back on the amount of red meat we eat is good for our health, cutting the risk of certain cancers, heart disease, and premature death. But if you're among the many bird-lovers out there, a hard look at the industrial cattle industry could make you drop your burger faster than you can say "bluebird."

Explaining why people like birds so much, bird expert Laura Erickson, author of 101 Ways to Help Birds (Stackpole Books, 2006), says, "Birds are the only wildlife that appeal to the eyes and ears, and perceive the world much like us—it's a visual and hearing one." But the industrial cattle industry is causing major deforestation problems that directly impact birds. If left unchecked, the environmental consequences will haunt us, too. The evidence is so convincing that some major corporations are pledging to stop buying cattle from newly deforested areas of the Amazon.

THE DETAILS: Brazil, the largest beef exporter in the world, is known for its rain forests, but huge plots of the most biodiverse land on earth (home to more than 1,000 species of birds, some of which pass through or even nest in U.S. backyards) are being leveled daily to create more grazing land for cattle. In an attempt to slow the damage, Greenpeace set up a meeting earlier this month at which four of the world's largest meat producers agreed to stop buying cows raised on freshly deforested areas of the country's Amazon rain forest. Nike, Timberland, Adidas, and McDonalds are also pressing cattle operations to change damaging practices in the Amazon.

Deforestation problems affect us in many ways. Healthy forests sequester tons of carbon dioxide, so they serve as natural weapons against climate change. The loss of rain forests around the planet accounts for about a fifth of current greenhouse-gas emissions. Forests also filter toxins out of water, slow soil erosion, and prevent flooding, saving taxpayers money. But we're losing them at an alarming rate. While South American forests are destroyed to create more room for beef, industrial production in this country is threatening birds in the United States. The State of the Birds report issued earlier this year found many bird populations in serious decline, particularly grasslands birds. Much of this can be attributed to the conversion of grasslands to chemical farming fields that produce corn for cattle to eat. Erickson notes that more than 100 million acres—more land than the entire state of California—are used for growing corn or hay fed to cows.

"Right now, the single biggest issue is feedlot beef, which are fed corn. Much of the corn production in the U.S. is tied to beef, and cornfields are replacing quality habitat, not just here in the United States, but in many areas where 'our' birds spend the winter," explains Erickson. "Loss of habitat in the U.S. is especially critical for grassland birds."