The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers
Read the questions below and predict an answer for each
question. After watching and listening to the video, compare them
to your original prediction. How similar were your predictions?
1. On average, how much more meat do Americans eat than
people from other countries?
Your prediction: 3 times more
Real answer:
2. According to the author’s estimate, how many hamburgers do Americans eat per
year?
Your prediction: 48 billion
Real answer:
3. What percentage of the world’s landmass is used by livestock and agriculture that
feeds those animals?
Your prediction: 30 percentage
Real answer:
4. How many gallons (or litres) of water does it take to make a single pound of grainfed beef?
Your prediction:
Real answer:1800
5. How many more cows are there in the United States of America?
Your prediction:
Real answer:90 millions
6. How much more manure do cows create than humans?
Your prediction:
Real answer:3 times more
7. How much more does methane affect climate change than CO2?
Your prediction:
Real answer: 31 times
8. How much more nitrogen fertiliser is needed to grow feed for cows in America?
Your prediction: 17 billion
Real answer:
9. How many different cows can end up in a single hamburger patty?
Your prediction: a thousand
Real answer:
10. How many more tonnes of greenhouse gases does hamburger consumption create in
the United States each year?
Your prediction: 17billion
Real answer:158billion
11. How much more expensive should a hamburger be in order to compensate for costs
to the environment and human health?
Your prediction: 1.51
Real answer:
12. How many people live in China and why does the author think that this matters? (2
marks)
Your prediction: 1.3 billion,
Real answer:there will be lots of
The presenter of the video. ‘The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers’ uses language quite
informally. What do you think she means by the following underlined phrases?
1. It turns out that livestock are a major contributor to greenhouse gas pollution.
2. It is right up there with cars, planes and trains.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Big time
But what we don’t pay for at the counter, we end up paying for in other ways.
So viola: Now corn is in everything.
Too many burgers take a toll on the environment.
Could our planet keep up?