The latest research shows that cows destroy even the worst landscapes. They encourage invasive grass spreading which leads to more intense wildfires, which leads to more emissions. Any water spots get destroyed by cattle and consumed, usually before native animals can get there

They're also responsible for ranchers killing predators and the cows themselves out competing for the scarce resources.

Cows are invasive to Australia. They do a lot of damage that folks choose to ignore. They are not the same as native ungulates and there's tons of research proving that.

There's a growing movement in the US to get cattle off of public lands. These are lands that you just described. Why do people want them off the land? Because it's very obvious they hurt the ecosystem.

Meat is a status symbol food. We're told from a very early age that beef is what kings and successful people eat. Rich people even have different vernacular for their status symbol food. Grass fed beef is just beef with a higher environmental cost. It's literally "my status symbol is better than your status symbol. Me more successful cuz I eat grass fed beef."

The simple fact is we likely can't feed 8 billion people sustainably even with the most efficient processes.

There's zero chance we can sustainably feed 8 billion people with our current level of beef consumption. Beef is at least 20x more resources intensive. It's crazy inefficient. Being proud of eating beef is like being proud of burning tires in your back yard or something.