Reply #67: Look into that comparison.

[mccoyn]

You can get a good conversion here:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/energy.htm

"2000 Calorie = 0.0635519 gallon of automotive gasoline"

So, for a person with a 2000 calorie diet it will take them about 15 days to burn through the same amount of energy that is stored in automotive fuel. Moving a 200 pound body around takes much less energy than moving a 2000 pound vehicle around. Thus, we produce much less CO2.

Another point, the food we eat gets its carbon from the atmosphere and energy from the sun. The gas our cars burn gets its carbon and energy from oil that has been stored for millions of years. Thus, burning gas moves carbon from underground repositories into the atmosphere, but eating food does not.

Both are potential problems, but one is much worse than the other.