Carbon footprint of carnivorous diet revealed

[Karmadillo]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/carbon-footprint-of-carnivorous-diet-revealed-2316856.html

Carbon footprint of carnivorous diet revealed
Relaxnews
Tuesday, 19 July 2011

American non-profit organization the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released on July 18 the results of a study into the carbon footprint of meat and dairy products in an attempt to inform consumers about the environmental impact of their diet.

The study, titled "Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health," calculates the environmental impact of meat and dairy production in the United States, taking into account emissions from the consumption and disposal as well as production of food.

The study concluded that if every person in the United States stopped eating meat and cheese for one day a week for one year the resulting reduction in emissions would be equivalent to removing 7.6 million cars from the roads.

The study found that the environmental impact differed between foods: beef was found to generate twice the emissions of pork and four times the emissions of chicken. Also the emissions associated with beef were 13 times higher than those produced by vegetable proteins such as beans, lentils and tofu.

more...

[Bladian]

1. ...oh well.

:P

[HopeHoops]

2. Not to mention obesity and associated methane emissions from those that consume it.

Bad shit, man.

[Bladian]

3. But...

my meat. :( I love my meat.

[HopeHoops]

4. That's what SHE said.

:evilgrin:

[Bladian]

5. Ohhhh come on!

Hahahah. I SO walked into that :toast:

[HopeHoops]

6. Like a fly in an orb web.

[Bladian]

7. Well played.

And Karmadillo, I apologize for hijacking your thread. :P

[HopeHoops]

10. Well, let us get it back on track (with attitude) - MEAT IS MURDER!!!!

Okay, maybe that was a bit overboard.

[Taverner]

19. You can get obese from a vegan diet too

Just sayin'

[uppityperson]

32. vegetarians don't fart? Huh.

[HopeHoops]

41. OH yeah we do!

But I'll be damned if I fart anywhere near as much as a cow - and it is really cow burps that produce the most methane, not their farts. (I burp too, but not nearly as much since I stopped going to college parties and drinking IC Lite from kegs over 20 years ago).

[handmade34]

8. the facts are hard to ignore...

hundreds of studies show the impact of meat production on the environment...


http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/07/food.foodanddrink

"Their analysis showed that producing a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide." from NewScientist

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/aug97/livestock.hrs.html

http://woods.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/evp.php?name=livestock

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89676010

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3956

[madrchsod]

9. so what are we supposed to eat?

[Shandris]

12. Well for me personally...

...I'd have to consume 'iron packets' on a daily basis. It's like a small IV bag of this nasty aqueous solution meant to spike my iron (anemia deficiency).

Or I can eat some red meat 2-3 times/week (alternating). I don't particularly even LIKE red meat, and sometimes it's difficult to get me to eat my 'minimum' amount (as recommended by my doctor). I don't like pork, and chicken and turkey are...okay, I guess. Fish I enjoy, but I can't eat it often because of the mercuric content.

I guess that's why articles like this annoy me. They make the assumption that so many of us eat hamburger 7 days/week with a side of pureed steak and a beef blood beverage. It's just not true, yet that doesn't prevent them from trying to harp on how spectacular vegetables are.

I don't do authoritarianism of ANY flavor.

[liberalla]

20. Do you like Lentils? I love 'em.

They're very high in iron (as are other legumes.) I'm not trying to lecture you, I'm just curious. Does your Doctor recommend any plant sources for iron?

Not that I'm a vegetarian. I love a good rib-eye steak. However, watching the documentary Food, Inc. and Fast Food Nation has really turned me off to factory farming and mass produced products. Gone are the days of mindless eating and grabbing anything fast and cheap.

[Shandris]

23. I've never actually tried them.

If they're high in Iron I will though...like I said, I don't particularly enjoy red meat at all. I really wish I could find some good fish *that I can afford*. :(

No, my doctor suggested only red meat for my iron, although I couldn't say why. I've found CoCo Wheats to be helpful when I just can't eat red meat too.

Thanks for the tip! :)

[Gregorian]

11. Symptom, not cause.

But we can't discuss the cause, so this is what we talk about.

[FLPanhandle]

13. Yep.

The real cause makes people uncomfortable. In the meantime, we'll be scaling back and back over the years until 10 billion people are living on gruel because there will be nothing left. Now it's meat, next it's dairy, etc.

Oh well.

[izquierdista]

14. Underlying assumptions?

That the beef, pork and chickens are being fed a diet of soybeans and corn typical of factory farmed meat.

Grass fed cows, and pigs and chickens that forage for their food have a much different "carbon footprint". A term which, by the way, has no exact mathematical definition and only some nebulous physical interpretation. Just because you can equate energy to CO2 produced, and then divide that by what was produced doesn't mean you understand the production process.

[FLPanhandle]

15. It also doesn't include transportation of fruit/veggies

I laugh at folks that eat veggies flown up from South American who think they are being more environmentally friendly than me eating locally grass fed beef.

[izquierdista]

18. The only "carbon footprint" my chickens have....

is when they scratch in the barbecue pit.

[FLPanhandle]

28. Yep, but some vegan eating asparagus flown in from Peru...

tomatoes from Mexico, and Spinach grown from the far side of the US will somehow think they are being more environmentally friendly. :rofl:

[HappyMe]

16. How about just removing 7.6 million cars?

As far as food goes, everything in moderation.

[LanternWaste]

17. Let the righteous rationalizing begin...

Let the righteous rationalizing, the dismissal of the report and petulant irrelevancies begin in 4,3,2...

[NeedleCast]

22. Of course. Let there be no discussion. Only Obey

(sarcasm)

[The Straight Story]

25. Cars, planes, internet, electricity - Maybe the Amish have the right idea and a right to complain

Not sure anyone on the internet does.

[slackmaster]

21. The problem isn't people eating meat. The real problem is too many people.

:nuke:

[FLPanhandle]

27. Bingo.

As a human species we ate meat for 10's of thousands of years. Suddenly it's a problem. Why? Because there are too many of us for the planet to ecologically support.

Instead of dealing with the root cause, people only want to talk about the symptoms. It's easier, less controversial, and, for some, it fits their agenda.

[ZombieHorde]

29. Humans eat a lot more meat than we used to, that is one of the reasons it is a problem.

Our population is also a problem, but that is more difficult to fix. China has been taking measures to curb population, but reproductive choice is probably more "sacred" to Americans than dietary choice. But that is just a guess.

[The Straight Story]

24. We have too many cows, I am doing my part to remove them

[Cannikin]

26. I'll eat a vegetarian before I give up meat.

:evilgrin:

[yawnmaster]

38. Some of my favorite animals to eat are actually vegans! eom

[Lucian]

30. Can't ignore the facts.

I like how meat eaters always try to rationalize their meat-eating habits.

[SidDithers]

33. And I like how vegetarians try to turn homo sapiens into something they're not...nt

Sid

[Recovered Repug]

37. I don't rationalize.

I'm on a crusade to save the world from the effects of cattle, pigs and chickens. I will eat them until either they or I become extinct. If you and your fellow vegetarians care for the earth as much as I do, you would join me.

[uppityperson]

31. Omnivorous, not carnivorous. Don't know people who eat only meat.

They don't have to exaggerate to make a point. OMNIvorous, not CARNIvorous.

[Peregrine]

34. Interesting

I think EWG can get further just advocating a meatless day a week, even meat-lovers who are environmentally concerned could and would do this. Take away meat, for one I would starve. For me the 3 food groups are meat, starch, and fat. But for one day, I could refrain.

[csziggy]

40. Just cutting back would make a huge difference

Hubby and I used to eat beef three or four days a week. Some kind of meat with lunch and dinner. Sometimes we'd also have bacon or ham with our breakfast.

We've changed our habits a lot over the last ten years or so. Now we almost never have meat at lunch and if we do, we tend to skip it for dinner. Instead of making a dinner that includes a full piece of chicken or cut of beef or pork per person, I cut the meat into bite size pieces and use that to stretch the meat to more meals per piece. Before, hubby would eat a whole chicken breast for a meal. Now, I slice or dice that one chicken breast and make dishes that will give us four or more servings. I am budgeting for 3-4 ounces of meat per person per day maximum. With the addition of proteins from other sources, that is more than enough.

I have worked hard to add more vegetables and complex carbohydrates to our diet. We have a salad every day, whole grain and vegetables with dinner. Breakfast is whole grain cereals with fruit. Hubby has a peanut butter sandwich on home made whole grain bread, I usually have a slice of bread for lunch wit some sort of spread on it.

While I have not made the step of only buying locally grown, grass fed, free range chicken and beef, I plan to. Now that we have cut back so much on meat consumption, I can afford to take that step. I have already worked to try to buy mostly locally grown vegetables - if I can make it to the farmer's market they are actually cheaper much of the time than the stuff at the supermarket that is not as fresh and does not taste as good.

We did not suddenly change our habits, just made little steps at a time. It helps that I am not working so I have the time to cook fresh bread and chop all those vegies - and plan all our meals around what is in season or on sale.

[CaptRandom]

35. yah but cow and cheese = yuuuuum...

[flvegan]

36. Emissions is just one small part of the environmental damage of eating meat/dairy. n/t

[yawnmaster]

39. Bacon is known to be very very climate friendly. And it tastes really good. eom