Going veggie can slash your carbon footprint

[TylerDurden]

If you survive the Maple-Leaf meat, chew on this:

Going veggie can slash your carbon footprint: study
Tue Aug 26, 11:19 AM ET

BERLIN (AFP) - Giving up meat could drastically reduce your carbon footprint, with meat-eaters' diets responsible for almost twice the emissions of those of vegetarians, a German study said on Tuesday.

A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car 4,758 kilometres (2,956 miles), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said.

But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch.

The calculations are based on emissions of greenhouse gases, including methane produced by the animals themselves, as well as emissions from food production including manufacturing feed and fertiliser and the use of farmland.

Going vegan -- giving up meat and dairy products -- would cut the emissions released in making what you eat more than seven-fold, to the equivalent of driving 629 kilometres, it said.

And if it is all organic, your food footprint is almost a 17th of that of a meat-eater -- the equivalent of driving 281 kilometres.

Beef is particularly environmentally unfriendly, it said, with producing a kilo (2.2 pounds) the same as driving 71 kilometres compared with 26 kilometres for pork.

Switching to organic farming can cut emissions dramatically, "but what counts is the way we feed ourselves ... production and consumption first and foremost of beef and milk must be cut drastically," the study said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080826/sc_afp/lifestylegermanyclimateagriculture_080826151908

 

[Link]

Huh. My sister turned vegetarian like a year ago. But not me. At least I don't really care all that much for beef.

*continues to munch on chicken bake*

 

[ngocthach1130]

Can't seem to wean myself from meat. I do eat meat in moderation. Asian diet have conditioned me to massive amount of rice. That and being of southeast asia origin, i'm also depleting the world supply of seafood lol.

 

[Link]

Can't seem to wean myself from meat. I do eat meat in moderation. Asian diet have conditioned me to massive amount of rice. That and being of southeast asia origin, i'm also depleting the world supply of seafood lol.

Seafood for the freaking win, man.

 

[ngocthach1130]

Hell yeah. At the beginning of this month i drove up to Rockland, Maine. Lobster Festival. It was seafood heaven. Think i'm going to mark that as an annual trip now. I love coastal life. As much as i love seafood, i still think we should reduce the amount we pull out of the sea. I'd like to enjoy them for years to come. Current estimate seem to place earth's supply of seafood to last until 2020, at the current rate of consumption. That date is too close by for my taste. No pun intended hehe.

 

[TylerDurden]

Food of the Gods:

 

[Eric G]

If you survive the Maple-Leaf meat,

In the city here where I live 2 people have already died from this Listeria outbreak.Shame on Maple-Leaf!

I reduced my intake of beef and pork over the last few years for health reasons but a nice rare steak or ribs on the BBQ every now and again still tastes great.

Sea food rocks too.

I grow most of my own veggies.In the fall all leaf matter from the garden gets composted and returned to the earth.

Eric

 

[EMF]

David Letterman: "First we had the Lettuce scare then we had the Coli in the tomatoes-remember that? Now, who would ever thought that the healthiest part of a Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwich- would be the bacon? *rim shot*

 

[JinbaIttai]

It's a good thing in the future we will be able to give the government our money to buy carbon offsets, you know, as penalty for having too large footprints.

Do you see where this is headed?

Why does anyone believe this nonsense has anything to do with saving the environment?

 

[Lock]

Do you see where this is headed?

two words
rabbit meat


Big hutch out behind the house :lol:
It's a pretty healthy meat as meats go btw
...actually I think the paper reported recently that chickens might be making a bit of an urban comeback.
tks
Lok

 

[ngocthach1130]

nah, squirrels are the biggest rave at the moment. Apparently all that frolicking gives them pretty good meat and very lean. I think they're having an over population problem of squirrels in England. Seems they're taking over the native chipmunk land so the people are really supporting squirrel hunting.

 

[marvingalaxy]

Squirrel is the only unusual meat I've tried and it's quite good. It tastes like dark-meat chicken (like chicken legs and thighs).

To offset my carbon footprint I now eat pure carbon. It also tastes like chicken but not as juicy.

 

[Link]

To offset my carbon footprint I now eat pure carbon. It also tastes like chicken but not as juicy.

So...super-well-done steak?

 

[marvingalaxy]

Actually, I lied. Pure carbon (charcoal) is not very tasty.

I've cut down on meat somewhat, but I just can't do without Spam. It's a Hawaii thing.

 

[TylerDurden]

Meat: Making Global Warming Worse
By BRYAN WALSH
TIME
36 minutes ago

Need another reason to feel guilty about feeding your children that Happy Meal - aside from the fat, the calories and that voice in your head asking why you can't be bothered to actually cook a well-balanced meal now and then? Rajendra Pachauri would like to offer you one. The head of the U.N.'s Nobel Prize–winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pachauri on Monday urged people around the world to cut back on meat in order to combat climate change. "Give up meat for one day [per week] at least initially, and decrease it from there," Pachauri told Britain's Observer newspaper. "In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity." So, that addiction to pork and beef isn't just clogging your arteries; it's flame-broiling the earth, too.

By the numbers, Pachauri is absolutely right. In a 2006 report, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concluded that worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions - by comparison, all the world's cars, trains, planes and boats account for a combined 13% of greenhouse gas emissions. Much of livestock's contribution to global warming come from deforestation, as the growing demand for meat results in trees being cut down to make space for pasture or farmland to grow animal feed. Livestock takes up a lot of space - nearly one-third of the earth's entire landmass. In Latin America, the FAO estimates that some 70% of former forest cover has been converted for grazing. Lost forest cover heats the planet, because trees absorb CO2 while they're alive - and when they're burned or cut down, the greenhouse gas is released back into the atmosphere.

Then there's manure - all that animal waste generates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that has 296 times the warming effect of CO2. And of course, there is cow flatulence: as cattle digest grass or grain, they produce methane gas, of which they expel up to 200 L a day. Given that there are 100 million cattle in the U.S. alone, and that methane has 23 times the warming impact of CO2, the gas adds up.

The worrisome news is that as the world economy grows, so does global meat consumption. The average person in the industrialized world eats more than 176 lb. of meat annually, compared with around 66 lb. consumed by the average resident of the developing world. As developing nations get richer, one of the first things citizens spend their extra income on is a more meat-rich diet. Whereas pork would once have been a rare luxury in China, today even the relatively poor in the country's cities can afford a little meat at almost every meal - so much so that pork imports to China rose more than 900% through the first four months of the year. In 2008, global meat production is expected to top 280 million tons, and that figure could nearly double by 2050.

Producing all that meat will do more than just warm the world; it will also raise pressure on land resources. The FAO estimates that about 20% of the planet's pastureland has been degraded by grazing animals, and increased demand for meat means increased demand for animal feed - much of the world's grain production is fed to animals rather than to humans. (The global spike in grain prices over the past year is in large part due to the impact on grain supplies of the growing demand for meat.) The expanded production of meat has been facilitated by industrial feedlots, which bleed antibiotics and other noxious chemicals. And of course, the human health impact of too much meat can be seen in everything from bloated waistlines in America to rising rates of cardiovascular disease in developing nations, where heart attacks were once as rare as a T-bone steak.

So is Pachauri right that going vegetarian can save the planet? (At least the 68-year-old Indian economist practices what he preaches.) It's true that giving up that average 176 lb. of meat a year is one of the greenest lifestyle changes you can make as an individual. You can drive a more fuel-efficient car, or install compact fluorescent lightbulbs, or improve your insulation, but unless you intend to hunt wild buffalo and boar, there's really no green way to get meat - although organic, locally farmed beef or chicken is better than its factory-raised equivalents. The geophysicists Gidon Eschel and Pamela Martin have estimated that if every American reduced meat consumption by just 20%, the greenhouse gas savings would be the same as if we all switched from a normal sedan to a hybrid Prius.

Still, Pachauri is just slightly off. It's a tactical mistake, first of all, to focus global warming action on personal restrictions. The developed world could cut back hugely on its meat consumption, but those gains would be largely swallowed up - sorry - by the developing world, which isn't likely to give up its newly acquired taste for cheeseburgers and pork. The same goes for energy use, or travel. It's great for magazines to come up with 51 ways you can save the environment, but relying on individuals to voluntarily change their behavior is nowhere near as effective as political change aimed at speeding the transition to an economy far less carbon-intensive than our current one. So, by all means cut back on the burgers - I recommend a nice deep-fried scorpion - but remember that your choices from the takeout menu will matter less than the choices made by those who inherit the White House next January.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080910/hl_time/meatmakingglobalwarmingworse