Vegan Diets Healthier for Planet

People go vegan for health or ethical reasons, but here is another good one- saving the planet from greenhouse gases. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, (pictured here) Assistant Professors in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, studied the production of greenhouse gases for different diets and found that a strictly vegetarian diet to be the most energy efficient, saving a ton and a half of CO2 or equivalents per year. Chicken came next, while red meat and, surprisingly, fish, tied for last. "Fish can be from one extreme to the other," Martin said. Sardines and anchovies flourish near coastal areas and can be harvested with minimal energy expenditure. But swordfish and other large predatory species required energy-intensive long-distance voyages. Half of the greenhouse gas used generated comes from transport; the balance is from sources like sewage lagoons associated with pork production. We suppose that a new category of diet is needed: the 100 mile vegan. ::Eurekalert