The Slate Green Challenge
by Brittany Jacobs, Seattle on 11.10.06
Although driving a hybrid car conserves over one ton of carbon dioxide per year, we realize that not everyone is ready to go out and buy a brand new car. However, if you were really serious about reducing your impact, adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet would knock off an extra ton and a half of CO2 emissions. It’s true! One calorie of animal protein releases more than ten times as much carbon dioxide than does one calorie of plant protein. If you want to make a positive difference and can’t live without your t-bone, try curbing your carbon emissions (and your waistline) by eating one less steak or burger per week.
Come join the 24,000 readers who have pledged to collectively reduce Treehugger’s carbon emissions by 20%. The Slate Green Challenge starts with an initial carbon footprint quiz and follows with tangible suggestions and information on how to curb your emissions and reduce your impact on the Earth. Our friends at I’m Organic are providing prize t-shirts to the first 500 who fulfill their pledge. Happy dieting! ::Slate Green Challenge Welcome ::Slate Green Challenge Week 3: Food
You know, as the green movement and green science matures, it's time to start avoiding these grossly oversimplified carbon equations, because they serve to turn off more people than they convince. I seriously doubt that one calorie of my local, sustainable, grass-fed beef puts more net carbon into the atmosphere at the end of the day than one calorie of a New Zealand apple or a Chilean blueberry shipped to me. And what of the volume of factory-farmed eggs and milk that many lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume for their protein and calcium?
Simple carbon equations like power generation or transportation fuel are served well by this kind of "trade-off" proposal, but those of us who make great efforts to dine sustainably - and for whom veganism, because of its culinary limitations (and yes, I've been to the best gourmet vegan restaurants in the country) and health effects (it tends to raise triglycerides unless you are extremely careful), is not really a reasonable option - are really bothered by this argument. You can have my sustainable beef when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. (And yes, I was a vegan/vegetarian for years. If you can sustain a 100-mile vegan diet in a place like Texas, you have truly religious fervor.)
Still, love the Challenge - great idea, and I think I'm negative at this point, though a lot of that is via Terrapass....
I agree....consuming locally raised free-range, grass-fed meat in moderation is easier on the environment than getting one's produce shipped in from South America or New Zealand.
A great book to read re: dangers of soy and value of grassfed and wild meats (which have healthier omega oils than factory meats, among other benefits) is Fallon and Enig's Nourishing Traditions
This is also a great site:
Eat Wild.com
I tried to be a vegetarian, but it cost me my health. I now consume lean, grassfed, natural meats in moderation in combination with a diet high in vegetables, raw and fermented foods.
"adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet would knock off an extra ton and a half of CO2 emissions."
Is that really true? I'd be really interested to find out how that was worked out and if it takes everything into account?