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Tue Aug 26, 11:17 AM ET
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.