this thread was long neglected....
For years meat eaters have endured finger-wagging and guilt trips based on the assumption that meat production is bad for the environment and contributes to greenhouse gasses (GHG) and global warming. But a new study suggests that eating a vegetarian diet is more likely to contribute to climate change. According to research from Carnegie Mellon University, consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because these foods have relatively high resources uses and GHG emissions per calorie. Published in Environment Systems and Decisions (March 2016: 36(1); 92-103), the study measured the changes in energy use, blue water footprint and GHG emissions associated with U.S. food consumption patterns. ?Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon,? said Paul Fischbeck, one of the study authors. ?Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken.? The authors did not study low-impact, pasture-fed unprocessed dairy production, which would have a far lower impact than conventional confinement dairy subject to high-energy pasteurization processes.
