Here is a TerraPass blog post about carbon footprint of food:

http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/cutting-the-carbon-from-your-diet

His conclusion is that an easy way to cut your carbon footprint is to eat less meat. I think that grass-fed meat is less energy-intensive than grain-fed (as one of the commenters points out), so the math is a little different if you're getting MiG beef. However, I tend to agree with his conclusion. Meat is a much less efficient form of calories - I've seen figures that estimate beef to be 125 times less efficient than grains. Put another way: an acre of land devoted to growing grains could feed 125 people; the same acre devoted to beef can feed one. With a global food crisis going on, that's pretty sobering.

I think you can achieve a happy medium by devoting your meat budget to buying only pastured meats. Because this meat is more expensive, you will eat it less often, thus improving your carbon footprint. The meat you eat will also be better quality, so you'll be healthier and it will taste better.

 out of  found this valuable. Do you find this valuable?    

Show Last Reply