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Ditch the meat, beat the heat
By Emile Hallez
ehallez@mscd.edu

Walking in the territory of moose, caribou and French-speaking lumberjacks, I recently spent a week exploring eastern Canada. Though I didn’t expect to see Québécois stereotypically huddled into villages of quaint igloos, I was surprised to arrive at a climate that would not sustain such contrived structures.

While snow continued to blanket the streets of Denver, parts of North America that would normally enjoy similar occurrences waited through heat and rain for flakes that did not come. Though the area’s ski industry has been suffering, it’s the least of our worries.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Organization reported 2006 as the warmest year on record and documented last month as the fourth-hottest December since 1895.

Some will likely refute that this is a symptom of global warming. Regardless, the world’s best interest is to prepare for what might be, regardless of how unsavory it may seem. For those still in search of a resolution for 2007, might I suggest a lifestyle of decreased carbon emissions?

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, under a rock or perhaps in your parents’ basement, you probably know that the fossil fuels used in transportation are contributors to greenhouse gases. In turn, you traded in your H2 for a moped, or your moped for a bicycle. In other words, you’ve been doing your part ... right?

Transportation aside, there is another way to reduce carbon emissions: Ditch the meat and eat your veggies. The amount of water and energy required to produce animal products dwarfs that of plant-based foods.

A 2005 study at the University of Chicago, Diet, Energy and Global Warming, found the average American expends about the same energy in transportation as in getting food to his or her table. This is important – most of the energy used in food production, processing, storage and transport comes from fossil fuels.

The average American diet annually contributes 700 kilograms of atmospheric carbon dioxide more than a vegan diet of equal caloric intake. That is roughly a third of the carbon dioxide produced by driving a mid-size car more than 8,000 miles.

The animal industry is also responsible for increased levels of methane and nitrous oxide in the air. Diets including animal products result in an average of 800 additional kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalents emitted per capita.

But not all plant-based diets are equal. Types of produce vary by their production-energy input to caloric-output ratios. Tomatoes, for example, are 60 percent energy-efficient, while oats are 500 percent. Anything less than 100 percent efficient should be considered energy-wasting. Beef production is about 1 percent.

To be fair, I should point out an energy-expenditure shortcoming of the animal-free diet. Vegans typically live longer than meat-eaters, consequently using energy -– fossil-based or otherwise – in the extra years they enjoy. This expenditure is likely not more than the excess of consuming animals in a lifetime, but who really wants to live longer in a world with melting icecaps, drowning polar bears and an arctic without igloos?