Eating less beef better way to cut carbon emissions

The Times of India , Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Correspondent : Kounteya Sinha
LONDON: Eating less beef would be a better way for people to cut carbon emissions than giving up their cars, latest research has shown.

The Weizmann Institute of Science research looked at the five main sources of protein in the American diet: dairy, beef, poultry, pork and eggs. Their idea was to calculate the environmental inputs - the costs - per nutritional unit: a calorie or gram of protein.

When the numbers were in, including those for the environmental costs of different kinds of feed (pasture, roughage such as hay, and concentrates such as corn), the team developed equations that yielded values for the environmental cost - per calorie and then per unit of protein, for each food.

The calculations showed that the biggest culprit, by far, is beef. That was no surprise say scientists.

The surprise was in the size of the gap: In total, eating beef is more costly to the environment by an order of magnitude - about 10 times on average - than other animal-derived foods, including pork and poultry.

Carbon dioxide is the most-prevalent gas when it comes to climate change. It is released by vehicles, industry, and forest removal and comprises the greatest portion of greenhouse gas totals. But methane and nitrous oxide are also greenhouse gasses and account for approximately 28% of global warming activity.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Eating-less-beef-better-way-to-cut-carbon-emissions/articleshow/38901307.cms
 


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