Trim the Fat, Save the Earth?

Julia Whitty Wrote an article recently titled "Diet for a Warmer Planet" which made me think....a lot!  She conceptualized a "hypothetical diet" to help save our planet here's why:

Excerpt: The Average American consumes 2200 pounds of food a year - that equals to about 1200-1700 calories more per day than most people need for personal or planetary health and as much as 7.6% of energy in the US is used to grow human fat.

Excerpt: A Cornell University study found that humans could cut out half of food energy usage just by reducing their meat and junk food consumption. Giving up just meat alone consumes 33% less in fossil fuels.  Most interesting two facts in the article are as follows:

If every American cut just 1 serving of meat a week it would equal taking 5 million cars off the road.

One third of average caloric intake comes from junk food.  A can of diet soda delivers 1 calorie of food energy at a cost of 2100 calories to make the drink and the can. (this doesn't even include transporting it and storing it)

I try to maintain a diet of locally raised natural meats and poultry in moderation but, I am no good on the junk food front......Steak and a Soda anyone?

Does anyone on Huddler modify their diet to be more enviromentally friendly?

It is pretty astounding how much energy and resources our food and drink production requires.  After working on the Food Consumption and Production wiki, I couldn't stop thinking about the carbon footprint of the stuff I was eating.

I suppose when it comes to consciously greening my diet, my considerations have been more for locally and organically produced stuff.  I guess mostly I've considered eating less more of a physical health thing, rather than a planetary health thing.  But it does certainly add some motivation to cut back. 

We had this thread going about the subject of "exercising for the earth" back in June, which is kind of a related take on the subject.  The notion of requiring more fuel to move a heavier person (regarding transportation) is interesting.

So I suppose on both counts, for all those looking to stick to their "lose weight" New Year's resolution, you can add global health to your list of reasons why, along with getting ready for bathing suit season.  :-)

Yeah, when I learned about the environmental impact of meat and beef in particular, I reduced my meat consumption.  I rarely eat beef now, and though I still like to eat meat, I try not to eat too much of it.

We also go to the farmers market every weekend, and at the supermarket I try to get organic foods when they're available.

I was finally convinced that beef isn't the best thing to eat, environmentally anyways.  I don't think I will ever be able to go fully veggie, but I have been cutting down significantly on my beef intake.

I do also tend to lean towards organic when my wallet allows, and I tend to consider packaging of course, but the best thing I think is to cook from scratch at home.  Homemade bread and soups and casseroles have to be better than boxed mixes, meals, and wonder bread...

When it comes to junk food, I mostly have a sweet tooth and carb cravings, so I make most of my junk food myself - cake, cookies, homemade candy - hopefully homemade counts for something :)  I've been cutting down on that too though, too many dirty dishes! I'd rather just ignore the craving than have to wash them all!

Before we beat ourselves up too badly, while the food consumption wiki talks about Americans eating 67 lbs of beef per year, Argentina leads the pack with 155 POUNDS PER PERSON PER YEAR...WHOA.

That's almost a whole me in beef, hah.

Oh my word, that's a ton of beef.  That's almost eating half a pound every day.  And of course, that's a lot of cow flatulence.