Linda Gardner's Blog: Lettuce Three Times Worse for The Climate Than Bacon

lettuce

There’s a lot of talk about meat being bad for the climate, due to production of greenhouse gases. But if you compare calorie for calorie it turns out that many vegetables are actually worse.

For example, growing lettuce produces three times more greenhouse gases than the same amount of bacon.

Scientific American: Lettuce Produces More Greenhouse Gas Emissions Than Bacon Does

While the threat of climate change is probably very real, there’s a big misunderstanding around meat. Greenhouse gases, like methane, from farting cows are seen as a big threat. This not only sounds silly, it’s actually not a major problem.

The methane turns into carbon dioxide within 10 years or so in the atmosphere, and then it’s absorbed into the grass that other cows will eat. It’s all part of a cycle. The amount of carbon added to the atmosphere long term? ZERO.

Compare that to burning fossil fuels, like coal or oil. This means digging up stored carbon and adding it to the atmosphere. It will take millions of years to get rid of it. That carbon we’re may be stuck with for the duration of civilization. This is the problem.

The solution to the climate problem is burning less fossil fuels. It will probably be possible to replace that soon, mostly with rapidly improving solar panels and batteries and electric vehicles.

The solution to the climate problem is not eating less meat. It’s not even to eat less lettuce. It’s all about not burning fossil fuels.