My Beef with stopglobalwarming.org

I love Al Gore, compact flourescent bulbs, and my electric lawn mower. And when my Saab lease ends in December and I get my Hybrid Toyota Highlander, I’m sure I’ll love that too.

(Re: Not getting a Prius–I’ve got two 80 pound greyhounds, remember, and one of the quirks of greyhounds is they don’t sit–they either stand or lie down–and either way takes up A LOT of room).

Though the neat folks at stopglobalwarming.org have amassed oodles of facts about how we live and how it affects the planet, and they advocate for buying locally and buying organic, they don’t say that changing to a plant-based diet does more to curb global warming than driving a hybrid vehicle.

I think that’s irresponsible, and the only reason I can think of for that omission is an economic one. Once you advocate for a plant-based diet, you are condemning an entire industry–and the jobs of the millions of people who work to support the animal-based diet and are very attached to their livelihoods.

I know it’s a huge commitment and I realize the consequences, however, as a recent University of Chicago study concluded:

The average American diet requires the production of an extra ton and a half of carbon dioxide-equivalent, in the form of actual carbon dioxide as well as methane and other greenhouse gases compared to a strictly vegetarian diet . . . [H]owever close you can be to a vegan diet and further from the mean American diet, the better you are for the planet. It doesn’t have to be all the way to the extreme end of vegan. If you simply cut down from two burgers a week to one, you’ve already made a substantial difference.

The above quote is from a press release from the University of Chicago. I think the report is so important that I’ve included in this post.

(Download nutriEI.pdf)