The carbon footprint of our food as been in the news for awhile. Not screaming headlines, but lurking in the shadows.
Livestock farming produces from 20% to 50% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Shrink That Footprint’s has a chart that shows that a meat lover has the highest carbon footprint at 3.3 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. A vegan diet has the lowest carbon footprint at just 1.5 tons CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent).
Meat, cheese and eggs have the highest carbon footprint. Fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts have much lower carbon footprints.
The World Bank report adds these missing factors:
- Animal breathing produces carbon dioxide just like humans
• Livestock breathing makes up about 14% of greenhouse gases
• A quarter of land worldwide is used for livestock grazing
• A third of farm land is used to grow food for animals
• Nearly 40% of methane gas emissions comes from farm animals
• Methane is 70 times worse than carbon dioxide in global warming impact
• 50 billion animals are raised each year rather than the first estimate of 20 billion
• Further emissions from cooking, storage, waste disposal and packaging.