Eating a vegetarian diet could contribute to climate change, says research by Carnegie Mellon University. It says “following the USDA recommendations to consume more fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because those foods have relatively high resource uses and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per calorie.” One of the researchers, professor Paul Fischbeck, says many vegetables require more resources to produce than expected. “Eating lettuce is three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon,” he said in a release.
Fischbeck and two other researchers studied the demands on water and energy use and production of greenhouse gases to grow, process, transport, store and cook food in the context of the obesity epidemic.
Eating less and reducing obesity rates would reduce energy use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions by 9 percent – a good result. But eating the fruits, vegetables, dairy, seafood and other components of a healthy diet would mean increases of 38 percent in energy use, 10 percent in water use and 6 percent in GHG emissions. “What is good for us health-wise isn’t always what’s best for the environment,” said Michelle Tom, one of the researchers. “That’s important for public officials to know and for them to be cognizant of these tradeoffs as they develop or continue to develop dietary guidelines in the future.”