Save gas by going vegetarian

[Guest guest]

The typical American could save almost as much gas by going vegetarian

as by not driving.

 

 

http://bicycleuniverse.info/cars/beef.html

[Guest guest]

, " Jim " <jdsears669>

wrote:

> The typical American could save almost as much gas by going

vegetarian

> as by not driving.

>

Jim

 

Can you explain how not eating meat saves gasoline?

 

Been scratching my head for awhile on that one.

 

Yehudit

[Guest guest]

> Can you explain how not eating meat saves gasoline?

>

> Been scratching my head for awhile on that one.

>

> Yehudit

 

Because meat requires much more fossil fuel to produce than vegetables

and grains. How much more? About 145 times more for beef than for

potatoes. In short, the more meat you eat, the more gas you waste.

 

David Pimentel of Cornell University calculates that it takes nearly

twice as much fossil energy to produce a typical American diet than a

pure vegetarian diet. This works out to about an extra 150 gallons of

fossil fuels per year for a meat-eater. This means that meat-eaters

are " driving " an extra eleven miles every day whether they really

drive or not, when we look at how much extra fuel it takes to feed

them.

 

In fact, meat production is so wasteful that walking actually uses

more fossil energy than driving, if the calories burned from walking

come from a typical American diet:

 

" It is actually quite astounding how much energy is wasted by the

standard American diet-style. Even driving many gas-guzzling luxury

cars can conserve energy over walking -- that is, when the calories

you burn walking come from the standard American diet! (62) This is

because the energy needed to produce the food you would burn in

walking a given distance is greater than the energy needed to fuel

your car to travel the same distance, assuming that the car gets 24

miles per gallon or better. "

 

Jim

" Unless we change direction, we are likely to

end up where we are headed " .

 

- Chinese proverb

[Guest guest]

Jim wrote:

 

> " It is actually quite astounding how much energy is wasted by the

> standard American diet-style. Even driving many gas-guzzling luxury

> cars can conserve energy over walking -- that is, when the calories

> you burn walking come from the standard American diet! (62) This is

> because the energy needed to produce the food you would burn in

> walking a given distance is greater than the energy needed to fuel

> your car to travel the same distance, assuming that the car gets 24

> miles per gallon or better. "

 

Well! That's a new wrinkle.

 

LG

[Guest guest]

Let's not pat ourselves on the back too soon.

 

Unless you grow your own, the produce that you eat is trucked across the country

to you. It's transported in refrigerated trucks. These trucks run on petroleum

fuels.

 

Before that, way back at the beginning, the fields are sown with machines that

run on petroleum fuels. The fields aren't watered purely by rain; they are

irrigated, and that takes energy that comes from petroleum (water transport and

water processing depend on petroleum energy.) The produce (especially grains &

beans) is harvested by machines, which run on petroleum.

 

Our entire economy is in fact founded on petroleum, which is exactly why we're

in such a mess right now. Just not eating meat isn't enough.

 

I've read the book referenced " Beyond Beef. " (It is, for the most part, a

really good book and I recommend it to anyone who is curious about the beef

industry.) The flaw in that book's argument, and in the argument of the page,

is that it doesn't include the transportation factor. Produce is transported

all over the nation. Those potatoes produced in New York aren't consumed only

in New York.

 

 

Jim <jdsears669 wrote:

The typical American could save almost as much gas by going vegetarian

as by not driving.

 

 

http://bicycleuniverse.info/cars/beef.html

 

 

 

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