Lettuce three times worse than BACON for environment

Environmental | 206925 hits | Dec 17 2:01 pm | Posted by: N_Fiddledog

A VEGETARIAN diet doesn't necessarily translate into a cleaner planet after scientists found fruit and vegetables could be HARMFUL to the environment.

Comments

by andyt
Fri Dec 18, 2015 1:10 am
Most lettuce is a waste of effort anyway - very little nutrition.

Anyway, I sure hope this is true, considering the source. Take that you vegehoovians.

OTOH, eating legumes has got to be good for the environment, being nitrogen fixers and all. So those recipies for chickpeas we just had, add bacon and go really green
by fifeboy
Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:17 am
Which makes more sense to you?
BACON

or

LETTUCE

I mean, really
by ShepherdsDog
Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:23 am
Guess my BLT will just have to become a BBT. The sacrifices we make.
by Thanos
Fri Dec 18, 2015 5:06 am
I stopped with lettuce a long time ago when those news stories about it being a major vector for spreading e-coli contamination began to get too numerous.
by DrCaleb
Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:20 pm
There you go again Fiddly! Doing everything your TED talk told you not to do!

The issue is that the original Carnegie Mellon study on which the claim was based looked at energy, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions on a per calorie basis. Comparing lettuce to bacon is taking a high-calorie meat and comparing it with a low-calorie vegetable � it�s an unfair comparison. In order to equal the calories in two and a half strips of bacon, you would have to eat an entire head of lettuce. Since you have to eat more lettuce to equal the calories of bacon, you have to first grow more lettuce � and that lettuce is going to use more resources like water and energy.

�You�d have to eat a lot of lettuce to get up to a significant amount of calories,� Paul Fischbeck, lead author of the study, told ThinkProgress.

On a calorie by calorie basis, lettuce might be worse for the environment than bacon � three times worse, according to the study. As Emily Cassidy and Dawn Undurraga at the Environmental Working Group point out, by weight, however, pork accounts for six times more greenhouse gas emissions than lettuce.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/1 ... s-climate/
by andyt
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:01 pm
But you're going to get significant nutrition out of the pork. Protein, iron, vit B12. Lettuce is just a waste of effort. And the article mentioned some other veges as well. Eggplant, celery, cucumbers.
by Lemmy
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:11 pm
"Thanos" said
I stopped with lettuce a long time ago when those news stories about it being a major vector for spreading e-coli contamination began to get too numerous.

Rinse your produce. Safe food handling 101.
by DrCaleb
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:26 pm
"andyt" said
But you're going to get significant nutrition out of the pork. Protein, iron, vit B12. Lettuce is just a waste of effort. And the article mentioned some other veges as well. Eggplant, celery, cucumbers.

You know very well that animal fat has significantly more calories per gram than vegetables. A shotglass of bacon drippings can be 1000 calories, but only a superhuman person can eat 1000 calories of salad in a sitting.

Besides, didn't anyone notice that obesity and related illness is the #1 cause of death in Western society? Places that eat more or only vegetables have never heard of diabetes or heart disease. Do we really think that rural India or Vietnam have more carbon emissions than we do?

We can get nutrition from plants as well as pork. A chicken egg or some cheese has plenty of B12, and the animals don't have to die for us to benefit from these foods.
by Lemmy
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:29 pm
Yeah but remember, "The American way of life is not up for negotiation."
by andyt
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:35 pm
Here's a better explanation of the findings: http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... acon-does/

"If you totally forget health, which diet would have best impact on the environment?" Fischbeck asked. "You'd eat a lot more fats and sugars."
by Lemmy
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:40 pm
"I would eat less lettuce and more Brussels sprouts," he added.
by andyt
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:43 pm
If you're substituting lettuce for Brussels sprouts or similar cruciferous veges, you have a nutritional problem. You don't need to boil B sprouts into a green mash of hell, can roast or sautee them and they become much more interesting.
by Lemmy
Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:46 pm
I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat another Brussels sprout...even a deep-fried, chocolate covered Brussels sprout.
by ShepherdsDog
Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:02 pm

but only a superhuman person can eat 1000 calories of salad in a sitting.

I pity anyone that shares their bathroom with that individual

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