Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have calculated that eating US Department of Health recommended foods – fruits, vegetables, dairy products and seafood – leads to increased environmental damage. On average, in terms of calories consumed, these foods require more resources to grow or harvest, and result in higher greenhouse gas emissions than, for example, meat or bacon. “Eating lettuce is three times worse than eating bacon in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Paul Fishback, professor of sociology and decision making. – A large number of familiar vegetables requires more resources per calorie to grow than you might think . Eggplants, celery, and cucumbers especially outperform pork or chicken in this respect. Scientists have been working to study how the obesity epidemic in the United States is affecting the environment.
They took into account everything from growing and transporting to selling finished products and storing them. All this requires energy consumption, fresh water, and results in an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. The average American can cut energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions by 9% by reducing his calorie intake to normal. But at the same time, the transition to a “healthy” diet increases the amount of energy expended by 38%, water – by 10%, greenhouse gases – by 6%. The more a person cares about their own health , the greater the burden it places on the environment. All that remains is to promote high- calorie and unhealthy foods , or to look for methods of efficiently growing lettuce.