Adam Pasick
Adam Pasick's Profile
Crunching the numbers on a vegan in a Hummer
(Updated below with Michael Pollan’s response)
You want some petroleum with that Big Mac?
Journalist and food writer Michael Pollan broke down the hidden cost of America’s best-known burger on Saturday to an eager audience at the Poptech conference. He traced the Big Mac’s origins all the way back to the oil fields, used to make fertilizer that is crucial to the corn grown for cows in massive feeds lots.
“Our meat eating is one of the most important contributors we make to climate change,” said Pollan, who is best known for his book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”
“A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”
It’s a great line and quite a mental image, one that wowed the audience and quickly spread on Twitter. Too bad it’s not true.
Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago published a 2005 paper in the journal Earth Interactions that looked at the relative carbon footprints of plant-based and red-meat diets.
They found that the difference between an heavy meat-eating diet and a vegan diet was about 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per person per year. The difference between a Prius and an SUV (they used a Suburban, which gets about the same mileage as a Hummer) was 4.76 tons per year.
Pollan’s claim, said Eshel, “is emphatically wrong. If you’re looking at the mean American driving habits and eating habits, it’s not even close.”
“In my heart I’m flatly on the Pollan side, but I’m a scientist and I don’t like to play fast and loose with numbers,” he added. “It’s like death panels in the healthcare debate. We don’t want to get into hyperbolic statements that are numerically unsound.”
To be sure, the calculations behind food-related carbon footprints can be complex. The impact of a Big Mac includes the carbon footprint of the cattle feed and the fertilizer used to grow it, the fuel burned to get the animal to a feedlot and then to market, and the animal’s emissions of methane gas, which can be 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
UPDATE: Michael Pollan has asked Poptech not to post his presentation without removing the statistic about the vegan Hummer driver.
“After digging in to it further, and consulting Gidon Eschel, I don’t feel comfortable defending it,” he wrote to Reuters in an email. “It’s much more important to keep the focus on the central thrust of the environmental case against eating industrial meat, which is not in dispute and certainly does not stand or fall on the case of the vegan Hummer driver.”
“Thanks for your doggedness on this matter, which we can hope will stop this meme before it hurts somebody,” he added.
The blogger Fat Knowledge did a separate calculation of the numbers after Eshel and Martin’s paper was published, and concluded:
Going from a Mad Meat Eater diet to a Vegan diet saves 6.5 tonnes of CO2 a year while going from a Hummer to a Prius saves 6.4 tonnes. Given a margin of error on the values, I call that a tie.
The numbers have also shifted as gas mileage improves. Using Eshel and Martin’s calculations with the current EPA mileage statistics, a 2010 model Hummer getting 14-15 miles per gallon has a carbon footprint of 4.3 to 4.7 tons per year, depending on whether it’s an automatic or manual transmission model. (The EPA’s own carbon footprint calculations, which include the manufacture of the vehicle, are significantly higher)
A 2010 Prius getting 50 miles per gallon has a footprint of 1.4 tons. The difference is 2.6 to 3.3 tons per year — not very far from the 2 ton difference between a meat-eater and a vegan.
Post Your Comment
-
Follow Adam
Of course, this is a great site and good site, I will keep in mind this blog. Thanks
Many of the ideas of this blog post are beneficial nonetheless had me wanting to know, did they truly imply that? One thing I have got to mention is definitely your publishing skills are very very good and I will probably be returning back again for any brand-new post you come up with, you may well have a brand-new supporter. I saved your main web page for reference.
I just added this web site to my google reader, excellent stuff. Can not get enough!
This is my first time i visit on your site. I collected so many interesting stuff in your site especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your posts, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work.Thanks
I remember reading something, somewhere, touching on this.
Totally disagree with you on that one. Nice try though!
Reading your site I am sure i might recognize via college, did happen to attend Texas Technology? In the event you did please blast me an email so we could get caught up it has been many years! Anticipate conversing with you and wish all will be well with you.
Seeing this post I am convinced i might recognize through the university, probably did happen to go to Tx Technical? In the event you did make sure you send me a message so we are able to get caught up it has been quite a while! Look forward to talking to you and hope virtually all will be good with you.
Hello, do You know antyhing about computer speakers and dell computers or computer desks? If not see my site plymouth computer repair. If You are looking for dog groomers this site advised by national dog groomers association.
I wanted to say Thank You for providing this information, you’re doing a great job with the site – if you get a chance would you help me make some changes to my site? I’ll pay you for your help, you can find the link to my site in my name. Thank you!
I thought I’d share a quote with you from U.G. Krishnamurti that pertains to your blog, please don’t take offense. “You assume that there is such a thing as truth, you assume that there is such a thing as reality (ultimate or otherwise) – it is that assumption that is creating the problem, the suffering for you.”
As a member of the fashion business, I salute you.
Good thorough ideas here.I’d like to recommend checking out such as something like graphic bomb. What exactly are you looking for though?
I love the opinions on this site, it really gives it that community sense!
Dominos menu is without a doubt awesome. We recommend everyone to pick up a Dominos Pizza menu instantaneously! Domino’s is supplying the actual most excellent pizzas of the entire world!
Hi!
Is it OK if I ask something kinda off topic? I’m trying to view this page on my new iPad but it won’t show up properly, do you have any solutions? Should I try and find an update for my software or something? Thanks in advance! Jennine x 
Tracey Stahle
This is my second time reading from this blog and it just gets better and better.
I’d be inclined to grant with you on this. Which is not something I typically do! I love reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
I’d have to engage with you on this. Which is not something I typically do! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to speak my mind!
I was just analyzing this post it’s very well crafted, I’m looking around through the internet searching for the correct way to begin this weblog thing and your blog happens to be quite impressive.
Pizza Hut menu is certainly excellent!! We suggest you to look for a Pizza Hut menu instantaneously! Pizza Hut’s is delivering the most desirable pizzas of the earth.
Pizza Hut menu is undoubtedly great. I actually highly recommend you to buy a Pizza Hut menu quickly. Pizza Hut’s is giving you the very best pizza of the earth!!
Hi!
Is it OK if I ask something kinda off topic? I’m trying to view this page on my new iPad but it won’t show up properly, do you have any solutions? Should I try and find an update for my software or something? Thanks in advance! Jennine x 
Alprazolam and other benzodiazepines act by enhancing the results of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the mental faculties.
Do not crush, chew, or break an prolonged-release tablet.
You have been really helpful.
In 1998 Persons Journal called him the sexiest R&B singer alive. In the year 2010, Glamour Journal branded him just one of the 50 sexiest males alive.
Klonopin affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause anxiety.
Do not use Klonopin if you have severe liver disease, of if you are allergic to clonazepam or to other benzodiazepines, such as alprazolam, chlordiazepoxide, clorazepate, diazepam, lorazepam or oxazepam.
An additional definition for a horizontal portal is, that it is utilized as a platform to numerous businesses in the similar economic sector or to the same type of manufacturers or distributors.
Viagra is typically taken only when essential, 30 minutes to 1 hour just before sexual exercise. You may well take it up to four several hours prior to sexual activity. Do not acquire The blue pill much more than as soon as per working day.
Eliminate any cotton from the bottle of disintegrating tablets, and hold the container tightly closed.
Soma can result in part consequences that may impair your contemplating or reactions. Be mindful if you push or do anything that needs you to be awake and warn.
Tramadol has a extensive array of applications, which includes therapy for restless leg syndrome, acid reflux, anxiousness, and fibromyalgia. It was produced by the pharmaceutical business Grünenthal GmbH in the late 1970s.
Very nice man! Awesome info!
Great post. I found what I was looking for. Do you mind if I post this on my website and give you credit? If not, it’s ok.
Consider Valium specifically as it was recommended for you. In no way consider the remedy in more substantial amounts, or require it for lengthier than advised by your physician. Comply with the instructions on your prescription label.
Soma can result in side results that might impair your thinking or responses. Be watchful if you generate or do nearly anything that calls for you to be awake and inform.
Tramadol is relatively pharmacologically related to levorphanol (albeit with significantly reduce ?-agonism), as each opioids are also NMDA-antagonists which also have SNRI action (other this sort of opioids to do the same are dextropropoxyphene (Darvon) & M1-like molecule tapentadol (Nucynta, a new artificial atypical opioid produced to mimic the agonistic properties of tramadol’s metabolite, M1(O-Desmethyltramadol).
Consider Levitra exactly as prescribed by your medical doctor. Do not take in bigger or smaller amounts or for extended than recommended. Adhere to the directions on your prescription label.
Alisia Lauby
Up to a point
Very nice man! Awesome info!
Gillian Gaglia
Levitra is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. It functions by helping to unwind muscles and increase blood move into the penis during sexual stimulation. This assists guys to obtain and sustain an erection.
Lovely to read!
Kum Kildare
Cerchi un lavoro part time ti consiglio il qui presente sito web. Cerchi telelavoro online?
Very useful information. I appreciate your effort, keep up all the work.