Science_Illustrated_Australia_-_Issue70_2019

You know that you should

reduce your carbon footprint,

but you don’t know where to

begin? Scientists know what

matters most. And if you hold

off having kids, you can eat all

the red meat you want...

LEND THE

CLIMATE A

HAND: HAVE

FEWER KIDS

EAT MUCH MORE:

VEGETABLES

EAT

LESS:

LEGUMES

Scientists guide you through

the climate jungle

In 2017, Kimberly Nicholas from Lund University and

geographer Seth Wynes compared 148 studies of carbon-

reducing lifestyle changes such as recycling, washing clothes

in cold water, and meat-free days. Their conclusion was clear:

much of what you are already doing has almost no effect.

LOW-ENERGY LIGHT BULBS

LOW IMPACT

AIR-DRYING OF

VEGAN

MEAT EATER

MEAT OCCUPIES HUGE

QUANTITIES OF FARMLAND

The farmland that a meat eater

requires in order to grow food for

those animals is 18 times larger than

the acreage required by a vegan. This

contributes to climate change because,

unlike forests, fields do not remove CO 2

from the atmosphere in the long term.

A meat eater occupies 18 times more land than a vegan.

36 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

NATURE CLIMATE