By Niels Halfdan HansenA N N U A L
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EAT LESS:
LEAF VEGETABLES
EAT MUCH
MORE: FRUIT
EAT MUCH LESS:
FATTY ACIDS, OIL,
AND EXOTIC FRUIT
AND VEGETABLES
EAT MORE:
GRAIN AND
SEEDS
Meat production emits major
quantities of greenhouse gases,
so vegans are automatically
more climate-friendly.
D
omestic animals such as chickens, pigs, and cows
have their own carbon footprint. Unlike natural
forests, cultivated fields and pastoral land cannot
efficiently remove CO 2 from the atmosphere. The
processing and transport of meat, milk and eggs also
requires billions of kilometres of transport by truck
and train annually. And not forgetting the fart factor –
all ruminants (cows, goats and sheep) emit the
aggressive greenhouse gas methane via stomach and
intestinal gas. This means that if you eat meat, you
put an extra load on the climate corresponding to
0.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, compared to a
vegan who does not consume products that are based
on livestock farming. Domestic animals are, however,
not the only ones that emit methane. It’s also true
for wild animals such as giraffes, deer, and wild
cattle. But the reduction of natural populations
does not neutralise the emissions from
domestic animals. There are more than
three times the cows in US farming today
than there were bison on the prairie
before humans came to North America.
MODERATE IMPACT HIGH IMPACT
LAUNDRY LARGE-SCALE RECYCLING PLANT-BASED FOOD
0.^8 t
onn
es^
of^ C
O 2