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You might think your health and the environment are separate issues (and who has time for both?), but the Environmental Working Group is finally putting two and two together with their newly-released “Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health.” It’s full of illuminating facts about the eco-impact of our food (like eating just one less burger per week is the equivalent to taking your car off the road for 320 miles), and the graphic below, from the report’s chart of foods with the highest (lamb, beef, cheese, pork, salmon) and lowest (lentils, tomatoes, 2% milk, beans, and tofu) carbon footprints.
Last week, we reported on a study saying going meat-free one day a week was better for the environment than eating a 100% local diet, and this makes it even clearer: If you eat meat, being conscious about where it comes from can be a matter of food safety, health and sustainability. “Choosing healthier, pasture-raised meats can help improve people’s health and reduce the environmental damage associated with meat consumption,” said the report’s author, Kari Hamerschlag, an EWG analyst.
It’s also nice to see EWG—which could be seen by some as a bit radical for its relentless campaign against The Toxins Among Us—take a realistic approach, instead of a PETA-style (or James McWilliams-style) extremism. The EWG acknowledges that convincing all, or even a majority of people, to go vegetarian or vegan is an impossible (and alienating) goal at this point in time, and instead focuses on the small steps we could all take, how just a little less meat consumption can be good for our health and the environment.
TV chef and EWG spokesperson Mario Batali said:
Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan is not a realistic or attainable goal, but we can focus on a more plant-based diet and support the farmers who raise their animals humanely and sustainably. This is why I am such a big believer in the Meatless Monday Movement and the EWG’s Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health.
My favorite part of the guide might be this single sentence: If you buy less meat overall, you can afford healthier, greener meat, which can be more expensive. That’s something that’s not often mentioned when talking about the expense of natural, local and/or humanely raised meat.
A few more interesting facts from the guide:
- A 2009 National Cancer Institute study of 500,000 Americans found people who ate the most red meat were 20 percent more likely to die of cancer and at least 27% more likely to die of heart disease than those who ate the least. In women who consumed the most meat, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was 50% higher .
- Various studies have found grass-fed beef has lower total saturated and monounsaturated fat; more heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids and a lower (healthier) ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids; higher levels of vitamin E, beta-carotene and B-vitamins; and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a nutrient associated with lower cancer risk.
- Toxins are also a concern with fish, especially tuna and farmed salmon. A 2004 analysis of two metric tons of farmed and wild salmon purchased from stores around the world showed consistently and significantly higher concentrations of PCBs and dioxins in farmed salmon.
- Most soy consumed in the US is highly processed and refined with chemicals. Because of how they are made, soy products may contain traces of carcinogenic substances.
Photo: Culinary in the Country
