Carnivores are twice as bad for the Earth as vegetarians, a new study out of Oxford University found.
Researchers found that meat-eaters have carbon footprints about twice as large as vegetarians do. They concluded that the more meat you eat, the more you're harming the planet.
The scientists estimated the greenhouse gases emitted from 130 foods, with each type of gas (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) getting a specific "weight." Those weights were then assigned a "food code" to show the link between emissions and foods.
High meat-eaters were found to have the biggest carbon footprint, followed by medium meat-eaters, low meat-eaters, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans.
Meat-eaters have large carbon footprints because more energy is required to raise animals than plants. Plus, cows produce large amounts of methane--from burping and farting--which is a more powerful gas than carbon dioxide.
(Source: NY Daily News)
