HR: 1340h
AN: B33A-1022    [Abstracts]
TI: The Energetic Demands and Planetary Footprint of Alternative Human Diets
AU: * Eshel, G
EM: geshel@uchicago.edu
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Univ. of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AU: Martin, P A
EM: pmartin@uchicago.edu
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Univ. of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AB: Agriculture is one of the major vehicles of human alteration of the planetary environment. Yet different diets vary vastly in terms of both their energetic demands and overall planetary footprint. We present a quantitative argument that demonstrates that plant-based diets exert vastly smaller planetary environmental cost than animal-based ones. We demonstrate that under a reasonable and readily defensible set of assumptions, a plant-based diet differs from the average American diet by as much energy as the difference between driving a compact and efficient sedan and a Sport Utility Vehicle.
DE: 9800 GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005