I think the push for everyone to go vegan misses the bigger picture

I looked at the carbon footprint of my family's diet for a year, focusing on where the food came from. The imported avocados and almonds in a vegan meal plan had a bigger impact than the local beef and dairy from a farm 20 miles away. The shipping and water use for those crops just didn't add up. Focusing on local food systems seems more effective than a strict global diet rule. Has anyone else looked into the numbers for their own region?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganm521mo ago

Betty's right that the actual farming part is huge. But we gotta look at the whole chain, not just the farm gate. Like, clearing rainforest for soy to feed cows or for palm oil is a massive hidden cost in some imports. And local beef from a well-managed pasture can actually help trap carbon in the soil, which most studies on beef don't even count. The real answer is probably ditching the processed stuff, vegan or not, and eating simple foods grown close by in a way that helps the land.

betty_stone21mo ago

That's a really good point about local food... but the study I saw said transport is actually a small part of food's footprint. The big impact is from making the food itself, and beef is way higher than plants even from far away. So local is great, but what you eat still matters most.