In recent years, some nutritionists and environmentalists have advocated for a vegetarian diet as a good way to remain healthy and help the environment at the same time. However, a recent study published in Volume 145, Issue 36 of Environment Systems and Decisions journal calls that into question.
According to Australian Food News, after undergoing through an experiment assessing the energy use, blue water footprint and greenhouse gas emissions that comes with food production in the United States, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have concluded that eating lettuce releases three times more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than eating bacon does.
While the study concedes that putting a leash on people's weight has a "positive effect on the environment," eating "healthier" options like fruits, vegetables, dairy products and seafood increases environmental impact in energy use (38 percent), water use (10 percent) and greenhouse gas emissions (6 percent).
Paul Fischeck, professor of social and decisions sciences and engineering and public policy and one of the academics behind the study, many vegetables require much more resources than what is generally thought about by the public.
"Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken," Fishcheck said in an article published on the Carnegie Mellon website.
Michelle Tom, another author of the study, concluded that there is a complex relationship between diet and the environment.
"What is good for us health-wise isn't always what's best for the environment," Tom said.
According to the Daily Mail UK, in 2010, a study with a similar conclusion was released from Cranfield University.
In an interview with The Times UK Online, Donal Murphy-Bokern, one of the study's authors and former coordinator of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs argued that glorifying meat substitutes like tofu are not the best way to help in protecting the environment.
"For some people, tofu and other meat substitutes symbolize environmental friendliness but they are not necessarily the badge of merit that people claim," Murphy-Bokern said.
