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Your point should've been "transportation emissions are only a small share of total CO2 emissions". If you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you should start by bec

by nawitus 12y ago

Your point should've been "transportation emissions are only a small share of total CO2 emissions". If you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you should start by becoming a vegan.

falcolas 12y ago
> If you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you should start by becoming a vegan. I'm going to regret this, I have no doubt. Vegan != no carbon footprint. In fact, I would imagine that when compared to a typical vegetarian diet, it is less carbon efficient. Isolation from animal (by)products means that food bound for vegans typically requires specialized handling and processing. Loss of efficiency gained from the economies of scale. Limited food processing means that food can not be easily stockpiled and distributed. This results in more frequent but smaller food shipments - the opposite direction you want to go for efficiency. The small intersection with the average person's diet also means that vegan foodstuffs don't gain any production efficiency when compared to, say, a vegetarian's diet. All of that, and vegan-bound foodstuffs still have to be planted, fertilized, harvested and transported.
- nawitus 12y ago
  >Vegan != no carbon footprint. Well, no sane person has claimed that. >In fact, I would imagine that when compared to a typical vegetarian diet, it is less carbon efficient. Your imagination is not consistent with reality/studies. http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet >Isolation from animal (by)products means that food bound for vegans typically requires specialized handling and processing. The average vegan food is a lot more efficient than any animal product. An animal is just a biological machien which converts plant matter to animal products. You could take out the inefficient converter and just eat the plant directly. For example, 99% of soy in the United States is eaten by animals. >Limited food processing means that food can not be easily stockpiled and distributed. What? There's no special truck for vegan products. Supermarkets ship vegan and non-vegan products together. >All of that, and vegan-bound foodstuffs still have to be planted, fertilized, harvested and transported. Yeah. And because animals eat plants, the average omnivore consumes more plant matter than the average vegan.
  - dllthomas 12y ago
    "The average vegan food is a lot more efficient than any animal product. An animal is just a biological machien which converts plant matter to animal products. You could take out the inefficient converter and just eat the plant directly. For example, 99% of soy in the United States is eaten by animals." Not that this destroys your thesis, but some animals happily eat things humans won't. A pig fed leftovers is going to be more efficient than sending those leftovers to landfill. People don't eat much grass. &c. This is, of course, mostly irrelevant to how we actually feed ourselves in the developed world (where, for instance, pasture would serve other uses).

by nawitus 12y ago

Your point should've been "transportation emissions are only a small share of total CO2 emissions". If you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you should start by becoming a vegan.

falcolas 12y ago

> If you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you should start by becoming a vegan. I'm going to regret this, I have no doubt. Vegan != no carbon footprint. In fact, I would imagine that when compared to a typical vegetarian diet, it is less carbon efficient. Isolation from animal (by)products means that food bound for vegans typically requires specialized handling and processing. Loss of efficiency gained from the economies of scale. Limited food processing means that food can not be easily stockpiled and distributed. This results in more frequent but smaller food shipments - the opposite direction you want to go for efficiency. The small intersection with the average person's diet also means that vegan foodstuffs don't gain any production efficiency when compared to, say, a vegetarian's diet. All of that, and vegan-bound foodstuffs still have to be planted, fertilized, harvested and transported.

nawitus 12y ago
>Vegan != no carbon footprint. Well, no sane person has claimed that. >In fact, I would imagine that when compared to a typical vegetarian diet, it is less carbon efficient. Your imagination is not consistent with reality/studies. http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet >Isolation from animal (by)products means that food bound for vegans typically requires specialized handling and processing. The average vegan food is a lot more efficient than any animal product. An animal is just a biological machien which converts plant matter to animal products. You could take out the inefficient converter and just eat the plant directly. For example, 99% of soy in the United States is eaten by animals. >Limited food processing means that food can not be easily stockpiled and distributed. What? There's no special truck for vegan products. Supermarkets ship vegan and non-vegan products together. >All of that, and vegan-bound foodstuffs still have to be planted, fertilized, harvested and transported. Yeah. And because animals eat plants, the average omnivore consumes more plant matter than the average vegan.
- dllthomas 12y ago
  "The average vegan food is a lot more efficient than any animal product. An animal is just a biological machien which converts plant matter to animal products. You could take out the inefficient converter and just eat the plant directly. For example, 99% of soy in the United States is eaten by animals." Not that this destroys your thesis, but some animals happily eat things humans won't. A pig fed leftovers is going to be more efficient than sending those leftovers to landfill. People don't eat much grass. &c. This is, of course, mostly irrelevant to how we actually feed ourselves in the developed world (where, for instance, pasture would serve other uses).