Food’s Impact on Environment
The Art
SCENARIOS FOR REDUCING EMISSIONS
The Science
“As with most things related to people, the food we eat comes with a carbon cost. Soil tillage, crop and livestock transportation, manure management and all the other aspects of global food production generate greenhouse gas emissions to the tune of more than 17 billion metric tons per year, according to a new study published on [Sept. 13, 2021] in Nature Food. Animal-based foods account for 57 percent of those emissions, and plant-based ones make up 29 percent.”…
“…Of the food products the study examined, beef production was the top emissions contributor by a wide margin, accounting for 25 percent of the total. Among animal-based products, it was followed by cow milk, pork and chicken meat, in that order. In the category of crops, rice farming was the top contributor—and it was the second-highest contributor among all products, accounting for 12 percent of the total. …”
Here’s How Much Food Contributes to Climate Change, Andrea Thompson, Scientific American
The art is based on the top two figures of the graph.
