Cows, CO2 and Dying

Rod Liddle in a piece entitled "Give Russia the Arctic and look forward to another toxic disaster." The piece excoriates Russia (and the former Soviet Union) for the environmental damage it has committed in the name of Communism.

At the end of the piece, he has an interesting comment with regards to cars and global warming. He writes:

Listen to this latest news from the green lobby: walking is four times more damaging to the ozone layer than driving a car. A brisk walk to the shops will require you to eat 100 grams of, say, beef, thus resulting in 3.6kg of emissions used to produce your steak. A car journey would produce less than 1kg of emissions. So, save the planet and buy a car.

With a bit of googling, I discovered that some environmentalists did say this. According to Chris Goodall's site how to live a low-carbon life: "If it's only greenhouse gas emissions you are worried about, then it may be better to drive than to walk." The online PDF document states that "The troubling fact is that taking a lot of exercise and then eating a bit more food is not
good for the global atmosphere. Eating less and driving to save energy would be better."

It is true that modern agriculture consumes a lot of energy: you need diesel for the tractors and the large trucks hauling the foods produced, you need even more energy and hydrocarbons to produce chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The only true alternative is to grow your own foods. This, however, is not realistic for most people. Few people have a few acres handy to produce everything that they need. What is the solution?

I agree with Adam Stein that if we examine our lives, everything good for you is bad for the environment. As he notes, some environmental researchers have concluded that even riding a bicycle is bad for the environment. In many ways, environmentalism is the new religion to many, and in the Anglo-American tradition, this religion is imbued with its share of Puritans who preach an austere life in the name of Green.

The easiest solution of course would be to stop eating. You would certainly stop burning carbon-based energies (aka food) and you would eventually stop producing CO2. But, if you do choose this route, make sure to die green. Embalming fluids are bad for the environment and you want to be efficiently recycle. This article highlights that dying green is the way to go :-)