People have said countless times that a way to reduce your carbon footprint is to change your eating habits, mainly by eating less red meat.  But new findings show that the environmental impact of what you eat is not as straightforward as that. Dr. Frank Mitloehner reported to the American Chemical Society in March that we don’t need to eat less meat, but smarter meat.  In the US, cattle and pigs only account for 3% of our GHG emissions, according to the EPA, whereas transportation makes up 26% of our emissions. The key, therefore, is to decrease the transportation of red meat, not necessarily limiting it.  Actually, Dr. Mitloehner argues that limiting the dairy and red meat consumption in developed countries would decrease the availability of these nutrient-rich foods in developing countries, whose populations really need them.
But switching to locally grown food shouldn’t rule out anything tasty or convenient. Eco-conscious fast food places are popping up all over and are trying to create healthy and sustainable meals on the go (did you know a typical fast-food cheeseburger has 11 pounds CO2e to go along with its 11 grams of fat?). Places like Elevation Burgers and Amanda’s feature red meat entrees and locally grown options that have a better sustainability track record than your favorite drive-thru.