What's the Footprint of Your Food?

According to a study done at the University of Chicago switching from the average US meat-based diet to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet will reduce your personal carbon footprint by 0.97 tons. Switch to a vegan diet and that increases to about 2 tons.

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Tommy Lee on Going Vegetarian
Emeril Green Episode: Vegetarian Paradise

According to a UN report released in 2006 raising animals for meat is the cause of 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transport put together. Even if you simply reduce you meat consumption, it can have a big impact on reducing your carbon footprint.

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Cattle Pastures in Deforested Amazon Now the Size of Iceland
The Link Between E. Coli in Spinach and Industrial Cattle

With the exception of line-caught Icelandic Cod, most Atlantic Cod stocks are in decline, with stocks in the North Sea and Eastern Baltic Sea at critically low levels. Northern bluefin tuna is either endangered or critically endangered, depending on where it is located. Southern bluefin tuna is critically endangered. Albacore tuna is critically endangered in the southern atlantic. Bigeye tuna is vulnerable globally and endangered in the Pacific. Atlantic Halibut is list as endangered as well.

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Global Fisheries Hit by Climate Change and Overfishing
Researchers in Fiji Say Eating Less Fish Helps Coral Reefs

Though there are many virtues of organic farming, there's no guarantee that organic produce travels any shorter a distance from farm to plate than non-organic produce. That doesn't necessarily mean that choosing local, non-organic produce is better however. Depending on the crop, the carbon emissions associated with using chemical fertilizers used to raise that crop have a far greater environmental impact than does transporting them.

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Organic Food: Healthier for You and the Planet
7 Foods You Must Eat Organic: Food Miles Fruit

Though the total amount of water required to make the bottle, delivery it to be filled, and then deliver it to the store is going to vary somewhat, it's safe to say that it takes about 7 times as much to produce a 1 liter bottle of water than is contained in the bottle. If your tap water is potable, do you need a better reason to ditch bottled water?

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How to Never Drink Bottled Water Again
Ask Pablo: Is Bottled Water Really So Bad?

It takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture all the bottles the global bottled water industry uses. That's enough to run 100,000 cars for a year. What's more, almost 90% of those bottles are not recycled and end up in landfills (or the side of the road) where they can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade.

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50 Million Reasons to Keep Bottled Water Out of Your Travel Plans
A World of Reasons to Ditch Bottled Water

You may find it surprising considering some of the marketing hype out there, but your tap water is required to meet higher standards than your bottled water. If you don't like the taste of your water, filtering it is a better option than buying bottled water.

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Get Your Tap Water Score
Trust Your Tap Water

According to figures released by Tropicana on the carbon footprint of their Pure Premium orange juice, 35% of its carbon emissions come from chemical fertilizers used to grow the oranges. If you take into account the energy used to make the juice itself, 60% of the carbon footprint comes from before that orange juice is transported all around the United States.

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Should I Worry About the Carbon Footprint of My Orange Juice

According to USDA figures, about 2% of the current US food supply is grown using organic methods. Interestingly, before the 1940s and the introduction of what is now known as industrial agriculture, by default all of the food supply could be considered organic.

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How Organic Farming Works
Eat Only Organic This Week with These 5 Tips