The Little Book of Going Green by Harriet Dyer

Author:Harriet Dyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510741744
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2019-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE AND ENERGY—DAMAGE AND DEMAND

The food supply industry, from farm to supermarket, is one of the biggest users of fossil fuels, accounting for 20 percent of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. Transport, processing, and packaging all contribute to this staggering figure. Studies estimate that the average American ready-meal travels approximately 1,500 miles before it ends up on a plate and, if fruit and vegetables aren’t in season, or can’t grow in a specific region of the world, they have been recorded to travel up to 2,300 miles to make sure they are available there.

Waste of food energy in large-scale meat production is another cause for concern. The conversion of grain into meat is energy-intensive and the input to output is greatly uneven. On average, it takes 15.5 pounds of grain to create 2 pounds of beef, 9 pounds of pork, and just over 4.5 pounds of chicken. In America, roughly 24 billion pounds of beef is produced every year, requiring 168 billion pounds of grain, 85 percent of which is wasted food energy.

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