Vegans Taking A Stand: No, Vegetarian Diet is Not Bad For the Environment

"Lettuce is 'three times worse than bacon' for emissions and vegetarian diets could be bad for environment," reads one headline from an article in the Independent. This is just one of the reports which surfaced earlier this week saying that findings of a recent study show that going vegetarian could have more adverse effect in the environment that consuming meat.

Naturally, such claims won't sit well with both vegans and vegetarians alike. And, it looks like they may have found people that could rally behind their cause. The researchers of the new study, no less, said that the claims were a complete misinterpretation of their actual findings, according to the Huffington Post.

"You can't lump all vegetables together and say they're good," Paul Fischbeck of Carnegie Mellon University said. He and colleague Michelle Tom told The Huffington Post that not all foods in a particular food group are created equal when it comes to their environmental impact.

The researchers of the study took into account the three diets and analyze their environmental impact in terms of energy use, blue water footprint, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These diets were part of the recommendations from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), amid overweight and obesity problem in the country, in order to aid Americans achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

The three dietary scenarios based on the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines are as follows, (1) reducing Caloric intake levels to achieve "normal" weight without shifting food mix, (2) switching current food mix to USDA recommended food patterns, without reducing Caloric intake, and (3) reducing Caloric intake levels and shifting current food mix to USDA recommended food patterns, which support healthy weight.

But, according to the Huffington Post, a vegetarian diet do not fall in any of the three food groups. It pointed out that the increase in GHG emissions for scenarios 2 and 3 is because of the USDA recommendation to increase consumption of seafood, which has a relatively high GHG emission level.

"So, yes, some vegetables can be worse for the environment than some meat, but if you're looking for an excuse to keep throwing back the burgers guilt-free, this isn't it," according to the author.

This was seconded by an article from the Business Insider. It said that implying that vegetarianism is worse in the environment compared to its counterpart is "bogus." This is because the study did not make any comparison between a traditional American diet and a vegetarian one, but rather between the traditional American diet and two other eating plans.

"It also ignores one of the study's biggest findings, which is that transforming how we eat could have a hugely positive impact on the planet," the report wrote.