Why It's Bad To Go Vegan: Lettuce Three Times Worse Than Bacon In Creating Greenhouse Emissions

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Carnegie Mellon University scientists claim that lettuce and other vegetables are worse than bacon in terms of saving the environment.

While lettuce, vegetables and a "green lifestyle" is arguably better for the body than consuming bacon and processed meats which have been declared carcinogenic by the World Health Organization, it apparently wreaks havoc to the environment. A study published in the Environment Systems and Decisions journal found that lettuce creates more greenhouse emissions than eating bacon by up to three times.

"Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon," said Paul Fischbeck, professor of social and decisions sciences and engineering and public policy, via Science Daily.

Fischbeck, along with other authors Michelle Tom, a Ph.D. student, and Chris Hendrickson of the Hamerschlag University, contested the beliefs that eating less meat can reduce the negative impact of climate change.

They found that the recommended diet prescribed the US Department of Agriculture took a toll on the environment and resources via water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The healthier foods involving dairy, seafood, fruits and vegetables apparently increased energy use by 38 percent, water use by 10 percent and emissions by 6 percent.

"Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken," Fischbeck said.

When they compared the greenhouse gas emissions brought about by the production of these foods, they found lettuce to be overwhelmingly harmful. They looked at how it is grown, processed, transported, sold and stored and used.

"Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon," said Fischbeck when comparing it to the production of 1,000 calories from other foods.

To compare, lettuce has low calories and it takes more than two iceberg lettuce heads to size up to the calorie of two slices of smoked bacon. This means that the resource used in transporting lettuce that are also highly perishable converts to more emissions that could harm the environment.

According to Telegraph, other vegetables that are slightly better than lettuce are cabbages which produce 1/5 of emissions per calorie compared to pork. Broccoli almost produced half. In meats, beef produced more emissions than lettuce this was followed by lamb then pork and then chicken.

"There's a complex relationship between diet and the environment. What is good for us health-wise isn't always what's best for the environment," said Tom, as reported by the Independent. "That's important for public officials to know and for them to be cognizant of these trade-offs as they develop or continue to develop dietary guidelines in the future."