But a new study points to one change that is starker than many have thought: Americans cut their beef consumption by 19 percent — nearly
one-fifth — in the years from 2005 to 2014, according to research to be released on Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
carbon dioxide equivalent
reduced or added from
“Whether we realize it or not, Americans have been fighting greenhouse gas emissions with their forks,” said
Sujatha Bergen, a policy specialist in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s food and agriculture program.
A drop in orange juice consumption generated the second-largest reduction in greenhouse gases linked to a food, eliminating the equivalent of
some 63 million megatons of carbon dioxide from the environment — or roughly 10 percent of the reduction attributable to eating less beef.
Sara Place, the group’s senior director of sustainable beef production research, said consumers could do more to reduce
carbon emissions by throwing away less food, particularly fruits and vegetables, than by eating less beef.
The research, which is based on data from the Agriculture Department and calculations using the same methodology as the Environmental Protection Agency, found
that changes in the overall American diet reduced emissions by the equivalent of pollution from 57 million cars — despite population growth of about 9 percent.