Students from around the world calculated their class mean and standard deviations for their footprints and posted them on our world map.
Do you see differences across the globe? If so, why do you think those differences exist?
Did you use the calculator to try to reduce your footprint down to the average from a citizen of another country? What changes would you have to make to lower your footprint in this way? Are you going to try and take some of these actions in your daily life?
Student Footprints >
Meat Eating
I understand the risks of producing meat and how it has a large impact on the environment, while plants produce healthier proteins. But what about the AMOUNT of nutrition you get out of meat? Is the amount really subpar in comparison to plants? Does collecting a certain amount of energy from animals equate to a larger area in plant growth?
I might be vegetarian, but I really like meat. Maybe if we could contain all the CO2 that the cows are producing and combine the carbon with other carbon molecules to create high energy bonds, and released the oxygen into the atmosphere, then we could get energy form eating more meat!
I would argue that fish and poultry have drastically healthier proteins than those found in plants. To eat meat is not a sin and can be very good for you, but we must consider efficiency and footprint. As it stands fish, poultry and bugs(as gross as it sounds) stand as atleast somewhat efficient proteins that are in fact, the most healthy.
we can get way more energy form meat than plants.
i agree with rolands, fish is also other meat we can consume.
There are plenty of proteins in plants like legumes (beans and nuts), and they are perfectly fine for your health. Roland: Perhaps you are thinking about certain vitamins and fatty acids that are very rare in plants. What this means is that to eat a healthy vegan diet you need to be very conscious of eating certain plants that have those vitamins and fatty acids, or you need to take supplements.