PBJ: The Environmentalist's Dream

Interesting note via Hilzoy about the environmental consequences of eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch. Quoting the PB&J Campaign:

Each time you have a plant-based lunch like a PB&J you'll reduce your carbon footprint by the equivalent of 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch like a hamburger, a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets. For dinner you save 2.8 pounds and for breakfast 2.0 pounds of emissions.

Those 2.5 pounds of emissions at lunch are about forty percent of the greenhouse gas emissions you'd save driving around for the day in a hybrid instead of a standard sedan.

If you have a PB&J instead of a red-meat lunch like a ham sandwich or a hamburger, you shrink your carbon footprint by almost 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

I hadn't realized that at all. The interesting thing is that I have, although a confirmed and unrepentant carnivore, been, over the past couple of years, gradually decreasing my consumption of red meat for a variety of other reasons, based on health concerns, moral issues (factory farming is absolutely the lowest thing I can think of), and simply because eating a lot of meat at once makes me respond like any other carnivore: I need to take a nap afterwards, and I usually don't have the time.

And, as Hilzoy points out:

Reducing your consumption of meat doesn't have to involve becoming a complete vegetarian, any more than reducing your consumption of fuel has to mean selling your car. Every little bit helps.

Incrementalism is a valid way to change your lifestyle, I think.