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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg That line was blogged and tweeted countless times over the next few days. The only problem? It isn't true. (http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/fresh-greens/2009/10/29/michael-pollans-prius-hummer-blunder.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/hummer_myth.jpgMaura Judkis - USNEWS (http://www.usnews.com) - Oct 29, 2009

Let's have more discussion and less foreplay on our emotions. Today is World Vegan Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Vegan_Day) --Ed.

What a soundbite it was, for all of two days: Michael Pollan, sustainable food guru and author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," told the crowd at the 2009 Poptech conference, "Our meat eating is one of the most important contributors we make to climate change. A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”

..."Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago published a 2005 paper in the journal Earth Interactions that looked at the relative carbon footprints of plant-based and red-meat diets. They found that the difference between an heavy meat-eating diet and a vegan diet was about 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per person per year. The difference between a Prius and an SUV (they used a Suburban, which gets about the same mileage as a Hummer) was 4.76 tons per year. Pollan’s claim, said Eshel, “is emphatically wrong. If you’re looking at the mean American driving habits and eating habits, it’s not even close.”"... http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/fresh-greens/2009/10/29/michael-pollans-prius-hummer-blunder.html

What I dislike on the vegan Hummer vs meat-eating Prius comparison is the divisiveness for one thing, then the implication that it's OK to hold on to a vice after reaching some arbritary level of greeness. A better mentality would be greening the ride, the home, diet, etc.

Turns out today is World Vegan Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Vegan_Day)

I am sorry to hear Michael Pollen make such an nonfactual statement, it for me, takes away from his work that which is valid and useful.

He would have been better off sticking with those things he knows about or posing his statement more as a question, like " I wonder if a vegan in a Hummer has a lighter...."

He did at least retract his statement and say it couldn't be defended but the damage is already done to his credibility, carnivorous prius drivers, opponents of Hummers and maybe even vegans for the association with the carbon spewing Hummers.

Here is a video of the author about his book "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollen @ Google (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-t-7lTw6mA) it is nearly an hour long and appeared to be more factual than the Hummer/Prius debacle, hopefully a lesson was learned by his misstatement.

I agree with you Chuck, instead of dividing factions between the lesser of two evils (perceived or not) it would be better to pick and choose only those things that have positive ecological values.

I'm all for making the best choice that I can afford. Can't afford an Aptera or 100% organic diet but I can work towards it. Geo and a garden for now. :D - Dale

The goal is to get off meat and oil.

We need to get off the dependency of mass produced meat and oil. You can still eat sustainably farmed meats.

I don't have links, but a case can probably be made meat eaters are eating more meat as percentage of their diet.

Anyone have them?

We need to get off the dependency of mass produced meat and oil. You can still eat sustainably farmed meats.

What is sustainable meat? Grass fed meat takes more land than "mass produced meat". Try to expand "sustainable meat" and it isn't sustainable.

I don't have links, but a case can probably be made meat eaters are eating more meat as percentage of their diet.

Anyone have them?

How is this...........

http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/pubs/stats_meat_consumption.html

Seems beef and pork are down considerably from a peak around 1970 but chicken and turkey more than made up the difference. Pork was more popular prior to the 70s.

I wonder how a comparison between beef/pork/chicken/turkey plays out?

What is sustainable meat? Grass fed meat takes more land than "mass produced meat"....

But which land? If you look at it closely, comparative sustainability is hard to figure out. Grazing is a way to get production from land where row crops won't work, but grain production for subsequent use as animal feed should produce more pounds of meat per acre than grazing on good farm ground.

Aquifer use for irrigating row crops appears to be unsustainable in parts of the west. This may eventually lead to more sustainable "ranching" in semi-arid areas as opposed to unsustainable "farming" that uses aquifers faster than they recharge. Farm subsidy policy in the form of the CRP has also played a role in reducing grass fed meat by removing less valuable grazing/haying land from production. I see opportunities to increase production of grass fed meat substantially.

Interesting stats about the quantities of different meats --I never thought I was below average in meat eating. As I understand it cost is really what drove the changes in which meats we eat. Confined feeding operations became really cost efficient for poultry. This eventually led to lower consumer prices for poultry and this in turn got people to substitute poultry for other foods, notably beef and pork, whose costs didn't decrease as much.