Burger or 18-Wheeler? Which is worse for the environment?

[Monica]

Quick, which is worse for the environment: driving a massive, exhaust-belching diesel-sucking big rig 100 miles or walking down the street in hemp sandals, bamboo shorts and a reclaimed burlap poncho to a locally-owned restaurant, and ordering a grass-fed, locally-farmed angus beef hamburger?

Research Study from UC Riverside

[Patrick]

The take home message is... yes you can drive your 18-Wheeler without any remorse.

[βαθμιαίος]

That study is only about particulate emissions, charbroiling vs driving.

[Diana]

Why choose the lesser of two evils? (We don't like voting for presidents that way. )

I say don't do either, if you care.

[βαθμιαίος]

Char-broiling a veggie burger would be the same.

[Bring4th_Austin]

Are the particulate emissions from char-broiling just as harmful for the environment as from a diesel engine?

I always assumed it was the greenhouse gases from gasoline that caused issues. What kind of damage does heat, water vapor, and grease cause?

[Patrick]

Seriously though, I think this is simply a testament to how much cleaner diesel engines are nowadays.

[Diana]

Char-broiling a veggie burger would be the same.

Then char-broiling would not be my choice either. I don't even own a barbecue.

Why do anything that causes harm? I do realize we can't know everything.

[Avocado]

The take home message is... yes you can drive your 18-Wheeler without any remorse.

LOL!

[BrownEye]

Are the particulate emissions from char-broiling just as harmful for the environment as from a diesel engine?

I always assumed it was the greenhouse gases from gasoline that caused issues. What kind of damage does heat, water vapor, and grease cause?

The gasses seem to add to the greenhouse effect. Particulate matter from diesel is hard on the lungs. This problem appeared in the newspaper at my home town, right when i moved out.

Char is just what it sounds like. Charred particulate matter. Charring a veggie burger is no different. But who really does that anyway lol.

[Monica]

...the way most meat in the U.S. is produced today has serious repercussions for our soil, air, and especially water. In the last 50 years, the number of family farms has declined sharply with the rise of industrial factory farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs. CAFOs are large complexes where hundreds to thousands of animals are confined and raised in small areas, fed grain that is brought in and have no access to pasture....CAFOS use antibiotics, hormones and other drugs to encourage and speed growth in animals, and are guilty of air, land and water pollution. The amount of concentrated waste they produce is mind-boggling. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, CAFOs produce over 300 million tons of waste per year—twice the amount of waste produced by the human population of the U.S! But whereas there are sewage treatment plants that deal with human waste, there is nothing analogous for animal waste. CAFO manure is stored in large manure lagoons and sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer, but the land simply cannot absorb that much waste. The sprayfields run off and lagoons leak, run off, or sometimes fail, polluting both surface waters and groundwater...

How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water

Producing the annual beef diet of the average American emits as much greenhouse gas as a car driven more than 1,800 miles.

Scientific American: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming

According to The Cheeseburger Footprint, a very interesting article that received a lot of media attention a few years back, the production and consumption of cheeseburgers in the USA is responsible for roughly the equivalent of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs.

The Cheeseburger Footprint states it works out between 81 and 165 pounds (37 and 75 kilograms) of carbon emissions from the average American's annual cheeseburger habit or somewhere between 1 kilogram and 3.5 kilograms (2.2 pounds and 7.7 pounds) of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions per cheeseburger.

And that's just your average cheeseburger - not one of the triple layer meat-fests that seem to be gaining popularity.

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/...nment.html

The Cheeseburger Footprint

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Charring a veggie burger is no different. But who really does that anyway lol.

Haha, I've never had a charbroiled veggie burger in my life!

[Bring4th_Austin]

Are the particulate emissions from char-broiling just as harmful for the environment as from a diesel engine?

I always assumed it was the greenhouse gases from gasoline that caused issues. What kind of damage does heat, water vapor, and grease cause?

The gasses seem to add to the greenhouse effect. Particulate matter from diesel is hard on the lungs. This problem appeared in the newspaper at my home town, right when i moved out.

Char is just what it sounds like. Charred particulate matter. Charring a veggie burger is no different. But who really does that anyway lol.

I guess I'm more confused about including water vapor and heat into statistics of harmful particulate emissions. Are these things equally as harmful as CO2?

[BrownEye]

Nope. Heat and water should do nothing. Unless of course you are the one being cooked.