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Don’t Grill the Planet on the Fourth
This Independence Day make a cooler cookout
The time has come for Americans to light a blazing inferno and throw pounds of carbon belching beef on the grill. Make no mistake, our annual 4th of July cooking event is a climate event. An all-beef, charcoal-cooked barbecue for 12 people is going to cost the planet about 160 pounds of emissions. Multiply that out by the population of the US and we’re talking 4.3 billion pounds of emissions for our annual national meal. For comparison’s sake that’s nearly double the yearly emissions of the nation of Burundi.
You can have an enjoyable, satisfying cookout and cut your holiday emissions drastically
It doesn’t have to be this way. In the process of researching and writing The Climate Diet I spent a year looking into the carbon footprint of cooking and eating. But, full confession here, July 4th is my birthday and I don’t like to skimp when this day comes around. What I’ve found is that you can have an enjoyable, satisfying cookout and cut your holiday emissions drastically. This is how I’m planning my cookout this year to have the greatest satisfaction with the smallest footprint.
1. Change Your Heat. Grilling on charcoal costs about 11 pounds of emissions per grill session…
