Carbon footprints of foods

You don't have to fire the whole grill. Mine works fine with a range of charcoal loads.

I've also got a second grill, a small woodburner. It's intended to do very intense heat for quick-searing steaks and burgers. I can generally cook for 1-4 people using just a little fist sized lump of cut hardwood, and it's cooled down and ready to put away 15 minutes later.

It's a weird little grill but it works great. I think it's called a cook-aire.

No fossilization of fuel required.

 

On the topic of the carbon footprint of what we eat, I remember way back in my undergraduate ecology class, we were given an assignment to make a list of what we ate and drank for a week. Then in the class, we discussed the carbon footprint of each food group. I recall what I ate regularly in those days, a pot of coffee a day, slices of pizza, eggs, cereal, bread, a few bottles of beer, some chips, had no substantial amount of meat or vegetables, but ended up with extremely high environmental impact primarily due to highly processed nature of foods and drinks I was having those days. This was over 30 years ago, in general, things have not changed much for myself and I think society as a whole in general. IMHO, it's not so much of what we eat that matters, but how they are produced is the key.

 

wouldn't that be a compliment?

 

easy to ignore it. that's the great thing about reading vs videos and television.

 

This side topic was about the carbon emissions. Except for the starter fluid, those from charcoal don't add to the amount in the biosphere, it was already part of it. The carbon from propane on the other hand, had been sequestered away for millions of years, until we burned it to cook hot dogs less efficiently than a microwave.

Then charcoal can add flavor.

It isn't about guilting. It's about educating. If a person wants to reduce their carbon foot print, they need to know what makes it up.

 

Catholic here.

Guilting people for basically living is what we do best

 

Zero point energy would enable many solutions to our carbon problems. I don't know if you'd call it zero point, but the force fields used to propel Tall White craft uses fiber optic coils fed by a variety of subatomic particles. Once you have force, old fashion generators will deliver electricity.

I recommend reading:

"Millennial Hospitality IV: After Hours" by Charles James Hall. Appendix A is a short description of Hall Photon Theory. Mr. Hall observed a disabled Tall White craft at a range of about 100 feet while their mechanics worked to repair the propulsion system. He was not allowed closer as the Tall Whites regard the technology as something to protect from humans. The craft fly without using airfoils.

"The Anatomy of a Flying Saucer" by John Mike. Proposes that UFOs utilize mass cancellation to achieve their amazing flight dynamics.

 

Yes, that is how the CO2 balance probably appears. But I doubt this is the whole story. And I'm by no means an expert on this. One has to wonder where the wood for the charcoal comes from...in the US it probably has a high probability of coming from waste wood from tree farms. But what fuel was used to make the charcoal? And you also have to transport a lot more weight per usable BTU. How is that accounted for? Propane or grilling NG (for good or bad) is a tiny increment to the refineries for gasoline.

And I just want to add:
In third world countries they cut down forests to make charcoal. They don't replant. It is an entrepreneurial activity. Everyone cooking this way everyday fouls the air with particulates in addition to the burning of the forest -- slowly -- in makeshift charcoal-making ovens. Yes the CO2 balance might be mathematically even. ..but there is a lot more to it.

Note that this link says the Sierra Club votes for propane...but the amount is very very tiny.
Gas or charcoal? Reducing carbon footprint is tricky business - SFGate

Mike

 

Shifting back to the food itself for a bit....

I've thought a bit about what I actually buy and eat. How do we score this? Travel? Processing? Packaging type & disposal? Lots of ways to screw up dinner here.

I love wild-caught sockeye lovingly flown to me on one of Alaska's Salmon-thirty-Salmons.

There's a nice butcher across town who sells beef & pork from local farms. I can't afford to go there often but it's nice for a treat.

I get eggs from my backyard flock- but so far we haven't relied on them for meat.

Veggies come from some local sources including our own garden, but this year only our tomatoes and peppers did well. Great salsa but not a nutritionally complete harvest.

 

We aren't importing charcoal from third world countries though, and its use there is more because they have a very limited selection of fuel for cooking and heating.

Yes, there are upstream emissions, and as the article points out, figuring that out can get complicated, depending on what type of charcoal, and how it is made.

 

Bought some Beyond Burger patties yesterday as part of some items grilled on our U.S. Labor Day long weekend. Like the Impossible Whopper and Beyond Famous Star, it was pretty hard to tell apart from the bovine “real” patties on a home made burger.

Eating a part of a grilled patty alone, however, does give away that it is an imposter. I’m quite ok with that since all my patties go on burgers.

So my personal verdict is:

A) healthy? - not any more than bovine patties with similar amount of saturated fat

B) fewer animals farmed and deleted in process? - seems unequivocally yes

C) lower carbon footprint? - the product cycle of procuring bovine vs. vegan products would suggest yes

 

There are… ahem, beyond impossible levels of sodium in most ground meat substitutes, so far. That and the $14/lb pricetag are going to hold them back a bit.

 

Indeed. Tyson and Nestle are apparently going to enter this market soon with worthy competition, but I have not seen any such products in stores or news updates in a few months.

My suspicion is that current prices reflect current lack of competition, rather than material supply costs.