But a new study points to one change that is starker than many have thought: Americans cut their beef consumption by 19 percent — nearly<br />one-fifth — in the years from 2005 to 2014, according to research to be released on Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.<br />carbon dioxide equivalent<br />reduced or added from<br />“Whether we realize it or not, Americans have been fighting greenhouse gas emissions with their forks,” said<br />Sujatha Bergen, a policy specialist in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s food and agriculture program.<br />A drop in orange juice consumption generated the second-largest reduction in greenhouse gases linked to a food, eliminating the equivalent of<br />some 63 million megatons of carbon dioxide from the environment — or roughly 10 percent of the reduction attributable to eating less beef.<br />Sara Place, the group’s senior director of sustainable beef production research, said consumers could do more to reduce<br />carbon emissions by throwing away less food, particularly fruits and vegetables, than by eating less beef.<br />The research, which is based on data from the Agriculture Department and calculations using the same methodology as the Environmental Protection Agency, found<br />that changes in the overall American diet reduced emissions by the equivalent of pollution from 57 million cars — despite population growth of about 9 percent.
