The Hummers of Food

A nickname for hamburgers, supposedly because of the ecological impact of beef production.

Reporting on research into the “environmental costs of food from field to plate,” A.F.P. noted the comparison between burgers and luxury S.U.V.s:

When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say. Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.

A.F.P. quoted Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada:

Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it’s responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

That’s because a single kilogram of beef produces 16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent emissions: four times higher than pork and more than ten times as much as a kilogram of poultry. … If people were to simply switch from beef to chicken, emissions would be cut by 70 percent, Pelletier said.