• hypercracker@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    These estimates vary quite a bit. Here’s a 2023 paper in Nature studying climate impacts of various diets for people in the UK (not US): https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00795-w

    Dietary impacts of vegans were 25.1% (95% uncertainty interval, 15.1–37.0%) of high meat-eaters (≥100 g total meat consumed per day) for greenhouse gas emissions

    Vegans emit 2.16 kg/day while heavy meat eaters emit 7.28 kg/day of CO2 per this table.

    Heavy meat eaters: 7.28 kg/day * 365 days/year = 2657.2 kg/year

    Vegans: 2.16 kg/day * 365 days/year = 788.4 kg/year

    Difference: 1868.8 kg/year saved by going vegan

    600 kg for a round-trip cross-country flight seems about right, checking various city pairs on google flights. So here the estimate is more like 3x round trip flights. Other references I’ve seen make it closer to 1-1.5x. Actually if you choose the low meat eaters emissions from the same table (4.21 kg/day) that comes to 1-1.5x round trips.