Tying Together Global Warming and Diet

Today CNN posted an article entitled:

"Experts promote the global warming diet"

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/12/global.warming.diet.ap/index.html

The crux? "Get out of your car and walk or bike half an hour a day instead of driving. And while you're at it, eat less red meat. That's how Americans can simultaneously save the planet and their health, say doctors and climate scientists.

"The payoffs are huge, although unlikely to happen. One numbers-crunching scientist calculates that if all Americans between 10 and 74 walked just half an hour a day instead of driving, they would cut the annual U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, by 64 million tons.

"About 6.5 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved. And Americans would also shed more than 3 billion pounds overall, according to these calculations."

Seems so darn simple doesn't it? I guess our treadmill walks don't qualify because we're not saving any gas, huh? Funny how we drive to the gym to walk in place for an hour and then drive to Starbucks and then drive home. We even have to rethink that!

Seriously, the argument against red meat, from the cancer links to the excessive cost of producing and transporting it to the extreme amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane (through bovine flatulence-heh heh-and from the fertilizer used to produce cattle feed) is becoming hard to counter. I've got a flat iron steak in my fridge that I plan to cook tonight but I just can't ignore this stuff anymore. The guilt I feel from bad eating choices is just compounded by the fact that I know I am contributing to the much larger environmental problem.

Health, economics and ecology are becoming more and more intertwined every day. Our decisions, good or bad, have a greater impact on the world than they ever did. With that comes a greater responsibility than we ever had before. Will we reduce our driving because it's the right thing to do or will we only do it when they start taxing it so that it costs $10 a gallon?

What do you think? Will you be walking to your friend's barbecue next weekend?