Meat and Dairy Illustrate Resource Limits: EWG Report Even as
co-ops and other local food providers promote meat and dairy
from pastured livestock, these advocates are confronted with
drawbacks to a diet centered on those resource-intensive foods.
“Meat-Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health,” an
Environmental Working Group (http://www.ewg.org) report released
on July 18, provides a comprehensive analysis of the lifecycle
of common foods, and meat and dairy are at the top in their
impact. Concerning personal health, ill effects from heavy
consumption of meat and dairy have been argued and researched
for many years. But arguments about resource limits tend to get
lost in the U.S., and the Environmental Working Group report is
a reminder that at least since the 1960s (think Diet for a Small
Planet), a primary argument for minimizing meat and dairy has
been that these foods consume far more resources than vegetarian
alternatives. That is still a strong argument, and we now can
see the consequences of high re