Back in l930's, Fats Waller sang a funny song called Your Feets
Too Big, kidding a date about the size of her "pedalic
extremities," with lyrics that rhymed "colossal" and "fossil."
In the 21st century, we as a society worry less about the size
of our feet and more about the size of our carbon footprint. To
reduce the impacts of global warming, we must reduce the size of
our carbon emissions. Most Americans emit - directly and
indirectly - about twenty tons of greenhouse gases a year,
roughly five times the global average. In the past I've spoken
about reducing my footprint by riding the bus and by focusing on
water conservation. Now I'm writing about something simpler:
reducing carbon emissions by reducing consumption of animal-
based foods. In 2006, a study from the United Nations found that
worldwide, 18% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulted from
cattle production, a higher percentage than produced by
transportation. And according to another widely-distributed
study, eating red meat on a frequent basi