Vegans driving Hummers: Greener than a meat eating Prius owner?
We don't have much history covering the debate between being a vegetarian versus eating meat, and for good reason: we are first and foremost an automotive blog. From time to time, we do branch off and cover other green issues, as we believe that our readership is broad and enjoys those occasional forrays as much as we do. This here is a topic that we can sink our teeth into (HA HA), because it concerns both green issues and cars.
Any takers on this one? The question is whether a vegan driving a Hummer is greener than a meat-eating carnivore driving a Prius? I'm not touching this one... I have no problem admitting to eating and enjoying meat, though. I would prefer knowing that all the meat I eat comes from sustainable sources, but I an not naive enough to say that I am sure it does.
As a side point, ever notice that stories like this love to pick on the Hummer brand and the Toyota Prius? How many debates have you witnessed regarding these two vehicles and brands in particular? I am positive that a Prius owner must hate hearing that they are dirtier than a Hummer owner. I don't buy the argument myself, but what do I know? I'm no expert when it comes to the greenhouse gases emitted from a cow's tailpipe. Natural gas!
[Source: Treehugger forums]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vegan on a motorbike 9:02AM (2/20/2008)
Cheers to the vegan Prius drivers!! I'm sick and tired of hearing people claim they do one enviro friendly thing in their lives therefore they are already doing enough and can continue to live as unsustainably as they please. The answer to the question discussed is irrelevant because we all know the vegan driving the Prius is the greenest.
Reply
vegan4life 4:10AM (6/26/2009)
just take a look at the videos....then the picture is crystal clear
http://tinyurl.com/ckjxnl
http://tinyurl.com/foodwater
http://tinyurl.com/factoryfarms
http://tinyurl.com/fastestway2Bcool
http://tinyurl.com/vegansavings
http://tinyurl.com/AnimalAgriculture
http://tinyurl.com/IslandsWater
http://tinyurl.com/AustralianParliament
http://tinyurl.com/Methane-Gas-Facts
http://tinyurl.com/EUclimate
http://tinyurl.com/LiveVeg
http://tinyurl.com/kindness2all
Reply
Peter 3:44PM (6/29/2007)
In my opinion, both the vegan Hummer driver and the carnivorous Prius driver can be proud of their contributions. They're both doing something to significantly lessen their environmental impact. Whoever comes out ahead in some sort of carbon footprint audit is useful only for bragging rights.
Everybody on the planet doesn't have to ride a bike to the farmer's market to make a difference. Environmentalism is too often portrayed as an all or nothing proposition -- but if a lot of people make small changes, it will have a huge effect.
Reply
Kardax 3:48PM (6/29/2007)
Meat is a renewable resource, so its "green" in that sense.
Animals (and plants!) follow all the same emissions physics as cars. Things go in, things go out. Exactly the same mass and energy, in fact. The issue is what form the new product takes.
A plant consumes carbon dioxide, uses the carbon to make itself and releases the oxygen. So plants are easy; they reduce CO2 by keeping the C and releasing the O2.
Animals are a bit more complicated because of the sheer variety of chemicals they consume. The bottom line, though, is that as long as everything it eats can be traced back to plants, the CO2 equation remains balanced.
The biggest area where animals lose is efficiency. It takes a lot of plants (and thus, solar energy), to make an animal. Most of that energy is expended by the animal itself as it walks around, beats its heart, and lives its life.
Thus, the most energy efficient food source is plants. That's why veggies are so much cheaper than meat (especially if you factor out shipping costs). It's also why all mass-produced animals are herbivores--growing a plant to grow an animal to grow an animal is far less efficient than cutting out the middle-man, er, middle-beast.
Even a Hummer is an herbivore! All that oil used to be a plant some millions of years ago. Can you imagine how much more it would cost to drive a hummer if it ran on burgers?
Reply
A.Brien 5:04PM (6/29/2007)
I think that this is not a question unless being
here on earth is a problem. I welcome everyone and
there is enouph foods, energy, space to travel and interresting activities to make or spend money. I
eat meat and veggies at home and in restaurants. I
never put guilt on someone for using energy especially if he pay for it. As long as there is water and sun there will be enough energy for everything and everyone. The big natural ressources
compagnies and goverments are making money by saying there is not enough energy, that is a false statement. The poorer the technologies and methods they employs the bigger theirs assets are.
They subzidies a lot of researchs on hydrogen and
always conclude that car must be fit with more mass fron steel to resist crash and that they must
wait 20 more years before doing something. First of all it's not the goverment that must permit hydrogen cars or heating but private corporations small or big. that is not communism here in north america but free economic creativity.
Reply
CM 10:17PM (6/29/2007)
It is kind of silly, considering how few vegans would ever want to drive a hummer.
Come to think of it, not many people want gas guzzling hummers, the sales have been very poor. So poor, the H1 was discontinued for lack of sales! In fact, the Prius has outsold the entire hummer line every single year it has been on the market!
Reply
Bill 12:26AM (6/30/2007)
Actually, this is true.
A person walking a mile, fueled by calories from meat, is using more energy that a vegetarian who drives a Hummer that same mile.
Producing meat uses huge quantities of land (think the Amazon rain forests), fertilizer, water (2500 gallons per pound), grain (if Americans reduced their meat consumption by TEN percent, it would free up enough grain to feed every hungry person on the planet), pesticides, etc...truly, eating meat in the quantities we do, is an environmental catastrophe, esp done the way factory farming does it on most of the planet.
Yes, I eat meat, but I try to eat less and less all the time (of course my arteries thank me too), and esp make sure it comes from organic, sustainable farms.
So...next time you see a Hummer driver, if they are vegetarain, they are producing less CO2, etc, than you, even if you are WALKING and had a hamburger for lunch.
Reply
JamesWB 7:14AM (6/30/2007)
''It is kind of silly, considering how few vegans would ever want to drive a hummer.''
I'm one of them.
Reply
BrianM 8:53AM (6/30/2007)
Has anyone heard the comparison that a prius has more of a detrimental impact on the environment(due to dirty nickel mining in canada where the battery is produced) than a hummer? I friend of mine heard this on the radio and is now reconsidering buying a hybrid.
Reply
JamesWB 10:01AM (6/30/2007)
''Has anyone heard the comparison that a prius has more of a detrimental impact on the environment than a hummer?''
yeah, it's been debunked several times. If I recall correctly the study was using data about the nickel from severeal years ago before it was cleaned up and also assuming that the Hummer would last around twice as long as the Prius.
Reply
asdf 9:56AM (7/02/2007)
#2 "Can you imagine how much more it would cost to drive a hummer if it ran on burgers?"
It can, with GM's new flexfuel system in an 85% burger/15% gasoline blend. Its called B85. Its only available in california though.
Reply
John Rowell 12:40PM (7/02/2007)
The Hummer and the Prius have become iconic symbols for wastefulness and conservation, respectively. I'm sure there are many vegans driving Prii (sounds funny but that is the plural of Prius right?) and I salute those considerate people. But yeah, for those who love their burgers and SUVs there are still other things they can do to be environmentally responsible.
Reply
Chris 3:19PM (7/12/2007)
#5 says: "A person walking a mile, fueled by calories from meat, is using more energy that a vegetarian who drives a Hummer that same mile." and "...a Hummer driver, if they are vegetarain, they are producing less CO2, etc, than you, even if you are WALKING and had a hamburger for lunch."
Yes, I agree, walking is an INefficient means of transportation (for long distances), which is why people don't usually do it for long distances. But Bill, how would that meat-eater compare if he was driving his Prius instead of walking? That is what we're talking about here, after all. Your statistics do not provide much help answering that question.
Regards,
Chris
Reply
Kevin Trowbridge 1:36AM (1/15/2008)
I am both vegan and a Prius owner! I am willing to to do anything I can can to improve both the health of myself and the planet.
Reply