A chart shows revised carbon footprints for beef. Beef from a beef herd now has an estimated carbon footprint of 227 kg CO2eq / kg (up from 100). Beef from a dairy herd has a revised carbon footprint of 50 kg CO2eq / kg (up from 24). The chart also shows that "almost everything else" has a carbon footprint in the single digits or low double digits.

Ethical shopping guide, Social and environmental issues

A mammoth adjustment to beef’s carbon footprint

This post examines a correction to a seminal paper by Oxford University scientists Poore and Nemecek on the environmental footprints of food. It shows that, of all the products we make, including the massive amounts of cement and steel used for construction, beef is categorically responsible for the most GHGs, by a very wide margin. Continue reading A mammoth adjustment to beef’s carbon footprint

jkaybayNovember 30, 2025November 29, 20254 Comments

Logos are shown for certified organic products in various places (US, EU, California, and France) and also logos for certifications built on a baseline of organic certification (Regenerative Organic Certified, Bird Friendly, and the Global Organic Textile Standard).

Social and environmental issues

Certified organic: Should we really support it?

Industrial agriculture threatens soil integrity and biodiversity. It exacerbates the biggest threat to agriculture – climate change – and also our susceptibility to that threat. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, has lower crop yields and therefore requires more land. So, what’s it to be? Continue reading Certified organic: Should we really support it?

jkaybayJuly 27, 2025July 27, 20253 Comments

The Green Stars Project

User-generated ratings for ethical consumerism

Tag: agriculture