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Why Jains are Natural Environmentalists Our fundamental Jain tenets lead us to have lives with far less environmental impact than the average North American. That's happening even without our acting intentionally to protect the natural world. Not only do we Jains have much lower carbon footprints than others but we also use far less water and do it all with far less cruelty. But how many of us are aware of that? Others should point to us as models for a more sustainable future. Of course, we can and must do better. The tenets of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Aparigraha (non-possesiveness) are keys to a sustainable future. Did you know that a pound of beef requires 1848 gallons of water to produce while a pound of bread requires only 212 gallons? A pound of tofu requires only 334 gallons or 18% of the water needed for the equivalent weight of beef. Similarly one pound of beef contributes 12.3 kg of C02 equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gases while one kg of tofu contributes only 0.9 kg CO2e which is only 7.4% of the CO2e of beef. Before you get too self-righteous about this, I'd like to point out that a pound of cheese requires 668 gallons of water and contributes 6.1 kg of CO2e. On average, meat-eaters contribute 50 to 54 percent more food-related greenhouse gas emissions than vegetarians and 99 to 102 percent more than vegans. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/27/3454129/eating-meat-carbon-emissions/
Figure 1. Full Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Common Proteins and Vegetables
39.2
27.0
Post Farmgate Emissions (includes processing, transport, retail, cooking, waste disposal)
kg Co,e
Production Emissions (includes all emissions before product leaves the farm)
13.5
12.111.9
10.9
6.9 6.1 4.8 ,9 2.
72
2.9 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.1
0.9
Eggs
Tofu
Beef Lamb
Rice Peanut butter
Lentils Tomatoes
Nuts Yogurt
Broccoli
Potatoes
Dry Beans
Milk (2%)
Cheese
Pork Farmed Salmon
Turkey
Chicken Canned Tuna
Kilogram (kg) of Consumed Food
