A Case Study of Dietary Pattern Change Impact on Carbon Footprint

A significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions have been attributed to the food sector, but little is known about the association between the carbon footprint of individual diets and types of food consumed. Development and expansion of agriculture are essentially linked to dietary choices and contribute to deforestation, degradation of land, biodiversity loss, extensive freshwater use, and water pollution. We present a case study of the impact of dietary patterns on carbon footprint at the Gowanus district in the Borough of Brooklyn in NYC. The study considers the population projection within this district due to rezoning and assess the impact of a dietary pattern change in the carbon footprint and to understand their association with different gender and age groups. The carbon footprint examined for every food item includes the emission from all the processes of a food life cycle. A recent US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee claimed that the food patterns responsible for lower greenhouse gas emission has a better overall diet quality and are healthier on several key dimensions. Based on our study, we inferred that the consumption of meat contributes to almost 90% of the total emission for the current dietary pattern. A diverse dietary pattern can have a significantly impact on the food carbon footprint. We show a 50% reduction in meat consumption may reduce carbon emission by 45%.