The PB&J Solution

Livestock create a beefy portion of all greenhouse-gas emissions: 18 percent, according to the United Nations. Could the answer be as simple as two slices of bread and a slathering of peanut butter and jelly? Perhaps. Compared with a burger, this classic sandwich saves as much as 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, 280 gallons of water, and 50 square feet of land--even more if you wash it down with a glass of soy milk. "You don't have to change your whole diet to change the world," says the PB&J Campaign. "Just start with lunch."

hre

Comments

[Emily Marshall]

Is that a SINGLE peanut butter sandwich or a year's worth? Just wondering because we eat that for lunch almost every day and before this I was a little embarrassed about that. Now I'll shout it from the rooftops!

[Jasmine]

Maybe we should wash it down with a glass of water -- the pervasive use of soy in our diet is hardly a great thing and we are getting to the point where you can hardly know if your soy is GM or not whether through intention or genetic drift

[sasha]

hooray! what a great tip.

[Jen]

I love PB&J, but since my dietary restrictions require me to be yeast-free/wheat free, I swap out the bread for rice cakes or gluten-free crackers.

[Gloria Picchetti]

This is true on many levels. Much of the Earth is spoiled by over grazing. Meat has too much saturated fat. Obesity is an epidemic. Bread (whole grains) are the staff of life. Eating too much flesh supports cruel, polluting factory farms.

[Donna]

I live in Iowa where CAFOs and the industrial livestock lobby have overwhelmed our state. The "meat" coming out of CAFOs is more like fat tissue than muscle. Meat should be a condiment, some locally-grown grass-fed meat on special occasions is a far healthier diet. And PB&J for lunch.

[NE reader]

I saw this tip also in the latest Sierra mag.

Bug-a-boo for parents of young children: If you are trying to pass on these habits to your kids, it is likely that you will not be able to send your child(ren) to school or camp etc. with a pb&j sandwich because so many places are "peanut free".

I use sunflower seed butter instead which is not on the list of products that are not allowed, maybe because it is not a "tree nut"? But send a note to school or wherever the first time to inform.

Sunflower seed butter I get is from Trader Joe's, but if you don't live near one of those maybe a healthfood store or look it up online.

[Kay Cole]

Love the concept but with at least 1% of Americans (over 3 million) seriously allergic to peanuts (hence peanut butter), you might enlarge the campaign with non-pb alternatives. Also, many folks allergic to PB are also allergic to soy, which is becoming an ever-increasing health problem due to its pervasive use as a filler, oil, etc.

[Kay Cole]

Love the concept but with at least 1% of Americans (over 3 million) seriously allergic to peanuts (hence peanut butter), you might enlarge the campaign with non-pb alternatives. Also, many folks allergic to PB are also allergic to soy, which is becoming an ever-increasing health problem due to its pervasive use as a filler, oil, etc.

[Green Girl]

I too like the concept but am allergic to both peanuts and soy. The sunflower butter is good though, as is almond butter. I am not allergic to tree nuts such as almonds so those allergic to peanuts may try one of the above.

[Lawrence Walker]

The PB&J is high is often high in fat, sugar and refined wheat flour.

Another alternative: how about a salad with beans for protein? Use less or low fat dressing and, if you can, fairly local produce.

Salads/raw food are really good for those trying to reduce their footprint AND fat/sugar.

And if you are hungering for some rich animal protein, skip the processed and preserved lunch meat, and have sardines, low in contaminants, high in Omega-3s, calcium and other good things.

[pastorpam]

For exactly this reason, my lunch is now a bowl of oatmeal with organic soy milk. yummy, but doesn't travel in the lunch box easily...

[Hele]

Why are you folks nit-picking over peanut butter and soymilk? I think the point is that any alternative is better than meat because the polluting meat industry contributes a HUGE amount to greenhouse emissions. This is often overlooked in the global warming discussions because no one wants to give up meat.

[Sarasmiles]

I agree with Lawrence on eating salads with beans or soups with beans.

PBJ is mostly empty carbohydrates, and peanut butter is frequently contaminated with a carcinogenic mold called aflatoxin. Soy is also highly questionable because it's genetically modified and it has very high levels of hormones that can have negative influences on children as they grow older.

You may want to check out this link regarding soy: http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm

Sara

[Peter]

Peanut Jelly lunch instead of burger is a good tip, especially with the supporting stats you provided. BUT - not so sure about the soy milk. What if it comes from the deforested areas of the Amazon, where our vital rain forests are being cut down for agricultural land to cultivate Soy. Not so good, eh?

[Lisa Rollens]

I have heard this arguement a lot, but it deserves a little clarification. Meat, THE WAY MOST IS PORDUCED IN THE USA, is detrimental to the environment, for a lot of reasons. The main one is that cattle are fed a diet of concentrates in feedlots. this requires lots of oil inputs to produce the feed, and also creates a huge manure problem. BUT, that is not how they should be raised. If they are grass-fed, on pastures, most, if not all of those problems disappear. And, in a small farm situation, animal manure is practically essential for keeping up the fertility of the soil. Animals are an intregal part of the fertility loop on most small farms. If you want to do the right thing, seek out grass-fed livestock. It's better for you and better for the environment.

[Lisa Rollens]

By the way, what makes anyone think peanuts (PB)and fruit and sugar(jelly)and wheat (bread) are grown in a sustainable way??? Anything that becomes a "commodity" in this country, except for organic sustainably raised products, are a part of the "problem".

[Nancy]

PB&J may be a reasonable suggestion for people with a carbohydrate metabolic type, but it would be disasterous for protein or mixed types. All those carbs would raise their blood sugar, and trigger their body's fat creation mechanism to get their blood sugars lowered again. That overeating of carbs is why many people are hungry all the time and gaining weight. See The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott to learn your type.
Soy milk is especially bad for children. It has lots of estrogen in it, to say nothing of genetic modification and stripping of forests. None of us want our daughters to mature earlier and earlier physically because of poor food choices.

[Julie]

I think it's great that we start thinking about the impacts of our food choices. But I agree, we have to look at the whole picture! How is each thing grown? What are the social and environmental costs/benefits of each? What about a pasture raised burger from a local family farmer? And let's not just compare sandwich to sandwich. What about greenouse emissions per calorie, or per protein gram, or per nutrient? Even better than either of these choices would be to go for something whole and unprocessed, organic, locally grown. But I understand the challenge of making this convenient for moms working 2 jobs, etc. Here in CA I can get local, organic almond butter and local jam, locally baked bread (from nonlocal wheat) and I feel pretty good about that. I also feel good about local grassfed beef. But mainly I think we need to just think about what we're eating, know the tradeoffs, and make conscious choices.

[tom]

Moderation is key:
1. Entomologists site that Peanut Butter is allowed to have to highest amount of bugs etc... due to processing. Allergies for many people too.
2. 99% of the fat in steak is healthy/neutral, very little of the fat is bad for you. Iron , carnitine, protein, B-12 is great from beef. Moderation.
3. Soy is just awful. This is a cancer causing / digestion causing problem. Soy should only be consumed in fermented forms....
There are books out there on the matter. It is great to be "for the environment" but please research more before jumping to conclusions.

[jack]

rice cakes are high glycemic index and will get stored as fat.

I did find a few interested links to things.
Quick test for health:
http://www.abundalife.com/saf_quicktest/saf24test.php

then the why soy is bad:
Book is "The Whole Soy Story"
http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Soy-Story-Americas-Favorite/dp/0967089751/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202148460&sr=8-1

Finally try and buy
Vitamin D3, get sunshine, Buy Fish Oil to get your Omega 3's
and the
Alive multivitamins

www.vitacost.com is a great company where i have been buying stuff from ( no i don't work for them... i should figure out how to be an affiliate to get commission though :) )
Let save the environment, but lets save ourselves from toxins,cancer,heart disease etc.. as well! We sometimes treat our cars and pets with more care than our own bodies!

[William Gibson]

I'm allergic to peanut butter. Why not urge everyone to get solar panels. I did so 25 years ago and have cut my heating oil usage in half. This is a better way to cut greenhouse gases and cut our dependency on foreign oil. Oil usage must be eliminated

[John Otto Haas]

I never thought about the food we eat as being a source of pollution. Now that's logical. I'm of the family tradition that to celebrate one's birthday, take her out for dinner. Now I want to re-think my decision. Input from my wife and family only seem to be the way to go. I'm certain that we'll arrive at a solution that's agreeable with all involved. I eat soy products and like them. I really enjoy a good PB+J. I know what I like(as do we all). PB+J's are comfort food, much like meat loaf, mashed potatoes and peas w/ butter.

What's a URL?

[myearth]

I am a vegetarian and I find all kinds of great things to eat which are easier on the earth and the body. It took a lot of research at first, but it works great. First, whole grains, vegetables, fruits (little or no processed). Beans, a little cheese (low or reduced fat). But if you must have meat, just a little, and fish is better for you if you choose carefully. I don't get this body type stuff that people keep throwing out. I think the real problem is that people eat way too much processed foods.

[wildwoodp]

This may sound a little strange, but it really tastes great. Ive been eating it this way for many years. Instead of PB&J,try peanut butter, honey and alfa sprouts. The honey soaks into the sprouts and gives them a really nice sweet but crunchy taexture.