Eating and Drinking
Part of the Climate Change exhibition.
Part of the Climate Change exhibition.
Most fresh fruits and vegetables don't need those layers of plastic.
It's healthy to drink water, but packaging and shipping it requires energy.
Plastic takeout containers and utensils, plastic bags, and individualized packets all require energy to manufacture.
Flying, trucking, and shipping foods around the world uses oil, so buying local foods can reduce "food miles" emissions. But there are tradeoffs: sometimes growing foods close to home creates as much or more CO2.
The livestock sector emits about 2.8 billion metric tons of CO2 each year—roughly 9 percent of the world's total—and is responsible for about 7.2 billion metric tons of all greenhouse gas emissions (including methane), or roughly 18 percent of the total.