Quick! Which is worse from an environmental perspective: a Hummer, or a bowl of breakfast cereal? Well?
What’s your answer?
When presented with this (ostensibly) laughably easy choice, most people would pick the Hummer, no contest. In fact, most people wouldn’t even see the point of the question.
Believe it or not, the question isn’t entirely frivolous. From “The Oil We Eat,” an article by Richard Manning (in Harper’s Magazine):
“A two-pound bag of breakfast cereal burns the energy of a half-gallon of gasoline in its making. All together the food-processing industry in the United States uses about ten calories of fossil-fuel energy for every calorie of food energy it produces. That number does not include the fuel used in transporting the food from the factory to a store near you, or the fuel used by millions of people driving to thousands of super discount stores on the edge of town, where the land is cheap.”
Of course, demonizing breakfast cereal isn’t exactly the main point of the article. For the most part, Manning takes broader strokes, aiming mainly at the radical inefficiency of modern day agriculture. It’s enlightening, even if you do have some understanding of the costs incurred by the inefficiency (e.g., overuse of fertilizer, cross-country transportation of foods for year-round availability, etc.). You can find the article onlinefor the time being, anywayat the Portland (Oregon) Indymedia web site.
It’s an excellent, excellent article. It’s long, but highly worthwhile.
If you’re still deliberating with yourself, wondering whether or not this article is for you, read on. Otherwise, read the article.