Wild game in diet makes green sense in Wyoming


Location makes big difference in dietary choices that are earth friendly

BY KENDALL BRUNETTE FOR GREENING OF OIL

The foods we choose to include in our diets directly impact the world in which we live. Where our foods come from, how they are processed and what types they are all factor into our diet’s carbon footprint.

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In recent years the push for local foods has increased. The less distance between the food’s origination and our plates, the less impact our food has on the environment. By decreasing this distance or “food miles” we can decrease the amount of fossil fuels used in transportation.

Like most college students, I tend to live two very different lives as I split my time between school in New York and home in Wyoming. My diet also tends to change as I travel from one place to the other.

Upstate New York is known for its farming population. Small family farms litter the upstate landscape offering everything from local cheese to wine to eggplant. The diversity of local crops and foods available makes it easy for New York residents and students like me to decrease the distance from the farm to our plates.

While living in New York I eat purely vegetarian and try to buy as much produce as possible from the surrounding small farms.

Wild game the exception

However, as I travel home to Wyoming my diet changes from purely vegetarian to vegetarian with the exception of wild game.

In regions like Wyoming where the winters are long and harsh, the only reasonable local year-round produce is potatoes, wheat and corn. For a Wyomingite to eat local vegetarian, he or she would be limited to these three crops. Such a diet would be boring and lack healthy diversity.

However, Wyoming offers two appetizing meat alternatives to potatoes, wheat and corn—local beef and wild game, which is thriving across the state of Wyoming.

Last year the number of big game licenses sold in the state was 309,635. Of these licenses, 60,449 were elk licenses, the most common big game animal shot for food consumption.

Fifty miles max to my plate

When I am home I allow myself to eat elk. Every fall my father goes out and shoots one elk that will supply our family with meat for the entire year.

The farthest that the elk ever travels is approximately 50 miles from the woods outside of my hometown to my plate.

My reason for allowing elk meat into my diet while living at home is because I know that the animal was shot humanely, raised organically in the local wilderness, and carries a smaller carbon footprint than any store-bought meat that is flown in from across the country.

It is true that meat diets tend to have more negative impacts on the environment that vegetarian diets do. According to a 2009 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the non-vegetarian diet requires 2.9 times more water, 2.5 times more primary energy, 13 times more fertilizer and 1.4 times more pesticides than the vegetarian diet.

While I value the decreased environmental impact that a vegetarian diet has over a meat diet, I also try to be realistic by acknowledging that while I am living in Wyoming, the vegetables that a purely vegetarian diet requires must be shipped in from other states in order to reach my plate. Therefore, I try to decrease my diet’s carbon footprint by eating foods that are local no matter where I am living.

When considering your dietary choices keep in mind your location and recognize the types of foods that the local environment offers. Sometimes the most environmentally-friendly options are non-vegetarian.

Web sites such as www.localharvest.org/ offer helpful tools for learning about the local foods in your area. Do the research to make sure that your diet is making the least environmental impact possible.

Link of interest

Local Harvest Web site

About Kendall Brunette

Kendall Brunette is a senior at Cornell University majoring in Natural Resources and Education. Her academic interests lie in the field of environmental journalism. Growing up in Wyoming, Kendall has had extensive experience with the oil and gas industry. Her hometown of Pinedale is home to the Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline, two of the largest natural gas reserves in the country.

Brunette has worked with the U.S. Geological Survey on the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative project. She has also worked for the U.S. Forest Service, conducted environmental research in the Everest region of Nepal, and volunteered with the Green River Valley Land Trust.

Upon graduation in May, Brunette looks forward to moving back to Wyoming where she will continue to pursue her academic interests by helping to raise awareness about issues related to the oil and gas industry. She will continue to be active in promoting public education and helping to preserve the area’s natural resources and intrinsic beauty.

Contact Kendall Brunette.