Many of us are looking to decrease our carbon footprint, and there are so many great ways to do it! For some people, decreasing our footprint will have nothing to do with food. But for many people, food can be a low hanging fruit for decreasing our environmental impact (and improving our health while we are at it). Many of the most resource-intensive foods are ones we’d like to cut down on anyway!

- 1 medium lime juice only
- 1 clove, large garlic
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1/2 t salt to taste
- 1 t hot sauce to taste
- 1 15 oz. can black beans
Servings |
Ingredients
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- Add all ingredients to blender.
- Blend and enjoy!
Carbon footprint info:
Each serving of this dip has 148 kcal and 10 g protein, and results in greenhouse gas emissions of just 95 g CO2-equivalents per serving.
Let’s compare this to the carbon footprint of some other appetizers.
- Buffalo chicken wings: 236 kcal, 12 g protein, 287 g g CO2-equivalents per serving
- Cauliflower buffalo wings: 239 kcal, 9 g protein, 58 g CO2-equivalents per serving
- 1 oz cheese: 111, 7 g protein, 277 g CO2-equivalents per serving
The carbon footprint is low for the black bean dip because production of beans only results in 0.78 g CO2-equivalents per g of food. For comparison, production of cheese, chicken, and beef result in 9.8, 5.1, and 26 g CO2-equivalents, respectively. See the Science page for a table comparing embodied greenhouse gases in the production of protein-rich foods.) Beans are especially environmentally-friendly because they need less nitrogen fertilizer, the production of which results in high greenhouse gas emissions. Also, eating plants directly means fewer feed crops, food miles, and processing steps.
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Bon Appetit!!
Source for greenhouse gas emission data:
Heller, M.C. and G.A. Keoleian. 2014. Greenhouse gas emission estimates of U.S. dietary choices and food loss. Journal of Industrial Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12174
The hits just keep coming! Thanks to Jenny Jay for another great recipe!
This recipe is awesomely good and full of protein. Had it twice this week!