Scientists claim hamburgers are destroying the environment

Hamburgers won’t just supersize your waistline, but according to a growing number of scientists they are the carbon spewing equivalent of the gas guzzling Hummer in the world of food.

Environmentalists claim that switching from steak to salad could save as much carbon offset as not driving your car for a couple of days a week.

Nathan Pelletier from Dalhousie University in Canada claims this is true because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere.

Some estimate that as much as 18 percent of global greenhouse emissions is due to livestock and beef is the largest contributor.

With only 30% of meet consumption coming from beef it accounts for 78% of carbon emissions.

Pelletier claims switching from beef to chicken would reduce emissions by 70% alone.

That’s why changing the kinds of food people eat is so important, said Chris Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Food is the third largest contributor to the average US household’s carbon footprint after driving and utilities, and in Europe – where people drive less and have smaller homes – it has an even greater impact.

“Food is of particular importance to a consumer’s impact because it’s a daily choice that is, at least in theory, easy to change,” Weber said.

“You make your choice every day about what to eat, but once you have a house and a car you’re locked into that for a while.”

The average US household contributes about five tons of carbon dioxide a year by driving and about 3.5 tons of equivalent emissions with what they eat, he said.

“Switching to no red meat and no dairy products is the equivalent of 8,100 miles driven in a car … that gets 25 miles to the gallon,” Weber claimed.

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