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Eat beans to stay rich and green

27 January 2001

FOODS should be taxed according to the environmental cost of producing them,
proposes an American ecologist. That way, prices will deter people from eating
too much of the foods that do the most harm.

At the top of the production “food chain” are animal products such as pork,
beef, cheese and eggs. Producing these foods uses up far more resources than
foods lower down on the chain, such as chicken, turkey and fish, argues David
Pimentel, a professor of ecology and agricultural science at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York. The most efficiently produced foods are fruits, vegetables,
nuts and…

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