Mountain Burger caters to diverse diets including the more recent additions of the Vegan Mountain Cheeseburger, the Vegan Sweet Potato Burger, and vegan milkshakes. These burgers are not only meant to be inclusive but are also a part of our dedication to sustainability and the effort to help our guests dine sustainably. These two burgers have lower emissions than some of our other menu items so you have a choice on the menu that achieves your food preference and environmental goals.
What does climatarian mean?
Climatarian refers to eating habits that have a reduced environmental impact. This a new word that entered the Cambridge Dictionary in 2015 and is used to describe a person who chooses what they eat based on the environmental impact. This often includes eliminating meat and other high carbon footprint items from one’s diet.
Why do foods have high carbon footprints?
A Poore & Nemecek 2018 study completed a meta-analysis of food systems around the world and their environmental impact. Greenhouse gas emissions were calculated for the following categories for each food type:
- Land use
- Farm
- Animal feed
- Processing
- Transport
- Retail
- Packaging
- Losses
These categories all contribute to the overall environmental impact of a food which have varying levels of impact depending on what resources are required for its production. There are a lot of steps that food goes through before it gets to your plate when you aren’t growing your own which all impact the sustainability of a product. For example, land use change for beef contributes 23.3% of the total emissions whereas for dark chocolate land use change accounts for 55.3% of the emissions. However, due to other factors, beef releases over twice as much total emissions.
While agriculture and livestock require land use to be changed from native and sustainable habitats to land cover that is less environmentally friendly, it is also a matter of space. Livestock accounts for almost 80% of global agricultural land, but only produces 20% of the world’s calories. This study finds that the U.S. has unsustainable eating habits and would be unattainable if the entire world switched to a U.S. diet. This study was done to understand what country’s eating habits would allow the entire world to be sustainable by the amount of habitable land required for agriculture (to feed everyone) compared to the current land use (50%) for agriculture.
What menu items have lower emissions?
The emissions for menu items were calculated using the data from the Poore & Nemecek 2018 study in order to identify the menu items that have lower associated greenhouse gas emissions. It is important to note that the study was a global study and Mountain Burger’s local sourcing may lead to lower emissions, however, it is still valid as a comparison of food types. There are many delicious items on the menu that allow you to eat according to your sustainability values and are not limited to the following. Here are a few of our lower emissions menu items:
Burgers
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Salads
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Mountain Fries
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*Emissions for these menu items may change when making substitutions or additions
As always, the Build Your Own Burger is an option where you can create your own climatarian-friendly burger. Check out this chart to help you understand which foods have the highest impact!
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