Apr16
SPAM Versus Spam
Posted at 03:59 PM | Permalink
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Comments (6)
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It turns out that spam has a heck of a carbon footprint. According to a recently released study producing the energy that was required to delete spam and search for actual e-mail that mistakenly ended up in junk e-mail folders during 2008 created greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to 3.1 million passenger cars using 2 billion gallons of gas.
That's pretty staggering, but what about another type of SPAM—the processed meat product from Hormel? Fact: Producing eight ounces of pork is the greenhouse-gas equivalent of driving a standard car 2.52 miles. Let's assume that, after you take all the water, salt, and et cetera out of a 12-ounce can of SPAM, there are 10 or 11 ounces of actual pork. So, producing a can of SPAM is the equivalent of driving more than 3 miles. Deleting one piece of e-mail spam, on the other hand, is the equivalent of driving 3 feet.
So, yes, a can of SPAM has a carbon footprint that is more than 5,000 times larger than that of a piece of spam e-mail.
On a related note, according to Live Earth, going vegetarian is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint"—certainly more effective than installing a spam filter, anyway.
Posted by Amanda Schinke
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WOW! You know, even before I was a vegetarian...I never liked Spam. I see why now :) lol
Posted by: Amber Falobas | April 17, 2009 10:51 AM
Read "livestocks long shadow" from www.foa.org and suprememastertelevision.com/SOS-Global-Warming.php for more.
Posted by: vegancoin | April 17, 2009 01:08 PM
Wow! I can't believe how big the carbon footprints of either kind of spam are! Yet another thing that proves that going vegetarian is great for the earth- and not just the animals on it!
Posted by: Justine | April 18, 2009 06:19 PM
I honestly have no idea why people even buy spam anymore.
First of all, its meat.
Second, the meat is in a very suspicious concoction of preservatives, salt, and other crap.
Ew.
Ewewewewwww.
Seriously, the world needs to start thinking and caring a little bit more about what they are putting into their bodies.
Posted by: Hannah | April 19, 2009 01:36 PM
I told my mom about what I saw in the undercover Hormel video, and she told me to shut up. She can't bear to hear that.
I mean, she should go veggie and stop this suffering if she doesn't wanna hear about it!
Other people should follow in vegetarian's tracks. ;)
- Ciara
Posted by: Ciara Lanza | April 19, 2009 11:54 PM
and there is still meat eater calling me a selfish polluter because I own a big car (I love old cars so my station wagon is one from de late 70s)... you pollute with your meat I pollute with my car... oh with the big difference I dont use my car when I dont need it (my daughter's school is 5 minutes walk from home so we walk, job is 15 minutes walk from home so I walk, in the end I use my car about twice a week)... they eat meat even if they dont need it...
Posted by: Jadey Alex | May 3, 2009 12:09 AM