stuffthathappens / CC

Without spam e-mail, there could be no "Who got the funniest spam today?" (I won today with "You can look fancy even if you are a simple taxi driver.") But is spam destroying the Earth?

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

Shane Victorino
philly / CC

Okay, hold the phone—during a recent Philadelphia Phillies/Los Angeles Dodgers playoff game, commentator Joe Buck mentioned that Phillies player Shane Victorino's favorite food is Spam musubi. A few reactions here—one: gross; I can think of a hundred different fillings I'd like for my onigiri, and canned meat ain't one of them.

Two: Why? The Phillies' Citizens Bank Ballpark has been ranked the "Most Vegetarian Friendly Ballpark" two years in a row for its impressive vegetarian offerings, such as Philly faux-steak sandwiches, "crab-free crab cakes," mock-chicken sandwiches, and veggie dogs. With all of these delicious, cruelty-free options available, why would you choose to go cholesterol- and cruelty-heavy? (Okay, so Spam musubi is a popular food in Shane's native Hawaii—but as my mother would say, what's popular is not always right.)

And finally (and most importantly), three: SPAM is made by Hormel, and Hormel is supplied by factory farms like this one in Iowa. You remember—the factory farm where the pigs were beaten and vaginally and—according to one bragging supervisor—anally penetrated? Where their tails and testicles were cut off without anesthetic?

We're giving Shane the benefit of the doubt here: He probably didn't know about the torments faced by the piglets destined to be slaughtered for Hormel and possibly end up as SPAM. But hey, knowledge is power, right? So PETA Assistant Director (and major sports fan) Dan Shannon has written him a letter giving some background info on Hormel and the way its suppliers and that Iowa farm treat pigs. We suspect that the cruelty in every can of SPAM will make Shane madder than a high Hiroki Kuroda fastball—and that a change in snack foods might be in order.

Check out Dan's full letter here.

Posted by Amanda Schinke