Nine Questions about The Low Carbon Diet

Check your understanding after reading The Low Carbon Diet, by Mike Tidwell.

1.  The author was born in M________ and he loves the taste of m_____ .

click here for answer  Memphis; meat

2.  The author says he eats a plant-based diet now because he has an _____ .

click here for answer  11-year-old son

3.  According to the World Resources Institute, more than ______ of all grains grown in the U.S. go to feed animals.

click here for answer  half 

4.  According to a Cornell University scholar, leaving animal products out of the diet saves ______ gallons of oil per year.

click here for answer  250

5.  Cows and sheep produce what powerful greenhouse gas? ____________

click here for answer  methane

6.  Globally, which puts more greenhouse gas into our atmosphere? 
a) livestock production
b) transportation

click here for answer  a: livestock production

7.  Tidwell says people’s ideas about food are not all rational, and he gives some examples. Which of these are examples he gives? (You may select more than one.)
a) He has attended numerous environmental conferences where meat was served in abundance.
b) Michael Pollan’s 2006 bestseller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, mentions “global warming” only twice.
c) He has friends who don't eat veal because they find it cruel, yet they continue to buy dairy products.

click here for answer  a & b

8.  Review the paragraph that begins, “But in the Congo…” and ends “cruelty to people.”  Tidwell is saying that severe climate change will have uneven impact—and which people are likely to suffer the most?
a) people with the least resources
b) people with the most resources

click here for answer  a: people with the least resources

9.  Is this the first time you’ve heard about the diet-climate connection?  Is it surprising to learn that your food choices can make a bigger difference, climate-wise, than the kind of car you drive (if you drive a car)?