A couple of weeks ago I had a discussion with my niece and her husband. They are vegetarians for ethical and environmental reasons. They strongly believe meat consumption contributes to global warming. I'm not a scientist and the last thing I wanted to do was get into a religious/political debate with anyone, but they made some joke about how bad my way of eating is for the environment so I did ask them if they had considered all the energy it takes to get their way of eating to their tables.

I still go grocery shopping once a week - I have a large family and most of our kids still eat carbs pretty regularly. But if I were only shopping for myself and my husband, I could easily make one trip a month and refrigerate or freeze our calories until we were ready to eat them. Wouldn't a lot less fossil fuel be consumed not only by the trucking companies but also the workers if most of us did our monthly grocery shopping in one day?

My niece and nephew responded that methane is a far bigger threat than anything fossil fuels are doing. I have no idea if what they're saying is true, but I asked the question and they answered it. I do know that there is no way I'm going back to whole wheat bread at all three meals. It wasn't good for my health. And quite frankly, it wasn't good for our grocery budget - I spent a lot more on groceries for my family when I thought grains and sugary fruits were good and fat was bad.