"According to a careful study done at the University of Chicago, people who consume animal foods are responsible for an extra ton and a half of CO2 equivalent per person per year, as compared to people who consume no animal foods. As a consequence, a person who changes from an animal-based diet to a plant-based diet would save more greenhouse emissions per year than switching from a Toyota Camry to a hybrid Toyota Prius (at much less cost!). If everyone on the planet switched to a low-meat diet, such a transition would dramatically impact our ability to resolve environmental issues that now appear intractable. One estimate suggests such a global change 'would reduce the mitigation costs to achieve a 450 ppm CO2 -eq. stabilization target by about 50 percent in 2050.'"