Forgot Password?
Written by Natalya Stanko   
Share |
Thursday, 12 May 2011

Barbecuing

Eating outside over an open flame, together—it is a simple pleasure that humans have shared for millennia. As the evenings grow longer and warmer, many of us will roll out our grills. But before we do, let's consider the environmental impacts of a barbecue. Not all traditional barbecues are green, but there are ways to fire up without warming up Mother Earth .

BENEFITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Barbecues include consuming food, water, disposable plates and decorations, and, most significantly, lots of fossil fuels. More than 82% of United States households own a barbecue grill and almost half of them fire up their grill an average of once or twice a week in the summer months.1 According to Sierra Magazine, “[n]ationwide, the estimated 60 million barbecues held on the Fourth of July alone consume enough energy — in the form of charcoal, lighter fluid, gas, and electricity — to power 20,000 households for a year. That one day of fun, food, and celebration … burns the equivalent of 2,300 acres of forest and releases 225,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.”2 The good news is that there are some simple steps you can take to minimize those impacts.

BENEFITS FOR YOUR HEALTH: Lighter fluid, charcoal briquettes, and pesticide-laden meat aren't good for you. Fortunately, there are many healthy alternatives!

Cost: Medium

Time and effort: Low. Even though a barbecue might last a full day, you shouldn't be counting the hours. It's a barbecue—have fun!

Tips for Greening Your BBQs:

1. The most important component of any barbecue is the barbecue grill itself. There are four types of barbecue grills to choose from—gas, charcoal, electric, and wood. Charcoal produces twice as much carbon emissions as gas-powered grills. And electric grills create even more emissions than charcoal,3 which shouldn't be surprising when you consider that nearly three-fourths of the electricity made in the U.S. still comes from the burning of fossil fuels4. Even wood produces more emissions than gas. So, a gas grill is the way to go. Whichever grill you choose, invest in a good one so that you don't need to replace it as often.

2. If you are really invested in greening your outdoor cooking, then you should seriously consider ditching the traditional barbecue and rely on the sun! Build or buy a solar BBQ , and maybe you will even be inspired to build your own cob oven ?!

3. In the United States, about 63% of backyard barbecues are fired up with charcoal briquettes, which infuse food with a satisfying smoky flavor, but also with toxins 5 Charcoal briquettes are dirty. They contain sawdust, corn starch, and lighter fluid, and they produce harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These VOCs contribute to smog and can cause problems for people with respiratory diseases, heart problems, and people who work or exercise outside.6 Briquettes also produce105 times more carbon monoxide than burning propane.7

Fortunately, not all charcoal is created equal. Wood charcoal (also called real, chunk, or lump charcoal) doesn't have the nasty additives and is carbon neutral . The problem with wood charcoal, though, is that it usually comes from thousands of miles away, which is not so carbon neutral. If you can find locally sourced and sustainable wood or wood charcoal, that's a good option. Look for the Forest Stewardship Council or Rainforest Alliance certification logos. According to the UK's Gaurdian,
The only truly sustainable option is to buy charcoal from the rising number of charcoal producers in the UK who are reviving the near-extinct art of coppicing. By cutting stems from trees on a 10-15 year cycle, as well as using thinnings (poor quality stems) and waste wood from fallen mature trees, coppicers are able to harvest fuel from a wood without destroying it. Charcoal is then created using the traditional method of carbonising the wood as it smoulders for a few weeks under mounds of turf or in kilns.8
If you're cooking with charcoal, don't use lighter fluid, which is a petroleum distillate that emits VOCs. Instead, use a charcoal chimney, which is a small cylinder that uses lit newspaper to start coals.9

charcoal Chimney Starter 10


To clean your grill, avoid harsh chemicals. Instead of using commercially marketed grill cleaners, scrape your grill while it's hot and scrub it with baking soda and a wire brush. Trash your charcoal ash, as it contains dangerous trace elements. Use your wood ash to sparingly fertilize plants, but note that wood ash is very alkaline, so it's best for neutralizing overly acidic soils.11

Now that you've greened your grill, let's look at what's cooking…

1. Serve meat as a side dish and grill lots of veggies (mmm, I'm thinking portabella burgers with sweet onion). Meat is extremely resource-intensive. It takes 1,916 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef, even if it's local and organic!12 To make matters worse, grilling meat causes carcinogens to form, which increases your risk of developing cancer.13

2. Buy local, organic, and seasonal foods at your farmer's market . Choose meat that is free of hormones and antibiotics.

3. Buy just the right amount of food. Confirm your guest list to avoid buying too much. To utilize excess food, send guests home with tasty leftovers.

4. Don't buy bottled water . Bring a large or multiple individual sized reusable jugs of filtered tap water instead.

Next, let's consider how to serve the food…

1. Use cloth napkins and reusable dishes and utensils. If you don't have enough, rent them, borrow them from a friend, buy them used at a thrift store or yard sale, or ask guests to bring their own.

2. If you do buy disposables, make sure they're unbleached, made from recycled materials, and compostable (preferred) or at least recyclable. And don't forget to tell your guests not to throw recyclables and compostables in the trash! Make sure to set up a waste station that has separate sections for your landfill waste, recyclables, and compostable. If you were planning on using aluminum containers, did you know you could buy those made from recycled materials as well?

3. It’s your BBQ, so make sure to take responsibility for the waste and make sure you recycle your recyclables and compost your compostables.

Finally, let's rethink the details.

1. Invite guests by email or phone. If you do use paper invitations, make sure they're recycled and recyclable.

2. Stay local. Host a barbecue right in your backyard, or bike to the park around the corner. If you must drive, carpool!

3. Barbecue only in designated areas. Otherwise, you might attract animals, which might endanger both you and the animals.

4. Use natural insect repellent and sunscreen, not the cancer-causing stuff. Choose zinc oxide sunscreen, which provides UVA and UVB protection, and herbal repellents, which blend bug-fighting oils such as lemongrass and citronella.

5. Minimize the decorations. Avoid the dollar-store Fourth-of-July banner that will tear at the slightest gust of wind. Invest in accents that will last you for years, like cloth table decor and bows. For evening parties, choose beeswax or soy candles instead of the traditional, fume-producing ones.

6. Fill your belly, and then get some exercise. Go on a hike, or play a game of Frisbee or football. Enjoy the sunshine, and have fun with your family and friends!

Browse all Greeniacs Guides Browse all Greeniacs Guides        Browse all Greeniacs Articles
_______________________________________________________________________________

1 http://www.hpba.org/consumers/barbecue/grilling-facts-and-figures
2 http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200507/hearth.asp
3 Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20030703-00
4 ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JustOneThing/thing-green-bbq/story?id=11161936
5 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/its_almost_gag.php
6 http://www.greenyour.com/lifestyle/food-drink/barbecue/tips/use-an-electric-or-chimney-charcoal-starter
7 http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20030703-00
8 http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/apr/11/ethicalmoney.leohickmanonethicalliving
9 http://www.grist.org/article/greenguide-grilling
10 http://www.bbqjunkie.com/equipment/charcoal-chimney-starter/
11 http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/apr/11/ethicalmoney.leohickmanonethicalliving
12 http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/green-barbeque-food-picks.html
13 Afsaneh Farhadian, S. Jinap, Faridah Abas, Zaidul Islam Sakar, Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in grilled meat. Food Control. May 2010; (21)5: 606-610 [available at http://www.forumfood.org/zyr/dosyalar/adb6645e7c.pdf]




Add your comment
RSS comments

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Click here to Register.  Click here to login.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 May 2011 )

SEARCH GREENIACS.COM

Green Facts

  • States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

  • For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.

  • American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.

  • If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.

  • A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.

  • Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

  • In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

  • Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.

  • 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.

  • Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.

  • Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.

  • Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.

  • Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.

  • An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!

  • Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.

  • Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.

  • The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.

  • You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.

  • Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.

  • Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.

  • Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.

  • Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.

  • A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.

  • Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.

  • Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.

  • You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.

  • 77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.

  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

  • A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

  • One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

  • In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.

  • Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

  • Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.

  • You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.

  • It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.

  • Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months

  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

  • Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

  • Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.