I was stunned by a recent article in the Atlantic Wire about shrimp and the impacts of shrimp farming. While most of us know that eating beef is hard on the environment, with much forest destroyed for pastures, it's a bit shocking to see that shrimp farming is worse than beef.

Now comes comments from Oregon State University biologist J. Boone Kauffman calculating that shrimp farming creates "more than 10 times [the CO2] produced by the equivalent amount of beef raised on cleared rainforest land."

Apparently the damage is compounded by the coastal location and the later abandonment of the farms due to disease. Abandoned shrimp farms are sterile and unusable for about 40 years, according to Kauffman. I covered the impacts of overfishing back in May of last year. This article, however, surprises me.

Couple the impacts of shrimp farming with the negative impacts of salmon farming, and it's difficult to know what's environmentally acceptable to eat. Reducing meat consumption is an easy way of reducing one's environmental impacts, and eating fish certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council or on Seafood Watch's list can also help.

There are ways of reducing our negative impact on the environment. Eat deliberately. Learn the impacts of your food. Choose wisely.