I am writing in response to the thoughtful letter from Kim, Nachman, Neff, and Spiker
(hereafter, Kim et al.), who themselves wrote in response to our article,''Energy Use, Blue
Water Footprint, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Current Food Consumption Patterns
and Dietary Recommendations in the US,''which was recently published in Environment
Systems and Decisions. We agree with points raised by Kim et al., particularly that the media
coverage has, at times, mischaracterized our findings and that the suggestion that meat …

This article measures the changes in energy use, blue water footprint, and greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions associated with shifting from current US food consumption patterns to
three dietary scenarios, which are based, in part, on the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines (US
Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services in Dietary
Guidelines for Americans, 2010, 7th edn, US Government Printing Office, Washington,
2010). Amidst the current overweight and obesity epidemic in the USA, the Dietary …