来源：《新科学家》
原文刊登日期：2021年4月15日
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Simple changes to US diets may help to save water. Five billion people globally could be facing water scarcity by 2050 if we don’t learn to use it more wisely in the face of more severe droughts connected to climate change. But a study focusing on US consumers shows they can help through dietary choices.
美国饮食的简单改变可能有助于节约用水。如果我们不学会在与气候变化有关的更严重干旱面前更明智地利用水资源，到2050年全球50亿人可能面临缺水问题。但一项针对美国消费者的研究表明，他们可以通过改变饮食来帮忙。
To examine how our food choices impact water resources, Martin Heller at the University of Michigan and his colleagues studied the diets of 16,800 people in the US. They calculated each person’s impact on water scarcity based on the types of foods they consumed, the irrigation water used in the production of these foods and the water scarcity in the regions where they were farmed.
为了研究我们的食物选择如何影响水资源，密歇根大学的马丁·海勒和他的同事研究了美国16800人的饮食。他们根据每个人吃的食物类型、生产这些食物所使用的灌溉用水以及他们耕种的地区的水资源短缺情况，计算出每个人对水资源短缺的影响。
The researchers found that, for the average US diet, beef consumption contributed most to water scarcity. Other foods that tended to require intense water use included almonds, cashews, walnuts, avocado, broccoli and cauliflower. Foods that typically had lower impacts on water resources included chicken, peanuts, cabbage, and fresh peas.
研究人员发现，在美国人的日常饮食中，牛肉消费是造成水资源短缺的主要原因。其他需要大量用水的食物包括杏仁、腰果、核桃、牛油果、西兰花和菜花。对水资源影响较小的食物包括鸡肉、花生、卷心菜和新鲜豌豆。
The findings hint at ways people in industrialised societies could modify their diets to save water, say the researchers. For example, they calculate that swapping 100 grams of beef for chicken could cut the impact on water scarcity of the average US diet by up to 16 per cent.
研究人员说，这些发现暗示了工业化社会的人们可以通过改变饮食来节约用水。例如，他们计算出，将牛肉换成等量的鸡肉，可以将美国人平均饮食对水资源短缺的影响减少16%。
The important caveat is that the impact of food production on water supplies “can vary dramatically by geographic location”, says Heller. Tomatoes grown in some parts of drought-prone California, for example, require a lot irrigation compared with those grown in Louisiana, where it rains a lot.
海勒说，重要的警告是，粮食生产对水供应的影响“可能因地理位置的不同而显著不同”。例如，与降雨多的路易斯安那州相比，加州一些干旱地区种植的番茄需要大量灌溉。
Similarly, beef production in Australia has a far lower impact on water resources than in the US, says Brad Ridoutt at CSIRO in Melbourne, Australia. “I don’t think conserving water is about avoiding one type of food, it’s about incentivising and enabling transitions to happen on the production side of things,” he says.
类似地，澳大利亚墨尔本CSIRO的布拉德·里多特表示，澳大利亚牛肉生产对水资源的影响远低于美国。他说：“我不认为节约用水是为了禁食某种食物，而是为了激励和促进生产方式的转变”。
But Heller thinks it is important to think about how we can change our diets as well. “I feel we need to look at both improving food production and adjusting our diets,” he says.
但海勒认为，思考我们如何改变饮食也是很重要的。他说：“我觉得我们需要同时考虑提高粮食产量和调整饮食”。