As our planet warms and our weather changes, sometimes it can feel totally hopeless, for we cannot control what our leaders, friends, family, neighbors and other people choose to do, or not to do. We have been told to fly less, drive a more environmentally friendly vehicle and make informed choices about the waste in products we buy. But what if I told you there something else you can do that would be more impactful than all of those things combined? Wondering why you’ve never heard about this in the news? Because this solution goes against the paradigm that we have all followed our entire lives.
It is something each one of us can do right now, to lessen our impact on Mother Earth. It involves the food choices you make every single day. Sadly, not everyone will appreciate hearing this, as many will be against the very idea of someone telling them what they should eat. But guess what? It’s not opinion, it’s science.
When researchers conducted the most comprehensive analysis of farming’s impact on the planet to date, they concluded that: “A VEGAN diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use.”
So please understand, this is not my opinion, it’s what scientists all over the world are saying. Our appetite for meat and dairy is fueling species extinction, biodiversity loss, water shortages, pollution, deforestation, habitat loss, increased greenhouse gases, ocean dead zones, and loss of clean drinking water.
Instead of feeling hopeless, you can take action, right now, by stopping dairy and meat consumption and instead adopting a plant-based diet, just like some of our most famous scientists and nature advocates including Jane Goodall, Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough.
You can read my story on going vegan here.
Here are five ways a plant-based diet can help the planet:
–1–Deforestation. Our appetite for meat is driving deforestation in many parts of the world, including Brazil where people are cutting down trees in the rainforest at record rates to make room for land to raise cows. I don’t know about you, but for me, the idea of cutting down these ancient trees that form this amazing ecosystem so I can have a steak is shocking. I can stop contributing to this destruction simply by not eating meat.
According to Plant Based News, “An investigation published in June 2023 revealed that in a six-year timeframe, beef producers cut down 800 million trees in the Amazon rainforest, for both rearing animals and growing the crops that feed them. This is despite pledges from beef operators and exporters to actively avoid new deforestation…” Alex Wijeratna, a senior director at the Mighty Earth advocacy organization said. “The Amazon is very close to a tipping point. So these types of figures are very alarming because the Amazon can’t afford to be losing this number of trees. This has planetary implications.”
–2– Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming. These gases are essential as they stop some of sun’s energy from coming to the Earth and at the same time block infrared radiation in the atmosphere. We need this service since this allows a reasonable temperature here on Earth. Mess with that temperature and as we have seen, all kinds of odd climate things start happening like biblical floods, more violent hurricanes, increased temperatures, melting of sea ice, and on and on.
According to Plant Based News. org, “Human-caused emissions are disrupting the planet’s natural processes. Experts agree that human activity is to blame for significant increases in GHGs including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide…Researchers found that animal-based food production is to blame for nearly double the amount of global GHG emissions compared to plant-based foods (57 percent and 29 percent respectively). Beef alone was responsible for nearly 25 percent of food-related emissions.”
They went on to say, “Compared to high-meat diets, people on a vegan diet were responsible for 75 percent fewer emissions. For methane in particular, vegans produced 93 percent less than the average meat-eater. Methane drives 25 percent of today’s global warming, and has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) more than 80 times greater than that of CO2.
Studies have found that if everyone adopted a vegan diet, emissions contributing to global warming would be cut by 70%. Amazingly, this would be enough to stop and reverse the harmful effects of climate change including rising sea levels, floods, melting glaciers, and droughts.
–3– Diminished Water Use. Sadly, more than 2 billion humans don’t have access to clean drinking water. This is an amazing fact, and one that crosses my mind sometimes when I turn on the tap water, fill a glass, and safely drink as much water as I want in any given moment. We are very lucky here in the United States! How often we all take that for granted!
Did you know that it takes 15,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of beef? or that one kilogram of pork and cheese require 4,844 and 5,000 liters of water respectively? Eating a plant-based diet HALVES a person’s food-related water footprint.
–4– Species Loss and Biodiversity. As you probably know, biodiversity is essential to the health of our planet, as each species, however large or small, plays an important role. Scientists estimate that close to 50% of the world’s animal species are seeing population declines.
“Animals farmed for food now make up most of the world’s animal population. A 2021 research paper from Chatham House highlighted that farmed animals (predominantly pigs and cows) account for 60 percent of all mammal species by mass, while wild mammals make up just four percent. Similarly, more than half (57 percent) of all bird species by mass are farmed chickens.”
Nature Food research linked vegan eating “to a 66 percent reduction in biodiversity loss.”
–5–Ocean Biodiversity Loss and Increasing Dead Zones. I saw a crazy interview recently where a guy was standing on a street corner outside a restaurant, confronting people. He would tell them that many fish in the oceans were facing extinction and that ocean dead zones were increasing at alarming rates. Then he would say, “What do you think would have more impact on this situation, people giving up plastic straws, or people giving up fish and other marine animals?” Many people said things like “Oh, that’s a hard one!” or” I can’t answer that.” or “I’d have to think about that.”
We are such a selfish species! The remedy for this problem is obvious: stop eating fish and other aquatic animals! Giving up straws might make you feel good, and it does contribute to less plastic waste, but there are far more impactful things one can do to help the situation.
“Agriculture is to blame for nearly 80 percent of freshwater pollution, largely due to animal manure and fertilizer. Factory farms in the US alone produce roughly 500 million tons of manure each year, according to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). This is thought to be more than the world’s entire human population. Meanwhile, vast amounts of fertilizer are used to grow livestock feedcrops as efficiently as possible. From 1970 to 2000, nitrogen discharges from rivers to coastal waters leaped up by 43 percent, with agriculture producing more than three times as much nitrogen than sewage.”
What do you think happens when all of this animal waste winds up in the oceans? Or when people fishing kill millions of fish and other marine animals every year? Scientists estimate that the world’s oceans may be emptied of fish by 2048. According to the World Counts, “Nearly 80% of the world’s fisheries that are already fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted, or in a state of collapse. Worldwide, 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish, such as sharks, tuna, marlin, and swordfish, are already gone!”
I don’t know about you, but learning some of these facts has me worried for the future of our planet. It is obvious to me that becoming vegan is a way I can immediately decrease my negative impact on this earth that I love.
References:
17 Environmental Benefits of Veganism as Proven by Science.
World Animal Foundation on overfishing the oceans
CO2 emissions in the meat industry
Veganism: why we should see it as a political movement rather than a dietary choice