Food is a huge component of sustainability and our food choices can significantly impact our carbon footrpint. This page will focus on how to make our food systems and choices more sustainable.
The Dairy Industry Is DEAD | LIVEKINDLY – Whether this prediction ends up being right or not (and none of us can fully predict the future, so it’s all educated guesses, at best), the bottom line is that the stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones. If people continue to move towards plant-based foods, as trends are showing, that will mean significant changes to our collective food systems, and the economy/environment that they are a part of.
The following BBC food calculator is a great tool to use for gaining a more effective understanding of the impact of our individual food choices. Have fun!
- Trends are demonstrating a significant shift towards plant-based eating, around the world.
- Plant Based News: Young People In UK Are ‘Ditching Meat In Record Numbers’ Says Poll.
- Plant Based News: Over 40% Of Germans Have Ditched Or Reduced Meat.
- LIVEKINDLY: The New Hotspot for Vegan Food: The Middle East.
- BBC News: Cut meat and dairy intake ‘by a fifth’, report urges.
- BBC Focus Magazine: Global veganism could undo 16 years’ of fossil fuel emissions.
- LIVEKINDLY: It’s Time to End the Vegan Tax.
- Stop Mocking Vegans – New York Times
- BBC News: The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred.
- ‘Great British Bake Off’ Winner Reveals Vegan Diet Gave Her ‘New Appreciation For Animals’ – PBN
Food Challenges: Pick and Choose – or adjust, add and change to suit your individual circumstances.
- Reduce Animal consumption completely or by a certain percentage
- Choose a set amount (eg 10%, 25% or 50% or more)
- Reduce or eliminate animal products on certain days of the week, or conversely save animal products for certain days of the week/particular meals or special occassions
- Commit to only buying local and/or clean animal products (eg no hormones/antibiotics etc), while recognizing that the cost increase will serve as a natural mechanism to reduce your consumption.
Sustainable Food Resources
Several years ago, the UN urged a global switch to reduce/eliminate meat/dairy as a key tool in the quest for sustainabilty. The summary of their findings can be found here.
Consider that as a nudge to reduce your consumption of animal products and increase your exploration of the world of plant-based foods. If/when you do eat meat/dairy/eggs, do your best to source local and hormone/antibiotic free. It will likely cost more, but since you are now stretching it further, your monthly grocery bill should not go up. In fact, many plant-based staples are very inexpensive, so your costs might actually go down.
Keep in mind that you do not have to be vegan – or even vegetarian to emphasize a plant-based diet in your life. Some of the books below are veggie/vegan. Others are not. If you are not vegetarian/vegan, consider the veggie/vegan recipes interesting new ways to expand your food options and try a few new recipes. In my experience, it is easier to start with a plant-based meal and add some chicken, for example, in if you want it, than to start with a meat-based meal and make it plant-based. (I am, essentially, vegan – although I still happily use lots of local honey, for example. I didn’t plan to end up here 20 years ago, but this is where I am at, and I’m quite happy with it. :))
Essentially, I am advocating for a strongly plant-based diet, with a significant emphasis on as much local, organic and waste-free as possible. <
Cookbooks/Food-Related Books
Planetary Health Diet: https://eatforum.org/ and https://eatforum.org/a-weekly-planetary-health-menu/
Michael Pollan – Food Rules, Omnivores Dilemma, Cooked. All worth reading – or rereading – if you want to look at the role that food plays in our individual lives, and in sustainabilty. Always worthwhile reading. Go here for more info.
- Seeds, kale and red meat once a month – how to eat the diet that will save the world – Guardian
- The Atlantic: Michael Pollan and the Luxury of Time.
- The Undiet Cookbook: (Note: The website also includes a great deal of other great resources, as well as info on her other book etc).
- Brown Eggs and Jam Jars
- Oh She Glows and Oh She Glows Everyday
- Simply in Season here , and here
- Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats: (Author’s website)
- Food Monster app – another great resource
- Happy Cow – app and website designed to help find vegan and vegetarian restaurants in a variety of locations. It has helped us find some of our favourite places, that we might never have heard of otherwise. Highly recommended. 🙂
Support for A Plant-Based Diet: Environment/Carbon Footprint and Economic Costs
Starbucks Says Dairy Is Contributing to Climate Change.
Fast Company: The Most Sustainable Restaurant In The World Might Be This School Cafeteria.
Guardian: Not exactly a sustainable food article directly, but, thanks to my years in the Middle East, I am always happy to promote the great veggie food that I ate in Cairo. Plus, it’s great to see so many people getting excited about legumes – and I think that that is worth highlighting and spreading.
The Independent: Denmark ethics council calls for tax on red meat to fight ‘ethical problem’ of climate change.
- There may be others out there, but this is the first time (that I know of) that red meat may get a carbon tax! If you know of others, please let me know. Like the idea? Consider either reducing/eliminating red meat in your household or creating your own household carbon tax for red meat and/or other animal products. The additional incentive will likely reduce your meat consumption and increase your vegetable consumption – besides being healthy and great for the environment.
- Reuters: A vegetarian world would be healthier, cooler and richer: scientists.
- The Independent: Vegetarian and vegan diets could save millions of lives and cut global warming, study finds.
- The Atlantic: The Economic Case for Worldwide Vegetarianism.
- The Guardian: Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say.
- The Guardian: Why you should go animal-free: 18 arguments for eating meat debunked.
- The Huffington Post: Study Suggests Vegans Really Are Saving The World.
- “There’s A Very Good Reason The Bee Is Missing From This Box”
- The Wall Street Journal: Latest Twist in Fashionable Preschool: Vegan Menu.
– I see this article as a challenge to all school and office cafeterias. If a preschool can do it, anybody can do it!
Support for a Plant-Based Diet: Health Reasons
The Huffington Post: The Healthiest People In The World Eat A Lot Of Carbs.
Pandemic-Specific Resources:
- Vox.com: Plant-based meat like the Impossible Burger is booming in the pandemic.
- VegNews: UK Doctors Urge Public to Go Vegan to Prevent Future Pandemics.
- The Coronavirus and a World Without Meat: NYT
- Surely the link between abusing animals and the world’s health is now clear – Here
- The Covid-19 pandemic shows we must transform the global food system: Link
- Plant Based News: Even More Data Suggests Pandemic Is Fueling Vegan Surge.
- BBC News – Coronavirus: Fear over rise in animal-to-human diseases
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