Eat Vegetarian

March 29th, 2007 BY Jeremy Taylor | 1 Comment

Introduce a few vegetarian dishes to your culinary repertoire. You don’t have to be vegetarian vegetarianism isn’t a club; it’s a way of preparing food and reducing the meat industry products in your fridge, even in part, can make a substantial difference in terms of your ecological footprint.

Last year, the United Nations released a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow, in which it concluded that the livestock sector especially cows, chickens, and pigs has become one of the top two or three contributors to each of the planet’s most significant environmental problems.

Livestock is particularly notorious for its environmental destruction in the following areas:

Emissions:The livestock industry has been reported responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, in carbon dioxide equivalents, compared to transportation, for example, which emits 13.5% of the CO2

Ecosystem destruction:Livestock grazing and associated feed farming are a major contributor to problems like deforestation and development. Trawling the ocean floor, a common method of fishing, can remove up to a quarter of an area’s seabed life at one pass.

Water pollution:The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that agricultural runoff is the primary source of contamination in the 60% of American waterways considered impaired. Five tons of livestock manure just manure is produced each year for every American citizen.

Replace meat and animal products beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, and dairy, for example with plant products nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables and you’re making a big difference already … to the environment, and very likely to your personal health as well.

Calculate your diet’s environmental effect with the Eating Green Calculator.