By Carrie Tai, Nov 16, 2019
Food production accounts for almost 25% of the total carbon emissions world-wide, according to the World Resources Institute. By changing our eating habits we could make a huge reduction in our carbon footprint.
Here is a chart of the carbon emissions for some common foods (data from http://css.umich.edu/factsheets/carbon-footprint-factsheet).
As you can see animal products have the largest carbon footprint, with beef by far the largest.
Here are some suggestions on how to reduce your diet carbon footprint:
Reduce the amount of meat in your meals. Add more vegetables and legumes.
Include a meatless meal per week.
Replace beef with pork or chicken which have a much smaller carbon footprint.
Change to a vegetarian diet.
Change to a vegan diet which means eliminating all animal products.
Eat food that is produced locally when possible. Transportation of food also increases its carbon footprint due to the fossil fuels involved in transporting and refrigerating the food.
There are also many studies that show that eating more fruit and vegetables is better for your health.
In the end, the goal is to reduce your total carbon footprint and looking at your diet is one way to achieve that. Check out how your diet impacts your carbon footprint.
At Neighbours for the Planet, we want to help people reduce their carbon footprint. One of our climate initiatives is to organize a monthly get together where we will cook some healthy and nutritious meatless meals. Our plan is to make it simple and easy to try out environmentally friendly meals and hope to inspire you to make them at home.
Reducing our diet carbon footprint is good for the planet and our health.
Sign up for weekly emails on Upcoming Events and Climate News at https://www.neighboursfortheplanet.ca/upcoming-events.
For more information about what you can do to take action on the Climate Crisis, email Carrie Tai at contact@neighboursfortheplanet.ca.
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