Cleaner living: Plant-friendly is planet-friendly

Climate change is in the news more and more, and the projections from virtually all of the world’s climate scientists are becoming increasingly dire. Almost daily, we are confronted with images of extreme weather patterns, disease outbreaks, and the loss of certain species. It is almost biblical in proportion. Most poignant, to me, are the distressing images of starving, displaced polar bears whose icy habitats are melting away. Many of the things that we can do to prevent or slow climate change are intuitive, difficult as they may be to put into practice: conserve energy, drive less, elect politicians that are dedicated to working on this problem, and recycle, to name the basics. However, many people may be unaware that some simple changes to our daily diet can have a tremendous impact on the emission of greenhouse gasses. How does food production affect the climate? About 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food production. About half of this is from the livestock sector alone. And it’s not just the greenhouse gasses that are the problem. Food production occupies about 40% of the global land, uses about 70% of our fresh water (which is increasingly in short supply in many places in the world, leading to strife), causes many species to become extinct, and is responsible for large areas of deforestation (cutting down the rain forest so cattle can graze) and desertification (the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of inappropria...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Environmental health Food as medicine Source Type: blogs