When sizing up the enormous challenge of tackling climate change, one thing you could try today is reducing or removing meat and dairy from your diet.
Research has found exciting sustainability benefits of adopting a more plant-based diet. University of Oxford researchers, J. Poore and T. Nemecek investigated the impact of plant-based eating and said it has ‘transformative potential’.
Here are some of the exciting and hopeful changes for the planet that plant-based food choices would bring about:
- Food’s land use would be reduced by 76%
- The greenhouse gas emissions from food would be reduced by 49%
- The land no longer needed for food production ‘could remove 8.1 billion metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year over 100 years as natural vegetation reestablishes and soil carbon re-accumulates’
Poore, J. and Nemecek, T. (2018) ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers’, Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 360(6392), pp. 987–992. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216.
‘Transformative potential’ is such an exciting and liberating thought. By changing our everyday shopping and cooking habits, we can make a real impact and contribute to reversing climate change.
Not to mention the delicious foods you will get to try! Here’s a summary from Calum Harris on YouTube answering why he makes vegan food (in a non-preaching way!).
Getting stuck in and sharing!
There is lots of support around to help you in the early days of trying plant-based.
You can subscribe to emails which guide and advise you through your first month of plant-based eating by visiting the Veganuary website.
Or simply search 'vegan' or 'plant-based' on your favourite social platform for endless recipe inspiration!
We would love to see your culinary creations!
Tag @OUStudents in your plant-based meals and bakes! If you hit on a winning recipe, share it on social media for other OU students trying plant-based for the climate.
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