Going green with food is the single best action you can do that is more effective than all others in fighting global warming. And this means to avoid or reduce the consumption of animal products wherever possible.
In fact if you are going green with food, you can save 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year if you cut animal products from your diet – this is 25% more than the 1 ton of CO2 saved by switching to a hybrid car. (1)
If every American skips one meal of meat per week and chooses vegetarian foods instead, the greenhouse gases savings would be the same as taking half a million cars off US roads. (2)
If we Americans eat green and cut our meat consumption, our oil problems would be drastically reduced. (3)
And besides helping the planet by going green with food, you do something good for your health! A vegetarian diet, even one day a week will help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.
Sources: (1) Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago compare sources for greenhouse gases. (2) Environmental Defense – on going green options by skipping meat. (3) John Robbins, “The Food Revolution” – a great source for healthier living and going green through avoiding animal products.
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Follow up on #3 – Save 1/4 gallon of gasoline. Conventional farms use oil-based fertilizers and pesticides for crops. Fuel is also used to transport and refrigerate meat and crops. If you eat green and go meat-free one day a week you can save 1/4 gallon of gasoline ~
WOW! – good stuff coralinni!!!!!!!
If we could little by little, gradually cut our consumption of meat products by half or more (especially those like red meats that come from bovine – which uses considerably more energy to convert to food and releases huge amounts of waste products into the air) — it can go really, a LONG WAY, into helping reduce our total carbon footprint on the ecosystem –
Great article! – it advocates reducing our meat intake, (but for those who find it hard to do so) it also says not to be completely “meatless” either! ~ (i still looove my fishie!) – All that’s suggested is to reduced our daily and weekly consumption, and if more people practice that, the cumulative effects add up!