What did you learn about dietary choices from using the footprint calculator? Now imagine that you could translate what you learned into an effective societal policy on food- what would it be? And how would this policy effect the need to alleviate world hunger?
925 million people on earth do not have enough to eat according to the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization]. That's almost 1 in 7 inhabitants of our planet!
Food & Hunger >
how meat affects your carbon footprint
something that everyone can do to reduce there carbon footprint is eating less meat. Even though i do realize meat is a crucial part of a lot of people’s diets and not an easy thing to give up, i still think a lot of people aren’t aware of the serious affects meat has on our environment. The 1st thing i have to say about meat is how much land it takes to raise meat that is fully grown, one thing i’m not sure most of you know is that feeding someone who is vegan for a year takes only 1/6th of an acre of land while someone on a meat and dairy diet for a year uses 18 times that amount of land. i think this is a very scary statistic but also a very real one, raising meat does use a lot of land and meat eaters have to realize that. the 2nd thing i have to say about meat is how much methane cows produce. cows produce this methane through there farts, burps or poop, we contribute to this by eating cows. considering how many cows are bred because of the demand we put on them meaning more of the methane that cows produce is going up into the atmosphere. i think it is a really good idea for people to consider eating less meat and dairy meals each week as it is a great way to help save our planet and reduce your carbon footprint.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, over 900 million people on Earth don’t have enough food to eat. This is nearly 1 in 7 inhabitants on Earth. Assessing our carbon footprint in correlation with our dietary choices shows that plant-based diets, often vegan or vegetarian, substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions as opposed to meat-heavy diets.
I agree with you, eating less meat is a great way to help the planet. Raising animals uses a lot of land. A vegan diet can cut land use by up to 75% (University of Oxford), which means more space for vegetation and animals. Also, cows release a gas called methane, which traps heat and harms the atmosphere. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says methane is over 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Even eating a few plant based meals each week can lower your carbon footprint and help the Earth.