Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Improving Your Diet
So what’s a carbon footprint, and what does that have to do with the food you eat? When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming, and each year the average American household emits, through heating the house, cooking food, running appliances, etc., 55,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide we leave behind is referred to as a carbon footprint. There are many choices we can make each day to help reduce our individual carbon footprint.
One choice people can make is to switch to a more vegetarian-based diet which is also known to help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and certain types of cancer. Consider this:
• Per person, in the U.S., an animal based diet requires 4,200 gallons of water per day. A vegan diet requires 300 gallons of water per day.
• Nine times more energy is required to produce protein from animal foods as compared to plant foods. It takes approximately 28 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce one calorie of meat protein for human consumption and 3.3 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce one calorie of plant protein from grain for human consumption.
• For each pound of animal food produced, a farm field will lose about five pounds of topsoil. As the soil erodes, so do the minerals in the soil, thus making our food less nutritious.
If you want to lower your carbon footprint, try eating a few vegetarian meals per week. When you do eat animal foods, try to find local suppliers and choose animals that have been raised without hormones and antibiotics. For more information about a plant-based diet, visit www.vegkitchen.com.
It is important for people to become more responsible global citizens. By making small changes to your diet, you will be helping not only yourself, but also the planet that nourishes you and all those you love.
For more information, contact Stephanie Richards, R.D.,M.P.A. at Wellness Solutions at 216-324-2073, planetorganics@aol.com or visit www.healthandnutritionwellness.com.
August/September 2008 Contents