Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are climbing higher than ever: and do not seem to stop any time soon. Global temperatures have risen approximately 1.2 degrees since the late 1800s, resulting greatly from a human-induced surge in carbon dioxide emissions. The Earth’s climate is continuously falling prey to the choices we make daily.
The meat industry, especially beef production, notoriously contributes greatly to our carbon footprint, through the increased levels of fossil fuel burning and methane emissions that meat production entails. A study published in Nature Food demonstrated that food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, 57% of which is attributed to meat production, with beef production influencing 25% of this value.
However, it doesn’t need to remain this way: there’s something we can do to fix it (without having to purchase a new electric car). One meatless day a week can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. From a simple “Meatless Monday” to a more serious switch, adopting a plant-based diet has the ability to reduce these drastic carbon emissions that are slowly eating up our planet.
The first place to start? If you’ve never tried a meal without meat, try it- chances are you won’t regret it.
With the motivation to introduce more plant-based recipes, I plan to start posting a series of vegan recipes that I’ve created by altering ingredients in popular recipes that contain animal products. My blog has always meant to be a resource to learn about how we as humans can take action, and alongside political advocacy and supporting cruelty-free products, our diet has an equally important influence on animal lives. I hope this series can serve as a fun way to share recipes that fight against the normalized belief that a vegan diet cannot possibly meet the level of a “normal” diet.
I want to emphasize that a full switch to plant-based, though completely amazing in all of its glory, is not required to make a difference in the lives of animals -- If you’ve never had a meatless meal, even one meal can make a much greater difference than you would think.
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