Reduce Your Carbon Footprint By Improving Your DietBy Stephanie Richards, R.D.,M.P.A.
Wellness Solutions
Excerpts added by
Ahtur Keymah –
KNN Staff
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 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 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 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.
The African Hebrew Israelite Community maintains a vegan diet and grows most of its own
organic produce, citing Genesis 1:29,
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
They practice abstention from alcohol, other than wine that they make themselves, and both illegal and pharmaceutical drugs, so as to stay within the cycles of life. The group also owns and operates a chain of vegan-vegetarian restaurants throughout the world. Adult members exercise three times a week, and are advised to have at least one full-body massage each month for its health benefits.
In 1998, doctors visited the community in Israel and found that only 6% of the members suffered from high blood pressure, compared to 30% of African Americans. Furthermore only 5% of their members were obese, compared to 32% of black men and half of black women in America. The doctors concluded, "These changes in lifestyle might prevent chronic disease in American blacks, but would be hard to achieve without the unifying power of community, spirituality, and concern for the environment."
If you want lower your carbon footprint, try eating more vegetarian meals each week. It is important to become 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.
