World Environment Day takes place annually on June 5th. The United Nations established it in 1972 to promote global awareness and action to protect the environment. The day is now celebrated in over 150 countries and is intended to encourage and make everyone aware that everyone can do something for the earth - let's just start with our diet!
What we eat not only has a huge impact on our health, but also on our environment. In this blog post you will find out why a diet without meat, milk, eggs and other animal products is more sustainable and how you can easily change your diet. This is not only good for the environment and the climate, but also for your health.
A vegan diet can effectively reduce your carbon footprint
The meat industry is one of the most environmentally harmful sectors in the world because livestock breeding and animal husbandry cause high greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, many natural areas are needed for growing animal feed and building animal farms.
Avoiding meat and animal products is significantly more environmentally friendly. A study illustrates the exact effects: Researchers at the University of Oxford found that a vegan diet is the best single measure to reduce environmental pollution on earth. According to the study, a vegan lifestyle can reduce a person's carbon footprint by up to 73%. This means that giving up animal products is even more beneficial than giving up a car or air travel.
If everyone on earth stopped eating meat, agricultural land worldwide could be reduced by around 75%. This area would be equivalent to the size of the USA, China, Australia and the EU combined. This reduction would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the study, the remaining agricultural land would still be enough to feed the world's population. In addition, the rainforests could also recover from environmental damage and endangered animal species would have a larger habitat again.
We'll tell you how you can avoid environmental pollution through your diet.
3 tips for an environmentally friendly diet
1) Less is more! Reduce your meat consumption.
If you are not currently a vegetarian or vegan, you can change your diet in small steps. For example, you can introduce three to four meat-free days per week and gradually increase your intake. And at some point you will spend seven days without eating meat or sausage at all.
2) Replace eggs with plant-based alternatives
Eggs are usually not necessary in cake batter. You can easily replace them with soy flour, applesauce, bananas or vegan egg replacer. Give it a try next time you bake a cake.
3) There are also great alternatives for cow's milk
There is now a huge range of plant milks available. Oat, almond or soy milk also taste good in coffee. They are also ideal for smoothies. But you can also mix great drinks with coconut or nut milk - or you can simply enjoy the milk alternatives on their own.
Conclusion:
The Oxford University study shows that a vegan diet has a positive impact on people, animals and the environment. Eliminating or at least reducing animal products from your diet is a simple and effective way to protect the environment. Your health also benefits from a vegan diet.
Questioning your own diet and making purchasing decisions more consciously is also a big concern for Wholey. We believe in the power of plants and support a vegan diet with our brand. All of our ingredients also come from organic farming. We only work with farmers who are committed to organic farming and thus promote soil fertility and avoid environmental damage caused by the use of pesticides.
Sources:
Original study: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987.long
https://www.nutri-plus.de/vegane-ernaehrungsweise-ist-der-effektivste-umweltschutz
Leave a comment