To Help the Planet, Change Your Diet

Daniel Vennard, World Resources Institute

The world is a rapidly changing place. NASA has reported that the earth is warming at a rate not seen before in the last 1,000 years. While the science and data are there, many of us know these facts from our daily lives. We feel weather patterns changing year to year. If we live in coastal areas, we worry about rising sea levels. Turn on the news, and we watch natural disasters unfold more frequently and at bigger scales.

It can appear daunting, but today we have a better understanding than ever before about the effects our behavior and choices have on the planet — and we need look no further than our own dinner plate to be able to make a difference.

Around the globe, people’s eating is trending toward Western-style diets defined by high consumption of meat and dairy — diets which also put undue pressure on land, water and climate. Research from the World Resources Institute (WRI) has found that demand for animal-based foods is projected to increase nearly 80 percent by 2050, and for beef by 95 percent. Growth will be especially high in emerging economies and urban areas in developing countries.

Among all foods, beef production stands out for its high environmental impacts, using 20 times more land and generating 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions than beans, for example.

The ongoing expansion of agricultural land is also the dominant driver of deforestation today, an issue the second season of Years of Living Dangerously explores. In the third episode, Gisele Bündchen travels to Brazil to see what happens when pristine forest is mowed down for cattle ranching. Across Brazil and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean, roughly 350 million hectares of land have been deforested, and an additional 300 million degraded. Combined, that’s an area twice the size of Argentina.

Changing what we eat is a relatively simple way to help protect forests, conserve water and generally do better by the environment. But for many, becoming vegetarian or vegan simply isn’t practical, nor all that desirable. And that’s okay because WRI’s research shows that even small changes have big impacts — the average American could cut his or her diet’s environmental impact by nearly half just by eating less meat and dairy.

We might, for example, try new recipes to make one dinner a week that’s produce-centered, opt for lunches rich in beans and other plant-based proteins, or swap the beef burger for a turkey burger. WRI’s Protein Scorecard can help you assess a food’s environmental footprint relative to cost. Leading companies like Sodexo and Hilton Worldwide are also working on ways to help many more people choose sustainable foods when they shop or dine out.

Every day we make choices about what to eat. We consider cost, convenience, what our family will like, and what’s fresh and in season. Let’s also think about what is good for the environment. Doing so will go a long way toward helping the planet sustain a growing population while preserving natural wonders for generations to come.

Daniel Vennard is Director of the Better Buying Lab within the World Resources Institute. He works with food companies and experts in behaviour change and marketing to develop, test and scale new ideas that can help shift diets to more sustainable options.