Today, Earth Day, is a good day for a simple action we can take to benefit the planet: going meat-free for the day.
The Ecological Society’s academic journal declared “animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change,” producing 57% of global greenhouse gas emissions, not including deforestation costs.
A Nature Climate Change report suggests cutting methane emissions from the agriculture sector, particularly meat and dairy production, is among the most impactful ways to slow climate change.
Environmental sustainability requires decreasing consumption of meat. Americans pledging to forgo meat one day a week would massively reduce our carbon footprint. If all U.S. residents did this for one year, we could eliminate 468 million tons of carbon emissions. We’d have to replace 25 million gas-fueled cars with electric vehicles to effect a similar carbon reduction.
This Earth Day, let’s rev up the vegetables, fruits and grains and put the brakes on meat.
Jane DeMarines
Bethesda, Md.
The writer is executive director of Sustainable Earth Eating.