You probably know about the adverse health effects of eating too much red meat — like the increased risk of heart disease — but did you know you could reduce your carbon footprint by eating less of the stuff?
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, as reported by Scientific American, the production of the meat in our meals causes more atmosphere-damaging greenhouse gases than the cars and factories of the world do.
Nitrogen- and phosphorous-based fertilizers used to grow feed for cows have also been linked to increases in harmful algae blooms in our lakes and oceans.
The nitrogen pollution associated with meat production causes $200-$2,000 billion in damage around the world every year. It also requires 20-50 times more water to produce 2.2 pounds of meat than it does vegetables.
Eating less red meat and more vegetables — and even occasionally cutting out all dairies to go vegan — can help you live a healthy life and reduce the demand for meat production.
Here are a few vegan recipes from The Daily Green that even a meat eater would be happy with.
You can visit one of these grocery stores in Dixon for your ingredients:
- Dixon Fruit Market
- Safeway
I believe in moderation and enjoy the occasional steak, but meat is less than 10% of my diet now, and the benefits of a vegan diet are well documented by large, long term studies, which are the gold standard for reliability. I do agree with your disdain for Monsanto and Wally World, and believe the effect of concentrated economic power in the hands of a few corporations is dangerous for the long term health of our capitalism. The growth of 'farm to table' businesses will help to diminish the concentration of economic power in the food industry, which is a very good thing. Often times a cheap up front cost for something costs you more in the long term, and I wholeheartedly support paying a little more for a product if it means the people who provided the product will enjoy a greater standard of living as a result.