Plant-Rich Diets! A Possible Solution To Minimize Environmental Degradation!

Currently, the meat-centric Western Diet is becoming popular throughout the world, although it is currently responsible for one-fifth of global emissions. So why exactly should we care and why should we consider switching over to a plant-rich diet which will assist society in minimizing our impact on the environment? Well, let's get into it!

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You can help the planet and participate in an environmental movement that has become a huge part of today’s society. You yourself can easily implement a plant-rich diet into your lifestyle and help minimize environmental degradation.

The issue of plant-rich diet is best known as a wicked problem, there are many components and problems that are attached to the diet itself, but with the right amount of knowledge and will-power, there may be a solution to this issue.

Many of you have probably heard this before, and there are many memes that circulate the internet about vegans and vegetarians shoving their diet into the faces of society’s meat-eaters, but the diet itself is quite valid, whether it is coming from an environmental or health perspective.

But why exactly should you consider swapping over to a plant-rich diet, well keep on reading and find out!

1. Environmental Benefits

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There is a wide range of Environmental reasons as to why a Plant-Rich Diet is the way to go, and these include:

a) Minimizing Carbon Output

According to Project Drawdown, a plant-rich diet can reduce emission by about 60-70%.

If about 50% of the world's population were to restrict their diet to 2,500 calories per day and reduce meat consumption, about 26.7 gigatons of emission could be avoided (Project Drawdown, 2017)

b) Minimizing Animal Agriculture

National Geographic states that agriculture is nine percent of emissions and livestock roughly four percent of that.

It requires much less land, about 20 times less (Peta, 2010) to feed someone on a plant-rich diet than it does of a meat-eater, and so a plant-rich diet would minimize the amount of land required to be used for livestock grazing.

About 39.3 gigatons of emissions could be avoided due to a decrease in deforestation and land-use change associated with animal agriculture (Project Drawdown, 2017).

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c) Decreasing Water Footprint

According to Chai et al. (2019) livestock farming generates a water shortage, its total water footprint is about 29% of the global agricultural production. Reducing the amount of livestock product consumption will result in a reduction of global water consumption.

Statistically, one kilogram of beef requires ~13kg of grain and ~30kg of hay which amounts to ~104,500 L of water, whereas one kilogram of crop requires between 500-2000L of water (Chai et al., 2019).

So minimizing the number of livestock products consumed will greatly decrease our water footprint.

d) Decreasing Air Pollution/Toxins

According to Peta (2010), many factory farms divert water pollution by spraying liquid manure into the air, creating mists that are carried away from the wind, emitting toxic airborne chemicals.

Minimizing the amount of livestock product consumption minimizes the amount of waste disposal required for farms, leading to fewer air pollutants and toxins.

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e) More Sustainable

Plant-rich diets are sustainable compared to those which consume livestock products due to the fact that they require less natural resources, as well as are less taxing on the environment (Sabaté and Soret, 2014). A plant-rich diets impact on the environment is not as significant to that of meat-eaters, which is why it is considered sustainable.

2. Health Benefits

Via Frontiers in Nutrition

According to Lacour et al. (2018), those who consumed a plant-rich diet, were overall characterized to have a healthier lifestyle, including healthier diets.

Swapping over to a plant-rich diet may allow for the following to occur:

a) Reduced "un-healthy" foods consumption

As stated in Lacour et al. (2018) those with a plant-rich diet, tend to consume less fast food products (hamburgers, pizzas, and sandwiches), sweets and alcohol. As well as that a plant-rich diet leads to a decrease in saturated fats intake, increased fibre intake, a higher vitamin and mineral intake (Lea, Crawford, & Worsley, 2006).

b) Minimize risk of diseases

A plant-rich diet has the ability to assist in decreasing the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, metabolic syndromes, diabetes, and depression; it also has the ability to improve one's physical and mental functions (McManus, 2018).

A plant-rich diet is also capable of slowing and possibly preventing cognitive decline, the consumption of greater amounts of plant-based compounds and antioxidants have been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and reverse cognitive deficits (Kubala, 2018).

Yale University

c) Weight Loss

A plant-rich diet is capable of assisting one in weight loss, the increased fibre consumption and exclusion of processed foods can lead to an increase in weight loss (Kubala, 2018). So switching over to a plant-rich diet, allows for yourself to obtain a healthier diet that leads to a healthier lifestyle.

3. Be a Leader

When it comes to initiatives such as this, it takes some time before it becomes something that the majority of the population takes part in. But these initiatives always starts with just one person, so if you feel like this is something that you can support, and it works with your way of living then go for it, be one of the first few people to start the trend.

If you start something, you as a leader can convince many others to join, and eventually, there will be an abundant amount of members of society participating in the plant-rich diet, resulting in a positive feedback loop, and further advocating for a solution to help minimize and possibly solve our current climate change predicament.

Okay, but even after all that, you're still skeptical...

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This all just sounds like you have to become a vegan or vegetarian though

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No, you don't. It's similar to that analogy of a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is NOT a square. A plant-rich diet is the square, and a vegan/vegetarian diet is the rectangle.

But in easier words: a vegan and vegetarian lifestyle is a form of a plant-rich diet. But having a plant-rich diet doesn't mean that you are a vegan or a vegetarian.

Try thinking of the diet in different aspect

Don't think of the diet as a plant-rich diet, or something similar to a vegan and vegetarian diet. Think of it as a SUSTAINABLE DIET.

A Sustainable diet defined by Sabaté and Soret (2014) is a diet with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to a healthy life for present and future generations; it protects and respects biodiversity and ecosystems, is culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable, nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy, while optimizing natural and human resources.

But what about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

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This is a huge topic that has a lot of controversies attached to it, so I'm going to have to leave this to you to decide what you think is best.

When it comes to making decisions about GMOs, that is entirely a personal choice. GMOs are still a very new topic, and I personally believe that there is still an abundant amount of research that is required to be done on GMOs before we can officially label them as good or bad.

But again, it is a personal opinion on whether or not you would like to consume foods that are GMOs. Your best bet is to do your own personal research, and decide from there!

Here's a TedTalk that can provide you with a little more information regarding GMOs and Genetic Engineering when it comes to food.

Okay, but for health/medical reasons, I can't stop consuming meat and meat products

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Well, that's perfectly fine, you don't HAVE to stop eating meat and meat products, just minimize the amount you consume, to an amount of which you will still remain healthy, and increase the amount of plant-based foods that you consume.

Again, a plant-rich diet does not mean ONLY eating plant-based foods, it just means consuming more plant-based foods than other types of foods that you would eat.

But if you really cannot reduce the amount of meat and meat products that you are consuming for health/medical reasons, then you do not have to.

No one is forcing you to do something that you don't want to do or are incapable of doing, these are just simply the benefits as to transitioning to a plant-rich diet, in the end it is completely your own choice as to what you do.

But if you're still not convinced...

If you've gotten to this point and you're still conflicted, here's a video of some professional people who are saying basically the same things that I have, with a greater scientific understanding and reasoning.

Vox / Via YouTube / youtu.be

If you are convinced and check out this website to learn a little more detail about the plant-rich diet solution to climate change.

And if you want to figure out more ways to assist in climate solutions, check out Project Drawdown

They are a world-class research organization that reviews, analyses, and identifies the most viable global climate solutions, and shares these findings with the world.

Project Drawdown's mission is to help the world stop global warming by achieving Drawdown, as quickly, safely and equitably as possible.

They have a wide range of solutions, through categories such as electricity generation, food, women and girls, buildings and cities, land use, transport, materials, and coming attractions. All of these categories contain multiple viable solutions that will result in minimizing our environmental impact.

And for all intents and purposes....

References

Gibbens, S. (2019). Eating meat has ‘dire’ consequences for the planet, says report. National Geographic. [Website] Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/01/commission-report-great-food-transformation-plant-diet-climate-change/#close

Kubala, J. (2018). Whole-foods, plant-based diet: a detailed beginners' guide. Healthline. [Website] Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plant-based-diet-guide

Lacour, C., Seconda, L., Allès, B., Hercberg, S. Landevin, B., Pointereau, P.,… Kesse-Guyot, E. (2018). Environmental impacts of plant-based diets: How does organic food consumption contribute to environmental sustainability? Frontiers in Nutrition. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2018.00008/full?utm_source=G-BLO&utm_medium=WEXT&utm_campaign=ECO_FNUT_20180215_vegetarian-organic-food

Lea, E.J., Crawford, D., &Worsley, A. (2006). Public views for the benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 60, 828-837.

McManus, K. D. (2018). What is a plant-based diet and why should you try it? Harvard Health Publishing. [Website] Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-a-plant-based-diet-and-why-should-you-try-it-2018092614760

Peta. (2010). Meat and the Environment. [Website] Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/

Project Drawdown. (2017). Plant-rich diet. [Website] Retrieved from https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/food/plant-rich-diet

Sabaté, J., & Soret, S. (2014). Sustainability of plant-based diets: back to the future. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100(1), 476-482.