World Sustainability and Plant-based Eating

On Dec 31, I put up a post about J. Morris Hicks' efforts to convey the value of plant-based eating... value to both the eater, and more importantly to the World's population, because it can so greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and hence improve sustainability of our World

What we are faced with as a species trying to survive long term on Earth, is living in a sustainable manner. Very simply, that means not running out of fresh water and food, not flooding ourselves out of coastal cities and towns, not causing major extinctions of plants and wildlife, not creating huge ocean dead zones..........

When we look at building enough renewable energy capacity, like wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, wave, biomass, etc., to make a significant contribution, lets say a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the task is very daunting. But if we switch to plant based eating, we can achieve that same 50%, and while the task is still very daunting, it is daunting in a behavioral sense, BUT VERY DOABLE in a physical sense.

So how is your today's diet? Take the 4 Leaf Test (link to test is near bottom of Hick's post). How am I doing? I am in the 4-leaf category by a parsley leaf, but I am there. And I am enjoying my food more than ever, probably because it both tastes good, and makes me feel good, too.

My lunch from the buffet line at McDougall's Hawaii Plant-based Eating program, Jan 2014.

The Beef about McDonald's Beef

Marc Guenther says HERE what I firmly believe: Eating much less beef (and other meat), will greatly help our World survive, and will also greatly benefit your health.

My apology for a recent absence of posts, but I have been away learning how to become a better vegan-with-no-added-oil, thanks to a great Dr. McDougall program.

Vegan Diet Significantly Minimizes Climate Change

You may wonder, where is the link? But I am sure most of you know the connection. Raising beef, pork and chicken...and even farm raised fish, is a very inefficient use of our limited resources, and the waste involved ultimately generates a LOT of greenhouse gases, like CO2 and methane.

And probably good numbers of you are vegan, or almost vegan (like me). Now for those that are not, maybe Dr. McDougall can give you some added inspiration through his long term relationship with Al Gore, who after 7 years of consideration, has just now declared himself a vegan.

A partial believer? but want a bit more convincing, try McDougall on potatoes.

Feeding the World....while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Cattle release methane, and lots of it. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2. Plus with a World population over 7 billion and still growing, we are running out of resources to feed our World.

So do we really need to eat beef, chicken and pork to get our protein? Absolutely not!!!! Look at some of the earth's largest animals - Elephants, Hippopotamus, Rhinocerus, they are all vegetarians, but still very big and strong. In the US, 13% of the population is vegetarian or vegan. In India 31%. In OLLI, I am estimating significantly more than 13%. (A more precise survey would be welcome.)

From a global perspective, it boils down to more efficiently using our limited resources, which are fertile land and fresh water. Consuming crops is far more efficient than consuming animals which have been fed crops. This is due to limited ecological efficiency in converting energy from one trophic level to another. A rough approximation is that the conversion is only 10% efficient. See Wikipedia for more details.

So what are your plant-based eating resources. In OLLI there is an excellent class, Plant Based Eating 101 taught by Dorothy Greet. On the internet, there are an almost infinite number of resources, such as Marc Gunther on Reinventing Meat, or John McDougall's web site dedicated to improving your health through plant based eating.

At the very least, take a look at the health benefits You will gain, and the benefits to the World through better utilization of limited resources, and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sally and I both both do it.