With many of us cooking at home these days, there is more of an opportunity to use food to combat climate change. With these ingredient swaps and tweaks to your eating habits, you can help create a more positive impact on your health than the earth.
Karlan-Mason cited a number of factors that make industrial agriculture one of the most environmentally taxing processes in global food production. “We monocropize corn and soy and process it into feed, send the feed to the livestock, supply land and water, and repeat for the livestock’s life, all while the livestock releases methane gas every day.”
However, farm-based meat is not a one-on-one substitute for burgers and sausages. “When we look at soy production, it’s second to meat in environmental damage – we replace first-degree murder with second-degree murder,” said Douglas Murray, associate professor and chairman of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at Montclair State University in New York. Jersey.
Focus on unprocessed ingredients
Beyond engineered substitutions, vegetarian protein sources are the obvious swap-in for meat. Most vegetables, as noted in the 2018 Science Study, have less of a carbon footprint than even the least influential sources of protein, such as fish, eggs and dairy.
The term “plant-based diet” is a broadly varied term that includes high-protein vegetarian foods such as beans, lentils, leafy greens, quinoa and other unprocessed ingredients.
And incorporating plant-based proteins into daily meals is easier than ever, thanks to a shifting popular mindset that includes resource planning for resources and recipes that incorporate these ingredients. Prepared items such as nutmeg, cauliflower rice and veggie noodles are also common on menus and in supermarkets.
As a bonus, if you keep foods like beans and quinoa on hand, you can cook from your pantry more often, allowing you to often skip trips to the store during a pandemic.
Although not as environmentally sustainable as vegetarian proteins, eggs are also a more climate-friendly exchange, especially if they come from a local farm. “They pack a lot of protein punch, and chicken and egg production is much less environmentally harmful,” than meat production, Murray said.
If you also want to switch to milk without milk, Karlan-Mason recommends oat, soy and hazelnut milk as the best alternatives.
Local is great, but not everything
But surprisingly, fuel, transportation and packaging do not have as much of an impact on emissions as you might think.
While supporting local producers an economic perspective is an important part of the equation, it is not necessary to save yourself up for enjoying pineapples, avocados or other delicacies that do not grow in the neck of the forest.
Even almonds, which need a lot of water to produce, can be considered carbon neutral because their trees store carbon instead of emitting it. And the water consumption of the trees per gallon is much lower than the amount of water needed to produce meat and other livestock. “As a source of protein that replaces more intense sources of protein, it’s positive,” Raghav said.
What about seafood?
Like all other ingredients, local and sustainable options are always the best choice when it comes to seabirds. “There’s a lot of rampant overfishing affecting fish stocks around the world,” Raghav said, so doing research before you buy and eat fish is more important than ever.
Farmed shrimp is the one item you should skip to have the biggest environmental impact in this category. “Shrimp farming is the biggest driver of mangrove deforestation,” Raghav said, noting that mangroves are one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet. Their deforestation releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, a process that harms local shrimp environment then pork or poultry.
Start small to make a big impact
If this all sounds overwhelming or too complicated to really make a difference, then think that “what consumers can do is push the question,” according to Murray.
He cited the examples of organic certification and the removal of synthetic growth hormones from milk as two examples where purchasing choices made a lasting change in the food supply chain.
“If enough consumers try meatless on Monday, it would have a really significant impact,” he said.
Casey Barber is a food writer, photographer and illustrator; the author of “Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food” and “Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats”; and editor of the website Good. Food. Stories.
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