Eating a vegetarian diet is one of the best things you can do to stop climate change – it’s also delicious and loads of fun!
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Eating a veggie diet means 2.5 x less carbon emissions than a meat diet.
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A chicken breast takes over 542 litres of water to produce, that could fill up your bathtub 6.5 x.
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By eating vegetarian food for a year you could save the same amount of emissions as taking a small family car off the road for 6 months.
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The population is set to rise to over 9 billion by 20501, we are consuming the planet’s natural resources faster than the Earth can replenish them. By 2050 we’ll need the equivalent of three planets resources2 to meet our current needs.
Climate change
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Reduce carbon
Our planet is heating up. By replacing meat with vegetarian sources of protein, (nuts, seeds, beans and lentils, for example), we can reduce carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. The whole food production process of farm-to-plate totals 30% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (3).
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Save emissions
By eating vegetarian food for a year you could save the same amount of emissions as taking a small family car off the road for 6 months (4). You might not be able to stop using your car in day-to-day life but you can choose to eat veggie food.
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Land and water
More agricultural land is used to raise cattle than all other domesticated animals and crops combined (7). A vegetarian diet requires two-and-a-half times less the amount of land needed to grow food, compared to a meat-based diet (8). Livestock in the UK eat more than half of the 20 million tonnes of cereal grown. That’s over 50% of wheat and 60% of barley (6).
A vegetarian diet uses less water. It takes far less water to produce plant protein than meat. An 8 oz chicken breast takes over 542 litres of water to produce. Enough to fill your bath tub 6.5 times.
Vegetarians don’t eat fish or seafood
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References
[1] “After adjustment for sex and age, an average 2,000 kcal high meat diet had 2.5 times as many GHG emissions than an average 2,000 kcal vegan diet.”
Scarborough, P., Appleby, P.N., Mizdrak, A. et al. Climatic Change (2014) 125: 179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1
[2] “poultry emerges as the least water intensive, with between 2,390 and
3,900 litres of embedded water in each kg food” http://www.ceasc.com/Images/Content/2432%20final%20report.pdf calculation based on figures published in EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Science and Technology Options
Assessment S T O A Implications of Global Trends in Eating Habits for Climate Change, Health and Natural Resources Study (IP/A/STOA/IC/2008-180)
[3] “A family running a 10 year old small family car for 6,000miles has a carbon footprint of 2,440kgCO2e (Carbon Footprint. Carbon footprint calculator. www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx Accessed July 2013), roughly equivalent to the annual carbon saving of two high meat eating adults moving to a vegetarian diet.”
Scarborough, P., Appleby, P.N., Mizdrak, A. et al. Climatic Change (2014) 125: 179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1
[4] The United Nations Population Database http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/
[5] WWF Report. 2012. The 2050 Criteria Guide to Responsible Investment in Agricultural, Forest, and Seafood Commodities. https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/458/files/original/2050_criteria_final_low_res_online_viewing.pdf?1348517472
[6] Garnett. Doctor T. 2014. Well Fed. The Health and Environmental Impacts of Our Food Choices. University of Oxford, Oxford Martin School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbwkWsEdmU
[7] “A family running a 10 year old small family car for 6,000miles has a carbon footprint of 2,440kgCO2e (Carbon Footprint. Carbon footprint calculator. www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx Accessed July 2013), roughly equivalent to the annual carbon saving of two high meat eating adults moving to a vegetarian diet.”
[8] World Wide Fund for Nature https://www.wwf.org.uk/
[9] Zollitsch, W., Winckler, C., Waiblinger, S., and Haslberger, A. 2007. Sustainable Food Production and Ethics. Wageningen Academic Publishers.
