Climate Solution: Plant-Based Eating

It often feels like there is nothing we can do about climate change. It seems like our individual actions are kind of meaningless in the face of such a huge problem. It’s true that none of us, on our own, is going to solve this problem. It will take policy and collective action. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do as individuals to move our society forward. Collective action is really just a group of individuals making individual actions. And, while I’ve said over and over that policy is the best approach for solving these issues, I still think we as individuals can and should examine our own habits. We should try to lower our own carbon footprint, because ultimately that’s what it’s going to take to get where we need to go. So I’d like to present you with a series of personal actions we can take to lower our own emissions. Let’s start with one of the easiest and quickest things we can do: eat more plants, aka “plant-based eating.”

Your first thought when you hear “plant-based eating” might be vegetarianism or even veganism. Your second thought is probably something like “no thanks” or “don’t tell me what to eat.” There’s no denying that most people love meat and dairy, and we live in a society that prides itself on a meat-heavy diet. We see it as a symbol of wealth, abundance, masculinity, even patriotism. No generation in the history of the world has had such easy and cheap access to meat.

Meat and dairy both have a huge environmental impact. Red meat in particular (beef and lamb) has the highest impact. Beef production is the leading cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss on the planet. Meat production is also subsidized both explicitly through feed subsidies, and implicitly through regulations that allow for animal and worker abuse, pollution, and other impacts to be externalized.

The government should step in and stop subsidizing meat immediately. Cheap meat is generally a bad thing for the planet and for our health. That being said there are obviously equity issues. For most of human history, the rich ate whatever they wanted and common people were limited to meat on special occasions or not at all. We don’t want to return to this stratified way of eating.

However, the amount of meat that we consume is simply unsustainable. The research on this is overwhelming so I won’t belabor it here, but given existing technology, there is no way we can continue to eat meat on this scale without destroying our own ecosystem. Fortunately, cutting meat and dairy consumption in rich countries is fairly easy. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint (along with your general ecological footprint) the easiest thing to do is cut your meat and dairy consumption.

But for most of us, eating without meat might seem hard. Won’t you still be hungry? Will you get enough nutrients? What about protein? Will it even taste good without meat? Maybe you don’t know how to cook without meat, or maybe you don’t cook at all and there are now vegetarian restaurants nearby. Rest assured, it’s probably a lot easier than you think.

There are at least two strategies you can try. First, you can simply reduce the meat or dairy portion sizes. If you order a hamburger at a restaurant, cut it in half and save half for later. Stretch that burger into two meals. Or make smaller portions if you cook at home. Rather than making meat the centerpiece, think of it as compliment or side dish, with vegetables front and center. This way of cooking is common, even in advanced countries like Italy, France, South Korea, and Japan. You can think of this as an opportunity to learn new cuisines.

My preferred method, however, is to simply eat vegetarian most of the time. It’s easy, you don’t need to measure anything or weigh your meat portions, and it’s structured. I eat meat once or twice a week. I don’t change my portion sizes and I don’t feel guilty about eating it. I usually eat meat on Friday or Saturday, when I’m out with friends. To be honest, I don’t miss eating meat every day. I know I can have a hamburger or a steak or whatever whenever I want, so I don’t feel pressure to get one. Further, I’ve spent years learning how to cook and order vegetarian dishes so I have a large repertoire of options to choose from. I also live in a place where it’s easy to find vegetarian options at restaurants, which I know isn’t true of everyone. And I have the income to buy whatever fresh fruits and vegetables I need, which again is not true of everyone.

I recognize that I have privilege here. I also don’t expect everyone to cut their meat consumption by 70+% the way I have. But, any effort to cut your meat consumption is worth doing, even if it’s only once a week.

The process can either be immediate or gradual. We all live very hectic, stressful lives and completely changing the way we eat and cook overnight would be pretty hard to do. Fortunately, it’s not necessary to change everything right away. My advice is to think about how often you eat meat. Is it daily? Is it multiple times a day? Is it with every meal?

Then think about the meals you enjoy (if any) that are vegetarian. What do you like about them? How often could you eat them?

Next, start exploring similar meals. Try to switch out one meal per week from omnivorous to vegetarian (or vegan if you’re feeling ambitious). Perhaps you can try something new every week, whether you order it from a restaurant or make it at home. You’re not going to like everything, and that’s fine, just keep trying new things.

If you feel even more ambitious, maybe try to cooking with something you’ve never used before, like tofu or tempeh. If you have used them before, then start exploring more dishes and more ways to cook them. We are awash in Youtube videos and cookbooks that can teach us how to cook with these ingredients.

Over time, you can build up a rotation of meals that you (and hopefully your family) enjoy eating. Be ruthless about it, if they don’t like something, then don’t make it again, but keep trying.

Over time you get more and more comfortable cooking without meat, or discovering what restaurants have vegetarian options you enjoy. Like I said, gradual change is totally fine.

And you don’t have to eat like me. Even replacing one meal a week is good, two meals is great. If you get to a point where most of your meals are vegetarian, then that’s wonderful. If you think about it, you could eat meat every day for one meal and 2/3 of your diet would be vegetarian. The average American eats about 6.3 oz of meat per day, that’s almost two recommended servings. If you cut it to one 3.5 oz serving, you’d be eating barely half the average. If everyone did that it would have a huge positive impact.

Also, you shouldn’t think about it as a sacrifice, I certainly don’t. The goal is not to punish yourself for eating meat, you should think of it as an opportunity to explore new flavors and new ingredients. For almost all of human history, most people were vegetarian a majority of the time. Over the centuries, we have invented myriad delicious meals with little or no animal protein. And we live in a time of great recipe abundance.

I personally enjoy getting cookbooks from the library and testing them out. For major cookbooks like Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything there are often vegetarian versions like this one. Sweet Potato Soul is good book offering vegetarian versions of classic Southern cooking. I’m currently using The Vegetarian Silver Spoon for my Italian recipes. The list of books is almost endless. Eating should be a joy, a celebration of flavor. Meat isn’t necessary to have a wonderful taste experience.

If you’re concerned about nutrition, then there are good resources out there (beware though, a lot of “plant-based” writing is very biased. Stick with neutral nutrition and science-based organizations like medical schools or dieticians). In reality, while plant-based diets are usually healthier than the typical American diet, for some people they may not be healthy. Everyone is unique and so are our nutritional needs.

If you’re just not interested in having smaller portions or going without meat a few times a week, then you can still reduce your diet’s carbon footprint. Cutting red meat is the next best thing. Going pescatarian would be even better, as fish and especially shellfish have much lower carbon footprints than land-based meats. Smaller fish like sardines and anchovies have a smaller footprint than big fish like tuna or salmon. Bivalve shellfish like oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops are probably the most sustainable animal protein on the planet.

One way or the other, our diets will have to change. No matter who you are or where you live, you can make a difference by eating a little less meat. You can feel good about it, knowing that not only would it have climate benefits, but it will also benefit a plethora of other ecological issues like deforestation, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, marine dead zones, and others.