Adopt a Plant-Based Diet

By Sarada Sangameswaran, Interpretive Educator

“Eat your veggies” is a common refrain from parents all over the world, trying to cajole their children into eating broccoli, peas or anything green. While this may not be popular for the under-twelve crowd, it is good advice for our health as well as the health of the planet. And plants, it turns out, are good eats!

Our modern diets have become overly reliant on animal foods, which come with a steep carbon price tag. Over one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions come from eating animal foods. If cattle were their own nation, they would be the third largest source of greenhouse gases in the world. Farming animals for consumption takes up a lot of land, both to produce their feed and for grazing livestock. This means there is less room for native plant communities such as forests and grasslands that can drawdown carbon and lock it away for years.

Contrast that with a plant-rich diet. Land used to grow food crops is a fraction of that used for animal agriculture. As a result, fewer native habitats would be destroyed to make way for farm fields. These native habitats, in turn, help sequester carbon in plants and soil where it belongs.

The benefits of a plant-rich diet for human health are well recognized. People whose diets are plant-based enjoy healthier lives, with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases. As a society, this means a reduction in health-care costs and lost productivity. The much-touted Mediterranean diet, which is associated with healthy centenarians, is heavily based on plants. Who would not want those health benefits?

For those who worry about getting enough protein in their diets from plants, rest assured, there are plenty of rich plant-based proteins. Pulses, which include beans, peas and lentils, are a rich source of protein in much of the world. Other foods such as nuts, grains and even vegetables contain enough protein to sustain us.

Making a change can be challenging, but it can be done and the rewards are ample. Start small by including more plants in your diet and build up to a few meals a week that are plant-based. Experiment with the numerous milk-substitutes on the market to accompany your cereal or coffee. The next time you eat out, order a vegetarian entrée. A great way to get fresh local produce into your diet is to visit farmers markets in summer or subscribe to a community supported agriculture farm.

The journey to a carbon-neutral world has many steps. One of the most powerful steps that we can take to reduce our carbon footprint is to adopt a plant-based diet. So go ahead and enjoy that lentil salad tonight, knowing that you are doing something good for yourself and the world you live in.

A single action can be a candle that can light more candles and create a movement. What are you prepared to do to create a habitable world? The solutions are in our hands. Join us on this journey. Take the #MyCarbonCyclePledge.

#MyCarbonCyclePledge

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden encourages you to take small steps toward reducing your personal carbon footprint. Read more about the carbon cycle, what the Garden is doing to reduce our carbon footprint, and take the #MyCarbonCyclePledge.

Click here to read more about #MyCarbonCyclePledge >