Planting Better Seeds
When talking about sustainability and preserving the natural environment, it’s often easier to repeat shocking statistics and sensational buzzwords than it is to wade through the muck of the media conversation and take actual steps towards highlighting objective truth. Much of what we see and hear is the result of differing political opinions, and which side of the fence each outlet sits. I think we can all agree that it is in our best interest to care for our natural environment – right? I don’t see any benefit any of us could reap if we disagreed here. I would also suggest that we are currently not doing the best that we could be. People are already engaging in many proactive steps towards more sustainable practices, but is this enough? A recent study, coming out of Oxford University – the most comprehensive study ever done regarding foodstuffs and the resources they consume – has concluded that cutting animal-based products from our lives is probably the single most effective thing we can do to reduce our environmental footprint (Poore & Nemecek 2018). The study spanned four years, over 100 countries, 40 food products and almost 40 000 farms around the world. It became apparent that from the milks studied, the least sustainable plant-based milk is more sustainable than the most sustainable dairy milk (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). This alone says more about the reality of our unsustainable ways than any news headline has. I should note that the man leading the study was consuming animal products at the beginning of the process and arrived at the conclusion based on the evidence. He now does not consume animal products. The big picture is this – using animals as resources is one of, if not the biggest contributing factor, to air pollution, water pollution, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). Simply by choosing to avoid animal products, we as individuals can reduce our harmful impacts on the environment more than if we were to use an electric car or stop traveling on planes (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). That is no small thing.
