Lower Your Carbon Footprint & Cut Back On Meat This Earth Day
Lower Your Footprint & Cut Back On Meat This Earth Day
Written by Jenny Rose Edwards
What Is Earth Day?
Earth Day is the world’s largest environmental movement. This organisation works all year round to solve climate change, end plastic pollution, protect endangered species, and broaden the environmental movement around the world.
This movement all began on April 22nd 1970, and now over 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities each year. 2020 will mark the movement’s 50th Anniversary, and the goal is to make it the start of something even bigger than it already is.
All in all, Earth Day is the perfect opportunity for you to reflect on your impact on the planet, and how you can reduce your carbon footprint.
Why You Should Cut Back On Meat For Earth Day
Cutting back on meat is beneficial for your health, for ethical reasons, AND for the Earth; which is why there couldn’t be a better time than Earth Day to start cutting back on your meat consumption!
Did you know that the oceans are being overfished? This means that humans are catching fish faster than stocks can be replenished. One-third of the world’s assessed fisheries are currently pushed beyond their biological limits, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Eating meat is also harmful to the oceans, as animal agriculture pollutes the waters with waste. The meat industry was blamed for the largest-ever ocean ‘dead zone’ in Gulf of Mexico in 2017.
It’s also mind blowing how much land animal agriculture takes up. New research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75%, while still feeding the world.
Cleaning beaches, planting seeds, and creating less waste are all fantastic things to do during Earth Day this year, but please do consider cutting down on your meat intake, too! So much change can be made if millions of people cut down on meat, as opposed to just thousands of people going fully vegan. Small steps are just as important! As Greenpeace said, we don’t have to all adopt a “meatless” diet tomorrow. But we all must develop “meat consciousness” and reduce the level of meat in our diets, e.g. becoming reducetarians.