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Healthy Eating for You and the Planet

Susannah Tuttle, NCIPL Director · January 14, 2015 · 2 Comments

Many of us kick off the new year committed to healthier eating. In his words below, NCIPL Steering Committee Chair Carl Sigel suggests ways we can be better not just to ourselves but also to our planet:

At present, about one-third of the planet’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions result from agriculture, largely due to tropical deforestation, methane emissions from livestock and rice cultivation, and nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized soils.

To meet the world’s future food needs, food production will likely need to double by the middle of this century. If we continue to use current agricultural practices, GHG emissions will increase substantially. To avoid the most dangerous consequences of climate change, the way we grow food and the way we eat must change.

We can all take part in addressing this challenge by modifying our dietary patterns to include a greater proportion of plant-based food. According to a recent article by Ripple et.al. in Nature Climate Change, the GHG footprint of consuming ruminant meat is, on average, 19 to 48 times higher than that of high-protein foods obtained from plants.

The North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light website contains many helpful resources and suggestions to help put our faith into action. A good starting point would be to put into practice one or more of Dr. Kathy Shea’s 10 Principles of Earth Friendly, Healthy Eating. For example, substitute chicken, fish or eggs for beef, lamb, or cheese as often as possible. If everyone in the USA ate no meat or cheese one day a week for a year, it would be equivalent to not driving 91 billion miles or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.

We can all be part of the solution to our planet’s ecological challenges, and we can live a healthier life in the process. Finally, we should never forget what environmentalist Robert Swan, the first person to walk to both poles, said, “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Environment, Food

Susannah Tuttle, NCIPL Director

About Susannah Tuttle, NCIPL Director

Susannah Tuttle joined the staff in August 2011. She received a Masters of Divinity degree from Starr King School for the Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. In 2004 Susannah was hired as UNC Chapel Hill’s first Sustainability Research Associate and went on to co-initiate Trace Collaborative, LLC a consulting firm specializing in the implementation of sustainability within the design and construction industry. Susannah currently serves on Interfaith Power & Light’s national Board of Directors, Southeast Climate & Energy Network Board of Trustees, Duke Energy’s NC Eastern Advisory Council, and UNC School of Law’s Center for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Economics (CE3) Advisory Board.
Learn more about NC Interfaith Power & Light: ncipl.org.

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Comments

  1. AvatarSheila Menendez says

    February 4, 2015 at 7:05 am

    How about shopping local?? NC small farmers are at the market from April to October and can be easily reached during the off-season.

    Reply
    • Aleta Payne, Deputy Executive DirectorAleta Payne, Deputy Executive Director says

      February 4, 2015 at 9:25 am

      Hey Sheila,

      Thanks for your comment. Eating Well includes a good bit of information on local farms, farmers markets, and the impact on the planet when we transport food from a distance. Several of the resources highlighted within the curriculum also include information on this important topic.

      Best,
      Aleta

      Reply

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Healthy Eating for You and the Planet

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