This series was prepared by Paul Clark for St. Catherine's in North Vancouver, and generously shared with us here at St. John's for the Season of Creation!
Tis the season of Creation and as such here are some thoughts on how we as stewards of this beautiful planet can do our part.
There are many challenges with which we are bombarded daily in the media. The headlines are filled with dire warnings of disasters. We are told that our planet is doomed if we don’t get off fossil fuels NOW!
What can we do as individuals. It all seems too big.
Im not an alarmist, but I do believe there are responsible ways to help transition away from fossil fuels while also improving your health reducing your cost of living saving forests and improving animal welfare.
Sounds too good to be true?
What is this incredible solution?
Its simple. Eat a plant based diet.
The second largest single contributer to greenhouse gases is our meat and dairy industries and the immense agricultural resources that support them. Food waste is Number One. See list from Project Drawdown
https://drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions
Eating 50% less meat is more effective than switching to an electric vehicle.
Its 5 times the effect of recylcing and even bigger than replacing all of your light bulbs with the latest efficiant technologies.
Again, even if you aren’t a climate change alarmist. you can make improvements to your health and other environmental problems like deforestation , and animal welfare all while you are saving money.(more on these other benefits in next weeks article)
What amazed me the most as I dug into this solution was how little coverage “going Veggie” gets in the medias reports on Climate change. It’s the number one contributer yet most of our news focuses on Solar and Wind power which is actually only the fourth most effective solution. Perhaps changing diet doesn’t get as much attention because there is little money to be made because its so simple.
More Greenhouses less Slaughterhouses
So heres the challenge:
Add an extra veggie meal to your weekly plan. Try https://realfoodrealdeals.com/cauliflower-curry/#wprm-recipe-container-21773
( Of course if you are already vegetarian then just help spread the word)
More next week.