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My research project topic of climate change and how it relates to food consumption is also related to the idea of everyone’s carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is basically the amount of greenhouse gases produced to support human activities. Everybody’s footprint is different based on their daily activities and lifestyle choices. Carbon footprints affect climate change because they produce greenhouse gases, a.k.a the gases that keep heat in the earth’s atmosphere and produce changes in the climate. I find that differences in carbon footprints when it comes to different diets can be best understood through visual aids. The following charts and graphs compare the carbon footprint/greenhouse gas emissions among different types of eaters. Clicking each photo will lead to the source with more information.

Additional sources on carbon footprints:

http://timeforchange.org/what-is-a-carbon-footprint-definition

http://www.gaiam.com/discover/305/article/carbon-footprint-impact-climate-change/

For this week, I decided to explore the global environmental issue of pollution. When people hear the word “pollution”, they tend to think of air pollution. However, water pollution is a global issue as well. This video shows the effects of water pollution in an educational way while providing ways to help with the issue as well.

This short video highlights the important fact that you do not need to go vegan to help with the global issue of climate change. Although veganism is one of the best ways to help, simply cutting down on the consumption of some animal products is enough to help.

A major global political issue that has been a hot topic for years is climate change. I decided to look at climate change for my global political issue, but specifically the connection between it and veganism. Vegan eating as a whole has gained popularity and acceptance over the years which can probably be attributed to social media. Things like #MeatlessMondays and other trends focused on the consumption of less animal products and more plant based foods has sparked interest among non-vegans and created communities of herbivores. Usually, the reason behind being vegan is either ethical, health related, preference related, environmental, or a combination of all four. The environmental reasons contribute to how veganism is a global political issue. An article from NBC News covered a study that looked at the impact that vegan eating can have on climate change globally. The main findings of the study were summed up in the first paragraph which explained that a plant-based diet could “prevent several million deaths per year by 2050, cut planet-warming emissions substantially, and save billions of dollars annually in healthcare costs and climate damage”. An article from TIME goes into specifics about how eating less meat can affect the planet, highlighting that Livestock account for over 14% of greenhouse gas emissions and a vegan diet could cut those emissions by 70%. The economic and environmental benefits of vegan eating are becoming more and more evident as more research is done. However, not everyone has the accessibility or ability to become vegan or vegetarian. This will be discussed more in my next post.

 

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