In yesterday’s blog, we began a general discussion of how our food choices affect the environmental health of our oceans. With catches of wild fish declining worldwide, people have increasingly been raising food species of fish by “aquaculture”—more commonly known as fish farms. These facilities have grown so rapidly over the last few decades that almost half the fish eaten worldwide (46 percent) are now raised via aquaculture. At first glance, aquaculture seems like a reasonable way to continue feeding the ever-growing worldwide demand for fish while taking pressure off our depleted fisheries. Unfortunately, aquaculture seems to pose as many environmental problems as it solves. One of these problems is that it produces the same conditions caused by the runoff of chemical fertilizers...
Continue reading
The discussion of oceanic “dead zones” that we’ve been pursuing over the last few blogs brings up even a bigger issue: the connection between our food choices and the health of all oceans. When we consider the exploding global demand for meat and its link to environmental damage, we usually think of beef, and with good reason. For instance, raising cattle demands enormous amounts of pastureland. Creating this new pasture is a major reason for global deforestation, much of it in the Amazon basin. But the rising demand for meat is not exclusively centered on beef. It also encompasses fish. Two blogs ago, we revealed some disturbing statistics from a United Nations report in 2010 estimating that 82 percent of all major...
Continue reading
In our last two blog posts, we’ve been revealing the devastating impact of dead zones, which are areas that have been stripped of marine life by the massive runoff of nitrogen-based synthetic fertilizers, in coastal waters around the world. In the last post, we talked about the fact that a large percentage of the crops grown with these fertilizers are used to feed cattle for slaughter—and these crops aren’t even part of a cow’s natural diet! Moving backward a bit, the explosion in the number of cattle being raised worldwide has had, and will continue to have, a serious and growing environmental impact. Uppermost on nearly everyone’s list of environmental concerns is global warming. Despite the increasingly shrill claims of...
Continue reading
In our last blog, we started a discussion about dead zones. These are areas in coastal waters that can no longer support aquatic life because they lack oxygen, which has been absorbed through a process triggered by the massive runoff of nitrogen-based synthetic fertilizers, first into streams and rivers, and finally into the ocean itself. Such fertilizers are used to aid the growth of crops like corn, wheat, and soybeans. According to Robert Howarth, the David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University, in the past 15 years the total fertilizer amount used has surpassed the total amount from the years prior to that combined, since its invention almost a century ago! Part of the reason...
Continue reading
According to the Fertilizer Institute (yes, there is such a thing), over 185 million tons of fertilizer were used worldwide in 2008. For America alone, the figure was 54.9 million tons. The overwhelming majority of this fertilizer is produced synthetically by combining various amounts of nitrogen, phosphate and potash. (The old-fashioned method of using animal waste for fertilizer simply will not produce enough to support the enormous amount of crops we need to grow to feed the world.) Ever wonder where all this stuff goes after it’s used? Well, some of it is absorbed by the plants it’s used on, and some of it remains in the soil the plants grow in. But the vast majority gets washed into streams and rivers...
Continue reading
In our last posting, we revealed some very disturbing information about the lack of vegetables available to U.S. consumers, both in quantity and variety. To add another dimension to the problem, a study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (released in 2010) projected that our agricultural sector would need to grow 70 percent more veggies, and of a much greater variety, for us to even have enough to eat the proper daily allowances at that time. The Hunger-Free Kids Act (passed in 2010) has helped a little. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there’s been a significant growth in the amount of schools serving meals that include whole grains and two or more vegetables. Plus the kids being served these meals are actually eating...
Continue reading
Recent evidence released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is disturbing, to say the least. The USDA’s dietary guidelines recommend that adults consume between 2.5 and 3 cups of vegetables per day. But according to the USDA’s figures, only about 1.7 cups per person are available. Even worse, 50 percent of veggies and legumes sold in 2013 comprised potatoes and tomatoes, with lettuce coming in third. The official dietary guidelines recommend a wide variety of veggies—including orange, yellow and dark leafy greens—in addition to beans. Given the limited variety and amount of plant foods available, it’s not surprising (but very worrisome just the same) that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a staggering 87 percent of adults did not meet...
Continue reading
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in August we screened our film at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. We could hardly believe the size of the crowd. Over 1,500 people came and they were so enthused during and after the screening. This was one of the most uplifting experiences yet of our film release. But it did not end there. The following week, the church held a Jumpstart information session. Over 500 people showed up to learn about our 10-day, plant-based immersion program. Pastor Otis Moss and First Lady Monica Moss lead the church, and we are so impressed by their leadership. Not only are they meeting the spiritual, social and other needs of their community, but they also have launched...
Continue reading
Here are the last two topics in our series detailing the challenges people face when they adopt a WFPB diet: The convenience and low cost of fast foodsIt seems like every day we’re bombarded with ads for new contenders in the “cheap and easy” segment of the fast-food market. It’s a veritable avalanche of “dollar menu” this and “family value pack” that. But consider what you’re really paying for when buying these foods. You’re harming your health and that of your family, enriching agribusiness, aiding and abetting severe environmental damage and animal suffering. When you look at it in this broader context, the price of fast food is really very high—indeed far more than we can afford. As for convenience, more...
Continue reading
Here are a couple of additional challenges people face when they adopt a WFPB diet, and our suggestions for how to handle them. The difficulty of eating at a non-plant-based restaurant or dinner partyPerhaps you’ve already found some good plant-based restaurants in your area, and many of your friends also eat plant-based diets. If so, then this issue is pretty easy to overcome. But for most people this isn’t the case, so dealing with it does require some finesse. After all, you can’t just bring your own food to a restaurant or insist that your dinner party host cook you a separate meal. At restaurants, look for the healthiest items on the menu, and don’t be afraid to ask for...
Continue reading
