I’m sure so many of you are familiar with the incredible climate science stats released over the last few years relating to animal agriculture and its direct effect on climate change. For any that haven’t, I’d highly recommend watching Cowspiracy online and doing some research.
Interestingly the reasons animal agriculture has been named the biggest contributor to global warming is very multi layered, and most of these reasons we can’t see with our own eyes, making it hard to understand or accept.
Methane (84 times more destructive to ozone the Co2) is produced by every land animal on the planet, and seeing as we breed 70 billion more of them into the world every year we are increasing the amount of methane in the air drastically.
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation world wide. This is because it takes 20 times the amount of land to raise 1 kilo of beef, than 1 kilo of beans. Not only is this because of the physical room they need, but mostly because of the amount of food they require. It takes 100 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of beef for example, and that grain has to grow somewhere and takes up a lot of room as a monoculture. All farmed animals including pigs and chickens also require substantial amounts of grain.
The 3rd powerful point is that all animals have to wee! And their urine contains high amounts of acid, which runs off paddocks, into streams, and into oceans where it has lifted the overall acid level of the oceans to the extent that phytoplankton are having difficulty forming their calcium rich shells. This is a case of life and death for us, because plankton absorb more Co2 and produce more oxygen than the worlds entire forests combined.
The good thing is that we can simply swap to a plant based diet and sleep easy (er) knowing at least we are doing the single biggest thing we can do as an individual towards reversing climate change, according to Oxford University and the UN climate panel.
If you want to go a step further, or just enjoy gardening and eating fresh produce straight from the backyard anyway then great! I help people grow organic food in their backyard, eat what’s in season, and turn that beautiful produce into incredible vegan meals.
I work a little differently to many consultants as I work by donation. I have hopes for this to be a great resource for anyone who is transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, as its a safe place to ask any questions you want about food, plants, diet, fashion, etc. I have spent years researching and have a lot to share.
Head to Olive Wood Vegan to find all my recipes, and growing tips and also to access my produce driven search engine where you can search what you have in your fridge to use up, or what is growing around you and find a bunch of unbelievably-vegan dishes to make out of it!
Broccoli
Kale
Cauliflower
Peas
Cabbage
Lettuce
Potatoes
Chard
Leeks & Onions
Beets