Eat Plant-Based Foods

More than 90 Billion animals are raised and killed every year for food. The scale of animal suffering is unfathomable, and emissions from livestock account for as much greenhouse gases as the emissions from all cars, planes, trains, and boats worldwide combined. In addition, factory farms are often built in low-income communities of color. These farms pollute the land, the water, and the air, posing serious issues for public health by emitting so much harmful gas that nearby residents suffer a host of ailments such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer.

Shifting to plant-based eating can reduce greenhouse gas emissions of our food system by half, reduce food’s land use by 76%, and reduce freshwater use by 19%. Eating plant-based food is an act of compassion towards ourselves, our fellow human beings, animals, and the earth.

How?
It's easier than you think. Start slow. Avoid meat, dairy, and eggs one day per week, or start with one meal per day. There are countless vegan/plant-based recipes online. You can also find meal ideas and recipes by clicking here.

Reduce Our Use of Plastics

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade. The majority of plastic, even when put into recycling bins, heads to landfills. Landfills are the 3rd largest source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25% more potent than CO2. Also, at least 14 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. In addition to polluting our planet, plastic breaks down into microplastics once in the environment. Humans and wildlife eat, drink, and breathe microplastic that makes its way into our food, water, and air. These microplastics have been found in the vital organs of humans and can cause developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune disorders.

How?
Get in the habit of using reusable water bottles. Set your table with cloth napkins and reusable dishes, glasses, etc. Use laundry strips rather than bottles of laundry detergent. When traveling, bring your own toiletries rather than using hotel products that are used once and discarded. Reduce the number of plastic containers in your home. Encourage businesses that you frequent to find other ways to package their products instead of using plastic. When possible, buy in bulk, use refillable containers, and always choose the non-plastic option when possible!

Avoid Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion is cheap, trendy clothing designed not to last. The Fast Fashion industry is the 2nd biggest consumer of water and is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. 85% of textiles go to dumps yearly (equivalent to 50 billion plastic water bottles), where they shed tiny plastic particles and toxic additives.

Synthetic clothing, including polyester, nylon, acrylic, spandex (also caLycra or elastane), fleece, or polyolefin, contains plastics. All plastics contain a mix of more than 16,000 additive chemicals—more than 4,200 of which are hazardous. When incinerated in landfills or dumped and open-burned, climate-warming greenhouse gases are released, producing toxic emissions and ash. This harms humans and wildlife, causing starvation, hormone disruption, and broken-down digestive systems.

Every year, the U.S. exports more than a billion pounds of used clothing. Most of it ends up in landfills in Ghana and other areas with less developed disposal systems, resulting in more pollution and climate impact. Countries without reliable infrastructure are drowning in our garbage.

How?
Less is more. Wear what you already have in your closet, or go to a thrift store to find something new to you. Avoid clothing with synthetic materials. Shop and sell second-hand at places such as ThredUp and Poshmark, or rent clothing from companies such as Rent the Runway and Gwynnie Bee. Wash clothes only when necessary (a single wash can cause 700,000 bits of microplastic to be released into the environment ) or use washing machine bags, such as the one made by Guppyfriend, to reduce microfiber shedding by 86%. Wearing a garment twice as long would lower greenhouse gas emissions from clothing by 44%.

Learn

Greenhouse gases help to keep the Earth at its normal temperature. As discussed above, we are trapping the heat and warming the planet by unnaturally adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This is already causing sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves. Droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall are happening faster than scientists previously assessed. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to widespread damaging effects across our planet. If we can reduce emissions, we may avoid some of the worst effects.

Watch one of these documentary films to learn more. (Click the title to be brought to the film's webpage, which shows the various ways to watch each.) Then, choose to make a change that resonates with you the most.

• The Biggest Little Farm

• Seaspiracy

• The Magnitude of All Things

• Gather

• A Plastic Ocean

• Kiss the Ground

• David Attenborough - A Life on Our Planet

• 2040

Links to Additional Resources

• https://thehumaneleague.org/article/environmental-benefits-of-veganism

• humanesociety.org/blog/more-animals-ever-922-billion-are-used-and-killed-each-year-food

• https://www.pbs.org/wnet/peril-and-promise/2023/11/how-single-use-plastics-hurt-our-oceans-and-warm-our-planet/

• https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/

• https://www.treehugger.com/co-why-is-carbon-dioxide-bad-4864246

• https://www.fastcompany.com/90640931/see-the-horrifying-place-where-your-old-clothes-go-to-die

• https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/

• https://www.epa.gov/plastics/what-you-can-do-reduce-plastic-waste

• https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse

• https://earth.org/ways-to-reduce-your-plastic-waste/

• https://www.ecowatch.com/landfills-facts-ecowatch.html

• https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/

• https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2023/8/24/why-we-need-to-phase-plastic-out-of-fashion