Diet change helps climate change

August 23, 2007 at 12:25 am | Posted in Carbon emissions, Climate change, Diet change, Fitness, Health, Low carbon diet, Reductions, Vegetarianism | 6 Comments

Just back from a fresh crab and avocado salad in San Francisco, I was delighted to hear from Darmok and revisit his informative post on Vegetarianism vs. Meat-Eating and Global Warming.

Almost vegetarian myself, but having one dear member of our family who is rather carnivorous, it is clear to me how difficult it is for some people to give up meat. It is almost as hard to give up meat as it is to give up carbon emissions! Diet change and climate change go hand-in-hand; unfortunately, both require will-power. Thankfully, the financial and health benefits of diet change are clear, though not immediate: you can save money from buying less meat and, as Darmok explains so well, it is easy to reduce both your consumption of meat and your related carbon emissions at the same time! This double-benefit of a low-carbon diet is not to be sniffed at, despite the fact these benefits to your health and the planet’s will take some time to come to fruition.

Even more good news, for those who are overweight or obese, is that you can also save money by walking instead of driving. There’s no need to pay fees to join a health club or gym to get the health benefits walking provides. Though you have to plan your time, or relax tight deadlines, if you become more pedestrian—especially with children on the walk and talk to school and back. You may soon find it is worth investing in shoes that can stand up to a good amount of action, come rain or shine, too.

The boys and I are planning to walk to school every day possible this year. I am sure matt wrote about a few months ago, but now I cannot find his post … where is it, please matt? I shall link to that too when we get back in the school run/jog/walk mode again.

Update: my mistake: matt’s other blog, Environment Solutions, covered Walk to School Week!

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