Global Plant-Rich Diet Challenge

As catastrophic wildfires and storms hammer communities in many countries across the planet and leaders prepare for tough reckoning at this fall’s UN Climate Conference, an ESRAG Task Force is handing you the tools to lead a movement that will slash methane emissions and protect carbon sinks, without having to wait for public policy to change. It’s the 15-Day Global Plant-Rich Diet Challenge, which starts Oct. 1. Sign up here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpmktjwuMgkLSh08pQSZ9QIwL6-D3OjunHjru68TcQKkZueg/viewform

Reducing our consumption of animal protein “is an effective demand-side solution to the climate crisis,” explains Ambaree Majumber, Co-Chair of ESRAG’s Plant-Rich Diet Task Force (PRD) and a member of the Marina City Rotary Club in Singapore. “We envision a world in which Rotarians are leading a global food system transformation to protect and preserve our planet.”

Industrialized animal agriculture is the world’s second-leading producer of human-caused methane emissions: 32% of the total, just behind the 35% generated by the fossil fuel industry. The Task Force has compiled short and engaging materials to equip Rotarians to lead by example: encouraging communities that eat a lot of meat to choose more plant-based meals. Advocating for a sustainable and healthy diet is a perfect fit for a worldwide network of clubs whose traditional hallmark is meeting weekly over a meal.

If you sign up for the Challenge, you’ll receive a daily email with an interesting scientific fact about this issue, a video cooking demonstration for a plant-based recipe, and a schedule of live Zoom presentations by expert speakers who will describe the power of plant-rich diets to improve both planetary and human health, and describe how the world can choose a better path.

The IPCC’s sixth Assessment Report, released this August, highlights the urgency of reducing human-caused methane emissions to buy us time as we rein in CO₂ emissions. Eating less meat and more plant-based foods is one of the fastest and highest-impact steps to slash methane, curtail deforestation, prevent soil degradation, reduce water pollution, and free up increasingly scarce farmland and water to ensure we can raise enough food for our growing human population.

Citing the J. Poore and T. Nemecek study published in the journal Science in 2018, The Guardian article, “Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth,” reported that livestock production produces only 18% of humans’ food calories but co-opts 83% of our farmland. “Without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% and still feed the world,” the article stated.