Cut your carbon footprint by eating less meat

 Avoid a World Catastrophe: Eat Less Meat and Use Greener Energy

Shocking headlines recently from Yahoo News, bring tales of impending ‘global catastrophe’. The Royal College of Doctors have issued warnings stating unless action is taken now to cut carbon emissions and adopt a healthier, greener lifestyle, we will all suffer. The poorest countries will be the hardest hit, having to contend with environmental catastrophes like floods, storms and conflict, especially from water resource shortages. However, we will all suffer, environmentally and healthwise, unless serious action is taken.

Good news does come hand in hand with the seemingly ‘impending doom’! Lord Michael Jay, from the charity Merlin, states if we can help the environment, we can help ourselves. By adopting a diet which has less meat (and is effectively ‘low carbon’) and encompassing greener energy sources into our life – such as exercising by cycling/walking to work, we can reduce the strain on health services, as well as cut the rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. In December in Copenhagen, politicians from around the globe will meet to discuss carbon cutting strategies and, doctors who have taken part in producing this stark warning, are hoping they can turn the (green) heat up! The collective voice of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) are hoping to do their bit in the fight for our right to live long healthy lives, whilst protecting our civilisation.

If this all sounds extreme, remember that you don’t have to give up eating meat completely to help. If everyone ate just one less meat-based meal a week, it would make a difference. If you are nervous of cooking meat-free meals because you feel they would be tasteless, or your family wouldn’t like it, there are lots of easy to use cookbooks full of recipes so delicious you won’t even notice they are vegetarian! Try the Gate Easy Vegetarian Cookbook, from the famous London restaurant (a popular choice with celebrities), or trust that British stalwart, Delia Smith, who has an excellent collection of user-friendly veggie recipes in her Vegetarian Collection.

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