Good Times: Eating for the Environment, Diet & Earth Day

John Robbins has been making a case for a plant-based diet since before “global warming” was a household phrase. He is now a leading world expert on health, food habits and environmental vegetarianism.

Reducing meat consumption may just help solve the world’s environmental problems

“Eighty percent of Americans, in polls, say they are environmentalists … And yet, most of us have remained unaware of the one thing that we could be doing on an individual basis that would be most helpful in slowing the deterioration and shifting us toward a more ecologically sustainable way of life.” – Excerpt from “The Food Revolution” by John Robbins















The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is just around the corner on April 22, John Robbins says there is one dire environmental problem that remains unaddressed: Eating meat.

“We are going to have a lot of Earth Day celebrations, surely that was the case for the 20th anniversary,” he says. “And at a lot of the celebrations, there will be meat served—and I find that hard to understand.”

Forty years after an estimated 20 million people celebrated the first Earth Day, the budding environmental concern that sprouted the tradition has become full-fledged fervor. Deforestation is rampant, key resources are tapped or limited, and global warming is, it can seem, all we hear about. Also in that time, environmentalism has become synonymous with “being green,” a new millennium whirlwind trend that, we’re told, means changing to energy-saving light bulbs, using reusable grocery bags, and driving hybrid cars. But when it comes to the world’s most pressing ecological problems—climate change, land degradation, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity—it is now a documented fact that a plant-based diet is the most effective way to help curb all of them.

“It’s phenomenal to me that groups come out with articles and lists like ’20 Things You Can Do To Change the Environment,’ and will list things like drive a fuel-efficient car and change your light bulbs, but they won’t say ‘eat less meat,’” says Robbins. “In not saying ‘eat more plants and fewer animals,’ they are omitting the single most significant, most powerful, most meaningful action you can take.”

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