The Impacts of Eating Habits on Climate Changes

According to the Carbon Majors Report prepared by the non-governmental organization Carbon Notification Project, 71 percent of the carbon gas emission has been made up by only 100 companies since 1988. Although it seems like there is not much to do individually for the climate crisis, do you actually think so? What effects can we have on global warming by changing in our daily lives?

At the UN Climate Action Summit held last month, many things that countries and companies could do for the climate crisis were on the agenda. In September 2019, 139 countries including Turkey have organized a global climate strike action in order to make other governments take an action for this. The person who has an undeniable role in the protest was the 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who came to the UN Climate Action Summit by a zero-carbon sailboat from the UK in 15 days. Millions of children and young people participated in the protests organized by Greta in March and May. This time, 4 million people joined the action worldwide.

Getting protein from animal foods costs a lot

The UN describes the climate crisis as the biggest problem of the 21st century. So much so that, when using “Climate change” or “global warming” patterns before, now we use the term “global climate crisis” instead of these words to describe the period we are in. The crisis is so great that attempts such as supporting recycling, using fabric shopping bags and reusable water bottles instead of nylon bags are not enough, but they are insufficient. Of course, although the changes in our daily lives are not as effective as the small moves made by countries and companies, there are still some steps we can take. Our diet is one of these steps. According to one of the most comprehensive studies describing the link between the nutrition and climate crisis published in Science on June 1, 2018; we use 83 percent of the soil to get 37 percent of the protein from animals, which makes up 18 percent of the calories we need to take daily. This constitutes 58 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, 57 percent of water pollution, 56 percent of air pollution and 33 percent of clean water scarcity. This is the size of the damage we do to the world when we choose to take our daily protein needs from animal products.

Animal food consumption is shown as the leading cause of food-borne greenhouse gas emissions. The livestock sector has recently been drawing attention due to its negative ecological effects. According to the Farmer's Pulse Survey conducted by information and technology company Doktar and with 3 thousand 100 producers in 81 provinces and 644 districts, 80 percent of the farmers stated that they felt the effects of climate change. Considering the increase in demand for animal food worldwide and the serious damage caused by meat consumption to the planet; transition from animal foods to vegetative-based diet is very important in terms of food safety, sustainable environmental impact and public health. Researches emphasize that greenhouse gas emissions will cause an average three times decrease.

So where can we take the daily protein need, except animal foods?

Contrary to what is known, protein is not only present in animal foods. Consuming foods like tahini, almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds and lentils are also useful options to meet our daily protein needs. We take 22 grams of protein and 171 milligrams of magnesium out of 100 grams of beans, while 22 grams of protein from 100-gram meat brings us 74 mg of cholesterol, as well. The magnesium is 74 milligrams in this case. Experts call it "clean protein" to meet our protein needs with vegetables and cereals. Contrary to the protein taken from animal foods, vegetables and cereals are called clean protein as they do not contain harmful organisms for our body.

Awareness of the climate crisis is still low

Even though the global climate crisis has started to be discussed all over the world, the only timeframe that this issue is socially echoing coincides with the moments when we experience extreme weather conditions. When it comes to sacrificing our own comfort areas and taking precautions, we generally hesitate to do so. One of the most important reasons for this situation can be summarized as the low awareness of the global climate crisis or ignoring the consequences of our habits on a global scale. Let's not forget that 71 percent of the carbon gas emission has been made up by only 100 companies since 1988. 

While the global climate crisis has threatened the life of every living creature, it might be the right time rethink the comfort and luxury of humanity. It should not be forgotten that even the smallest changes in individuals' lifestyle and eating habits play an important role on a global scale.