Linda Oaksford, Guest columnist Published 8:21 a.m. ET June 29, 2020

The Tallahassee Farmers Market was booming with business at its new location on the corner of Thomasville Road and Kerry Forest Parkway Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019.(Photo: Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)

Many of us are committed to reducing our carbon footprints. We buy energy efficient appliances. We insulate our homes with the best materials. We purchase electric cars. We support renewable energy programs or put solar panels on our homes.

We walk or bike to work, carpool, or take public transportation. Many of us write letters to our legislators, urging them to address the climate crisis and pass legislation to bring our country on board with the Paris Agreement. We do more reducing, reusing, and recycling. And the list goes on.

While we realize that our individual impact is tiny, when we look at our children and grandchildren and contemplate their future and the continued beauty of our planet, we feel a strong obligation to do what we can and wonder: What else can I do?

Guess what?

The food choices we make can help slow climate change by modifying what we eat.(Photo: Heart Foundation)

There is something we can do every day and it impacts the environment more than any other factor changing our diets. The food choices we make can help slow climate change by modifying what we eat.

As explained by Sharon Palmer, author of a Plant-Powered for Life, research consistently shows that drastically reducing animal protein and eating mainly a plant-based diet is one of the most powerful things you can do to reduce your impact on the planet over your lifetime, in terms of energy required, land used, greenhouse gas emissions, water used and pollutants produced (CNN, January 2, 2019)."

In 2017, after my husband took an OLLI course at FSU, given by Sally Sanders from the Educated Choices Program, on transitioning to a plant-based diet, we decided to go for it. My husband was interested in improving his health, but what we discovered was that in addition to being good for our bodies and good of the earth, it is imperative if we want our species to survive.

Linda Richards, also known as "the basket lady," buys fresh vegetables from Judy Burks at the Tallahassee Farmers Market. (Photo: Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)

After we made the change, we began researching everything we could about plant-based diets.

The book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken, convinced us that we had made the right decision. "Drawdown" describes the 100 most viable and researched solutions to reverse global warming. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the third and fourth ranked solutions are food related.

According to a 2016 study, business-as-usual emissions could be reduced by as much as 70 percent through adopting a vegan [plant-based] diet and 63 percent for a vegetarian diet, which includes cheese, milk, and eggs. $1 trillion in annual health-care costs and lost productivity would be saved. So, we decided that in addition to changing ourselves, we needed to convince others about the impact of transitioning to a plant-based diet.

First, we shared our new lifestyle with our friends and grown children by introducing them to new plant-based foods at family gatherings. In our third year of veganism we decided to broaden our circle of influence.

The Tallahassee Farmers Market was booming with business at its new location on the corner of Thomasville Road and Kerry Forest Parkway Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019.(Photo: Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)

We discovered that our Unitarian Universalist Association had adopted a nationwide Ethical Eating initiative in 2011.I started writing articles and sharing recipes in our local UU churchs monthly newsletter, but realized we still needed to do more.

We decided to gather for Ethical Eating Evenings, where we would view videos about healthy eating and other topics related to diet and the environment. Of course, popcorn, a healthy vegan snack, was included.We would also invite guest speakers, share recipes, and have occasional plant-based potluck meals.

Now is especially the time to change to a plant-based diet.Research has shown that people with compromised immune systems and pre-existing health conditions are at a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 and other serious illnesses. Noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes 2, heart disease and some cancers, to name just a few, can be prevented and, in some cases, even reversed by adopting a whole-food plant-based diet.

Greenhouse gas emissions by diet(Photo: Peter Scarborough, Oxford University)

Now is the time to make the transition.

At a minimum, consider Meatless Mondays there are amazing vegetarian cuisines out there that can make those Mondays a culinary adventure. Or just give up beef by far the worst environmental food culprit. You dont have to do it all at once and every little bit helps your health and the planet.

For more information, go to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website at pcrm.org or to Nutritionfacts.org. For local information, check out https://www.facebook.com/TalVegCommunity/.

Linda Oaksford(Photo: Special to the Democrat)

Linda Oaksford is a retired educator and a member of Sustainable Tallahassee. She can be reached at LLoaksford@gmail.com. This is a Greening Our Community article, an initiative of Sustainable Tallahassee. Learn more at http://www.SustainableTallahassee.org.

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Read more from the original source:
Plant-based solutions: Going vegan for the planet's health - Tallahassee Democrat