Hi team,

Dr. Greger and his team came out with a new video showing some of the effects between our dietary decisions and the environment. Feel free to check it out for yourself here. Another video shows how we can solve this issue by choosing more wisely. There are so many ways to reduce our negative impacts through our foods choices.

Panera has introduced a “climate-friendly” menu. While the attention and awareness is awesome, chicken is on the list of “climate-friendly.” The intention, I believe is eco-forward, but this misses the mark. No animal (free-range or otherwise) reduces carbon emissions. Animals need to eat food (most likely grain or grass), and the respiratory system of any animal most certainly does not release (exhale) oxygen. I’m not suggesting getting rid of all animals, that’s absurd. I am interested in removing factory farming including the egg and dairy industries. Plus, the conversion of calories from grain to flesh on a chicken is certainly not a one-to-one ratio. You may find different equations from different sources, but common sense should be enough to know that one pound of feed will not equate to one pound of animal flesh.

You may also hear about regenerative farming. That’s a antiquated rhetoric for people who don’t want to change their diet. Sorry, not sorry. You know what’s better than moving cows from one fenced in land mass to another, rewilding the land! Move the farmed animals out of that area and let wild rabbits, deer, wolves or whatever is native roam around just like they did before humans forcefully removed them and put livestock there. This is difficult stuff. Eat more plants. That will allow farmers to plant more plants which in turn will dial back the climate crisis.

Here is a list of eco-friendly foods according to onegreenplanet.org

Here is more conversion information

Cheers!

-Wheeler