The climate has changed, and is changing worse. This century we’ve had severe droughts, severe drying and bushfires, loss of ocean fish resulting in increased dependency on bushmeat and new diseases entering the human population (think Ebola and COVID-19; 2), and more. Life can get worse and horrifying, if we don’t act now.
Since the 1960’s ecologists have recognised that human induced environmental changes have serious impacts on nature. Rachel Carson’s landmark book called Silent Spring was the first serious publication on this. It has been known since 1824 by Joseph Fourier that carbon dioxide holds heat especially from the suns rays (5). It was Svante Arrhenius in 1896 who surmised that if CO2 levels rose in the atmosphere by double, it would have a serious effect on climate temperatures (5).
We know today that most of the CO2 that is put into the atmosphere is as a result of human activity. Over 51% of emissions come from animal based agriculture (1). This is many times more than the petroleum industry. It’s many times more than switching from plastic to paper straws.
If we are to seriously aim for net zero emissions by the agreed target of 2030, and even achieve sequestration (carbon capture and store), there are some easy big impact things we can do:
- Quickly reduce our animal product consumption (direct reduction on deforestation and emissions)
- Support farmers by having a mainly grain, vegetable, and fruit diet
- Replant large swathes of farmland to natural vegetation (carbon sink)
- Reduce reliance on fossil fuels (including plastics, petroleum, and energy production emissions)
Why “reduce animal agriculture”? Simple mathematics. Cows require huge amounts of grain and water to live. The American cattle industry alone consumes 31% of drinkable water. A vegan diet requires 18 times less farm land than an animal based diet (1).
Vegan diets are not bad, but in fact better. Please who changed quickly to a vegan diet noticed it took a couple of weeks for the body to adapt. However, high performance athletes like weightlifters and professional parkour athletes notice a boost in performance (3). They can lift more and perform better. So, where can you get protein from? Protein is in everything we eat anyway(3). Cutting animal based protein will have no bad effects on your body, only good effects. Additionally, changing to a plant based diet solves a different problem, fiber deficiency.
Why are we writing about this? The two-birds logo is representative of our ethos: Dignity, respect, freedom, environment, and travel. We hope the best for all humanity by protecting the environment, with positive knock-on effects for humanity.
Want to fact check us? Please do. Some suggested references include:
- Cowspiracy: https://www.cowspiracy.com/
- Seaspiracy: https://www.seaspiracy.org/facts
- What the Health: https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/
- An Inconvenient Truth: https://www.algore.com/library/an-inconvenient-truth
- Greenhouse Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect
If you are vegan, or have recently switched to a mostly or exclusively vegan diet, tell us how you went below? Leave your comments and favourite new recipes below.