[GWSG] A project for 2025

[Tilley, Al]

A Project for 2025
Perhaps you have already made the shift to a diet which serves you and the planet well. Or you may have thought about a new way to eat but have been reluctant to change ways of eating which have served you comfortably.
About a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture; about a third of those come from meat and dairy for the table. We cannot deal with the climate problem without eating less meat and dairy.
If you are already eating a plant-based diet with modest to no servings of meat and dairy, you are doing what we all must. You are eating as we all will all be eating if we are to build a world in which we can be comfortably at home.
How about inviting others to make the move to a sustainable diet? I recommend the Planetary Health Diet (PHD).  A plant-based diet is not something which can be readily imposed on people; we must all make the choice. It needs to be a bottom-up movement. You can begin a campaign and be a leader in that movement.  Handouts, posters, and information are available. If you email me, I will help you establish your campaign: atilley at unf.edu<mailto:atilley at unf.edu>. Churches and other civic groups are a good place to start.
If you have not yet made your move to a plant-based diet, I recommend that you try the Planetary Health Diet. Project Drawdown found that a move to a low meat and dairy diet is about the most powerful personal climate action you can take. The Planetary Health Diet was devised by an international team of experts to serve three ends: to improve health, to make it possible to achieve the Paris climate goals, and to provide a guide to feed the world’s people adequately.
Project Drawdown has a graph comparing the impact of your twenty best options for climate action.  https://drawdown.org/insights/the-powerful-role-of-household-actions-in-solving-climate-change  A plant-based diet and reductions in food waste are the hands-down winners, and about equally effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the most effective measures to control food waste must be taken at a governmental level. While subsidies and policies can influence diet, finally it is up to us what we eat.
The Planetary Health Diet serves the needs of the planet, your health, and world hunger. It is a flexible diet which provides options for modest servings of meat and dairy. The EAT-Lancet Summary Report describes the diet in some detail. https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/eat-lancet-commission-summary-report/
>From a Washington Post article reporting a study which found that the PHD lowered mortality: Walter Willett, a senior author of the new study and a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, stressed that adopting a planetary health diet does not require giving up meat.
He described it as an omnivorous diet that makes room for two servings a day of animal foods. A typical week on the diet, for example, might include one daily serving of dairy such as milk, cheese, or yogurt, a weekly serving of red meat, one weekly serving of eggs, two weekly servings of poultry, and two weekly servings of fish.
“The diet prioritizes generous amounts of fruits, nuts and vegetables and a variety of plant sources of protein such as beans, lentils and other legumes, which makes it relatively easy to follow,” Willett said.
“You can put these pieces together with the flavors and foods of almost every traditional culture,” he added. “There’s a lot of flexibility.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/06/10/planetary-diet-lower-mortality/ (pay wall, though I believe you are allowed 20 free article a month)
The best way to implement the PHD diet is to follow the general proportions without need for much measuring or counting. If you decide to take meaningful action by following a plant-based diet, the Face Book public group Planetary Health Diet Recipes and Notes has helpful suggestions, among many other sites and cookbooks focusing on plant-based recipes. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/188kiLcZNY/


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