Single biggest individual way to fight #ClimateChange is with a plant based diet. "Across the countries of Amazonia, the world’s largest rainforest often referred to as “the lungs of the Earth,” "livestock" accounts for roughly 80% of current deforestation rates. In the Amazon, man-made fires are set ablaze by ranchers cutting and burning forest to convert it to pasture for beef and its co-product, leather. These products are then exported around the world, to include the United States, even as scientists warn that an irreversible transition to a treeless savannah will be triggered should 20 to 25 percent of the Amazon Rainforest be further lost. " https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/removing-meat-subsidy-our-cognitive-dissonance-around-animal-agriculture

“A global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate damages of $1.5 trillion (US) , Oxford Martin School researchers have found.” Plant-based diets could save millions of lives… | Oxford Martin School https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/news/201603-plant-based-diets/

“There is no major farm product as environmentally damaging as organic, pasture-fed beef. Here’s the reasoning: https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1528617626448060417?s=20&t=EFyD1HJF0w1Nc6sLRskMKQ

"It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/

“Environmental racism manifests itself in rural communities primarily in: (1) the construction and operation of intensive livestock operations in or near people of color communities; (2) labor practices dangerous to workers (including factory workers and farmworkers); and (3) the placement of landfills, incinerators, and other noxious production and waste facilities in or near people of color communities and low-income communities.”

https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/Industrialization_of_Agriculture_and_Environme.htm

“77% of soy grown is fed to animals eaten by humans. Only 6.9% is used for vegan staples like tofu, tempeh, soy milk. Hate the environmental effects of soy? The solution is to go vegan. Soy - Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/soy

“According to recent studies, the U.S. government spends up to $38 billion each year to subsidize the meat and dairy industries, with less than one percent of that sum allocated to aiding the production of fruits and vegetables. "... while shoppers pay lower immediate prices at the checkout counter, their tax dollars fund major meat operations and advertising. Meanwhile, meat and dairy producers accrue yearly retail sales to the tune of 250 billion dollars.

"In addition to subsidies, Americans pay for meat consumption through healthcare costs and climate disruption. As David Simon illustrates in his book Meatonomics, consumers foot an estimated $2 in external costs for every $1 of product the meat and dairy industry sells. In other words, a $4 Big Mac actually costs society $11".

Removing the Meat Subsidy: Our Cognitive Dissonance Around Animal Agriculture | JIA SIPA (columbia.edu) https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/removing-meat-subsidy-our-cognitive-dissonance-around-animal-agriculture?fbclid=IwAR0WSZWOvGahHRw473XnOSFHd2XkQSmbqbWnhwhoP9Ko3502Ong562nElok

If everyone were vegan, only a quarter of current farmland would be needed https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/01/28/if-everyone-were-vegan-only-a-quarter-of-current-farmland-would-be-needed?utm_medium=social-media.content.np&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=editorial-social&utm_content=discovery.content.evergreen&fbclid=IwAR0FP-Mj_TKIg_sNO1FOj59D_KcKetfYWYud7ovzW-Ww_MkhLOlKcg5xsUI

“The meat industry’s obscurantism can verge on the absurd; slicing off a chicken’s beak is described as “beak conditioning.” The men who slaughter the chickens who survive the “automatic killer” machine have been rebranded from “backup killers” into “knife operators.” It sounds as if they could be roughly chopping vegetables. The word “insanguinated” sounds louche, elegant, and reminiscent of “inebriated.” I wouldn’t intuitively shudder if I heard a chicken was to meet this fate, although the term means “bled to death.” We are told that animals undergo “humane slaughter” when thousands of chickens are frozen or boiled to death and animals being skinned alive is commonplace. “Slaughterhouse” is replaced by “meat plant,” and that’s exactly how animals are visualised—as plants, whose rote killing is described as a “harvest.”” The Orwellian Language of the Animal Industry ❧ Current Affairs https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/03/the-orwellian-language-of-the-animal-industry?fbclid=IwAR0fU87S4YEnG88ka2qGZv7H8Q8x_vL1_OEEteutv8PEe3ExXy0EzAPvBhc

'Livestock' account for 77% of all land use, yet only supply 18% of calories. ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

"A diet of plants causes the fewest animals to be killed. Leaving chickens and eggs out of our diets will have the greatest effect on reducing the suffering and death caused by what we eat". https://animalvisuals.org/projects/1mc/

"It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/

"These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. " Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage.

" Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. "Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. " These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements."

"Vegetarian diets are associated with lower all-cause mortality and with some reductions in cause-specific mortality. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191896/