Stage 1: Information

Invitation to Investigate

What do you consider to be important? Do you view your health as a priority? Does humanity need more compassion? What value do you place on earth’s finite natural resources and wild life? Could we ever end world hunger? Begin to consider the possibility that something as simple as what we choose to eat could carry an immense amount of power. What if this were true? What if something you valued dearly could be positively impacted simply by what you choose to eat. What if you uncovered information that conflicted with your existing beliefs? Would you be able to examine this information in neutral manner? Or would you immediately refute it as untrue?

This page outlines resources to investigate. I would suggest exploring the areas where you feel the most passion. Keep an open mind and think critically. If something sparks your interest, you may want to do your own research to dive deeper into that specific area.

If you are interested in a free overview of all the topics above, I'd suggest the Food Choices movie on You Tube

Fight Green House Gas Emission by Eating More Plants

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change. Did you know that one cow in one day can fill a 55-gallon trash bag with methane gas? There are 950+ million cows on planet earth. While Carbon Dioxide (CO2) stays in the atmosphere for centuries, methane warms the planet on steroids for a decade before decaying to CO2. Methane warms the planet by 86 times as much as CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

There are also several opportunity costs related to the land being used for animal agriculture. About 75% of animal agriculture land is used to grow crops to feed to the livestock. If we dramatically lower our demand for meat products, by eating more plant products, then a small percent of that land can be repurposed to produce plants with the rest being returned to forest.

The data to support this is summarized in the “Cowspiracy” documentary available on Netflix. There is also a Climate Healers position paper (founded by Sailesh Rao) which is free for download that explains the calculations. You can also check out these videos:

Prevent Biodiversity Loss by Eating More Plants

With a growing world population, more land is needed by the animal agriculture industry to produce more meat than ever before. There is a finite amount of land on earth and it has led to the animal agriculture industry leveling trees in forests support their operations. There is an obvious biodiversity loss when forests are cut down to be used for animal agriculture. Especially considering rain forests are known for their increased biodiversity and unique ecosystems. Governments are not protecting places like rain forests the way they should - even though rain forests account for a large portion of our worlds' oxygen. With the increase in CO2 & methane (from animal agriculture) and a reduction of "wild land" that uses up the CO2 and creates oxygen -- it is pouring gasoline on global warming problem.

There is also a knock-on effect to biodiversity caused by global warming. Rising temperatures change the areas on earth that species can inhabit. Essentially, species are going extinct because they have no where left to live. Some estimates put us at losing about 150 species per day. The rate of this diversity loss is consistent with past mass extinctions on planet earth.

Another factor contributing to biodiversity loss is fishing. The 'farm raised' practices are destroying entire marine ecosystems due to antibiotic use and waste. 'Wild caught' fishing practices are emptying our oceans. Did you know about 63 billon pounds of marine animals are caught unintentionally by the fishing industry while trying to catch another target species. Whales, sharks, dolphins, etc are dying needlessly. The fishing industry calls this bycatch and for every 1 pound of target species caught there is 5 pounds of bycatch. Could you imagine any other industry having this margin of error? About half the earth's oxygen comes the from the ocean. If the oceans dies, we die.

Lastly, did you know there a US government funded agency dedicated to killing wildlife? Why, may ask? Well, animal agriculture is a trillion dollar industry and has a lot of influence over our government. Animal agriculture is upset that wildlife preys on their farm animals. This agency used to be called Animal Damage Control but was rebranded as Wildlife Services. Since 2000, this agency has killed over 17 million wild animals to protect animal agriculture's best interest.

I found these videos helpful:

Stop the Destructions of our Oceans and Water Systems by Eating More Plants

Our industrialized farming practices are creating dead zones in our water systems and oceans. Synthetic fertilizer and waste from animal manure are creating algae growth as rain washes it into water ways. It eventually ends up in rivers which lead to the ocean. The chemical changes in the water that cause the algae mean there is less oxygen available in the water. This causes marine life to die. These lifeless areas are referred to as dead zones. There are currently 400+ dead zones according to The National Geographic Society.

If we ate predominantly plants, the volume of crop production would reduce by not needing to feed livestock. We also could look to shift farming practices to naturally create nutrient rich soil not needing to spray crops with fertilizers. I found these videos helpful:

Feed More People Around the World by Eating More Plants

About 690+ million people go to bed hungry at night according to the United Nations World Food Programme. Even more shocking is that the world produces enough food to technically feed everyone - but we don't. While there is much being done to address this problem there is an easy way we could all be apart of the solution.

Animal agriculture is highly inefficient. It is greedy on the required inputs (land, water, grain, etc.) and stingy on the outputs. In other worlds, per acre of land you can feed more people by producing plants. It is because an animal eats more pounds of food (from birth to slaughter) than it is able to produce for human consumption. The percentages related to these inefficacies are staggering. I found these videos helpful:

Prevent & Reverse Disease By Eating More Plants

There is a community of physicians, and other health care practitioners, who pursued nutritional research beyond the ~19 hours received in medical school (see reference). This community is growing because the evidence-based information is spreading. More and more doctors (plantbaseddoctors.org is just one registry) are incorporating a nutritional discussion into their treatment practices.

The reason people die today in the United States, as compared to years ago, is completely different. Today, 5 of the 10 leading causes of death have overwhelming data that link to nutrition. It is a tragedy that so many doctors, and the general public, do not know about the evidence-based nutritional research. While pharmaceutical products absolutely have a critical role, what we eat could play an even stronger role in our longevity and health. Nutritional research is uncovering that while one's genes could be "the loaded gun" for certain conditions, nutrition might be "what fires it".

There are a few physician-led non-profits that are focused on empowering the general public to make dietary changes to prevent, reverse, and/or improve certain conditions. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, NutritionFacts.org, and Dr. Danielle Belardo are a few I’d recommend checking out. Across their podcasts (and other media), they discuss the research behind preventing and/or reversing so many illnesses. Below is a very small sample of their existing content. If you want to dive deeper, I’d suggest going directly to their websites. There are also many other doctors across many other disciplines also sharing this information. If you have a specific condition, I'd suggest googling "plant based diet + <your condition>" and see what pops up. There are also many patient testimonials on You Tube.

Hot Flashes and Cramps

eCornell Plant Based Course

This course is not free, but my overview of what I learned is :-)

Here is a quick overview of the course. It dove deep into not only the science behind the top diseases killing Americans, but it also touched on the environmental impacts of animal agriculture as well.

Take a Stand Against Unnecessary Animal Cruelty by Eating More Plants

I knew that animals had to die to be on my dinner plate but what I did not know was that humans could be healthy and thrive on 100% plants. Growing up, the USDA Food Pyramid convinced me that I needed to eat animals and animal products. I later went on to learn about the USDA and their process for setting food guidelines -- it is not based on science. At one time in human evolution, hunting played a role but meat only comprised a small percent of calories. In today's world, there are so many plant-based options with produce being accessible for most year round. Therefore, the need to eat meat for survival purposes is non existent. The more I researched the trillion dollar industry of animal agriculture, the more I realized we are being misled by marketing and even the government funded programs.

I also researched the business side of how animal products get on our plates. These living beings that feel fear, feel love, communicate, and are peaceful, docile creatures are born into a greedy commercial machine that inflicts torture from the day they are born. The machine does not care about the health of the public, that fact that they could be spawning the next super bug, or the well-being of animals. The happy pictures on the packages are to make people feel better about consuming the product. I eventually reached the conclusion that even if the animals were happy during their very brief life (i.e. the industry slaughters young animals once they reach a certain weight to maximize profit) there is no humane way to kill a being that does not want to die.

The industry is currently lobbying to pass laws so that anyone who reports on the conditions could risk going to jail. This industry does not want you informed as they fear you will choose not to eat their products. I would invite you to explore new perspectives related to the choice of eating animals:

There are so many You Tube Channels dedicated to educating the public about animal agg industry - I like the Bite Size Vegan channel. I like this channel because I can get information in small chunks. If I want to learn about the "egg industry" I can learn about it in a short video.

There are other longer documentaries (they are graphic): Dominion and Earthlings

Take a Stand For Human Rights by Eating More Plants

Many people can not watch slaughter house footage on You Tube, so imagine if this is your reality every single day. Think about the mind-set and numbness you would have to take on if you had no choice but to work in a slaughter house as your job to earn a paycheck. You would literally need to shut off your empathy and emotions. In 1906 a novel, called The Jungle, was published by American journalist Upton Sinclair. It portrayed the harsh working conditions in slaughter houses and exploited lives of US immigrants. It also talked about the violence spill over effect into communities. Did you know that studies have been done to examine the increase in violence (rape, murder, robbery) in towns that have slaughter houses?

Are You Interested in Eating More Plants?

If any of this information has sparked a desire to eat more plants, Stage 2 is all about providing support.

Prevent & Reverse Disease By Eating More Plants

Feed More People Around the World by Eating More Plants

Stop the Destructions

Prevent Biodiversity Loss by Eating More Plants

Fight Green House Gas Emission by Eating More Plants

Take a Stand Against Animal Cruelty

Take a stand for Human Rigts

Plant Forward Movement

Change the world by eating more plants

Stage 1: Information