Sixty Harvests Left explains how animal agriculture is contributing to soil pollution and climate change, which could result in zero viable soils left for farming worldwide within one lifetime. Despite its massive warnings, Lymbery’s book aims to provide solutions and encouragement to adapt the food system to protect the planet. His new book emphasizes that these issues are currently avoidable.

“At the heart of sustainable change lies a recognition that all life on our planet is interconnected, and that our future depends on treating it with compassion and respect. In so doing, we can protect the world’s wildlife and soils as if our life depends on it –– because it does,” Lymbery said.

Lymbery’s book details how animal agriculture directly relates to the worsening climate crisis, exploring how livestock wastes planetary resources. For example, meat and dairy products only provide 18 percent of the world’s calories but production requires over 80 percent of viable farmland.

“In this beautifully written book Philip Lymbery describes how intensive agriculture harms the environment and inflicts suffering on sentient animals,” Dr. Jane Goodall, environmental activist, said in a statement. “But after visiting with and talking to those on the front line –– scientists, farmers, and food providers, he is able to show that there are sustainable alternatives. And that they are working. There is indeed hope for the future of our planet, and each one of us can play a part.”

Factory Farming and Climate Change

Lymbery introduces the issue by highlighting that food production is responsible for 37 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, he holds the meat sector accountable for its abundant waste and negative impacts on the environment. Within the 37 percent, approximately 61 percent of food-related emissions are attributed to the meat and dairy industries.

“Back on the factory farm, the presence of so many animals in close proximity creates a melting pot for disease, providing Big Ag with the opportunity to sell antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals to farmers,” Lymbery writes in the “Winter” chapter.

“It is no coincidence that 73 percent of the world’s stock of antibiotics goes to farmed animals, largely to ward off diseases associated with intensive farming. The biggest six drug companies rely on the animal farming sector for $9 billion of sales each year. These enormous numbers show how Big Ag thrives while animals and the countryside suffer, and ordinary farmers go to the wall.”

The book explains that without change, the food system will begin to break down after approximately sixty harvests, hence the title. However, Lymbery suggests that the world should adopt regenerative farming techniques to replace industrial food production. Beyond that, he claims that widespread rewilding is necessary to protect the planet’s ecosystems and soil.

Eat Plant-Based to Save the Planet

The world’s population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, and this is pushing food and agricultural giants to accelerate or intensify animal agriculture. However, a new study released this November revealed that while this intensification will result in temporary benefits, the long-term issues will worsen climate change and raise pandemic risks.

“As long as meat consumption continues to rise globally, both climate change, from deforestation and methane, and pandemics will likely continue to rise,” Matthew Hayek, an assistant professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies and the author of the analysis, said at the time.

The paper reveals that plant-centric agriculture is more likely to benefit the planet and the growing population. Currently, about 42 percent of consumers believe it is likely that plant-based food will replace meat by 2032 to help curb environmental pressures and public health concerns.

For more planetary happenings, visit The Beet’s Environmental News articles. 

31 Delicious, Plant-Based Recipes to Make on Repeat

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Researchers from Bournemouth University set out to figure out how much British and European consumers understood about sustainable diets. The research pointed out that current estimate claim that diet contributes to between 20 to 30 percent of the total environmental footprint. Published in Appetite, the research found that participants felt unsure or simply did not know about what makes food sustainable or environmentally friendly. The study interviewed 21 young adults to collect this data.

“When thinking about how to live more sustainably, people seem to understand that this can mean taking fewer flights, using the car less, recycling more, but it seems that not everyone is aware of the difference that changing their diet can make as well,” Katherine Appleton, Professor of Psychology at Bournemouth University, who led the study, said.

What Is a Sustainable Diet?

Sustainable diets are defined as “diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations,” according to the United Nations. Some considerations about a food’s environmental impact may include:

• Production efficiency
• Farming practices
• Employment practices
• Food waste
• Ingredient availability
• Processing
• Packaging
• Shipping distance

The study claimed that most participants claimed that they would adopt sustainable food habits, but felt uncertain about how to make the changes. The interview data revealed that participants were more likely to make small changes such as reducing meat consumption but not completely cutting it out.

The researcher emphasizes that the study showed that more education is necessary to persuade consumers to adopt sustainable diets. The research team concluded that considering consumer preference and increasing food accessibility will help curb this lack of understanding.

“We were surprised by our findings. We had originally intended to look at how we can encourage people to eat more foods such as beans and pulses, but we discovered that people still don’t know enough about why this is important, so to talk about increasing the consumption of specific foods is getting too far ahead for many,” Appleton explained.

“We need to promote greater awareness and knowledge of how changes to eating habits can go some way to helping the planet, while also offering some suggested changes that are likely to be acceptable and acted upon.”

Plant-Based Diets Are Planet-Friendly

Even though consumers need more information about sustainable diets, approximately 85 percent of the world is experiencing the effects of climate change directly. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of climate “disaster” ahead of the United Nations’ COP climate change conference.

Eating plant-based diets can help curb food-related emissions by 61 percent, and that’s largely due to reducing beef and dairy intake. Nearly 40 percent of methane emissions worldwide can be attributed to cattle production. UN researchers announced that the world must cut methane emissions by 33 percent by 2030 to effectively slow down climate change.

In Europe, several countries have reduced their average meat consumption, according to the Good Food Institute Europe. The report found that over 50 percent of consumers in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany have cut their meat consumption. The survey found that over 60 percent of respondents felt that alternatives to animal-based meat and dairy products should be available in stores.

For more planetary happenings, visit The Beet’s Environmental News articles. 

31 Delicious, Plant-Based Recipes to Make on Repeat

Want fresh ideas for meals that are healthy, plant-based, and delicious? This free newsletter is for you. Sign up to get a recipe of the day delivered to your inbox every morning.

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For nearly a decade, DSM experimented with creating a protein isolate from canola seeds –– also known commonly as rapeseeds. The innovative protein isolate contains all nine essential amino acids without any major allergen. The Vertis CanolaPRO is designed as a functional ingredient that can be manipulated to replicate better the texture of plant-based seafood, meat, and dairy products.

“We are immensely proud to bring Vertis CanolaPRO to the market to help address the need for nutritious, delicious, and sustainable plant-based food and beverages,” Patrick Niels, executive vice president of Food & Beverage at DSM, said. “At DSM, we’re driven to partner with our customers in the food and beverage industry to produce great products that have benefits for both people and the planet.”

Could Canola Protein Be the Most Sustainable?

The protein isolate is produced from canola meal –– the byproduct of canola oil production. By using the canola meal, the production of Vertis CanolaPRO will require no extra farmland and use minimal water in the cultivation process. DSM received help from the protein processor Avril Group beginning in 2020. This new protein isolate will help minimize waste, resulting in one of the most sustainable protein products on the market.

DSM announced that it plans to release a product selection that features the new sustainable protein isolate. The Vertis product selection will begin to include products using canola-based protein to accompany its current selection of pea- and faba-based products.

The company has also attempted to boost the nutritional profile of its products in recent years. DSM most recently started adding algae-based omega-3s to its plant-based meat products. DSM intends to reach 150 million consumers by 2030.

“With the launch of Vertis CanolaPRO alongside our legume-based offering, we are establishing a leading portfolio of healthy and sustainable plant proteins that even better positions us as a go-to innovation partner for the plant-based market,” Niels continued.

Plant Protein is Healthier Than Meat and Dairy

Diets that rely on meat and dairy for protein intake are associated with several health risks including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease among others. Regularly eating processed and red meat for protein can lead to an 18 percent increase in heart disease, whereas a mostly plant-based diet can prolong your lifespan by over 10 years.

By cultivating “good” bacteria with high fiber food consumption (such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds), plant-centric diets can help lead to longer lives, according to the research. And for consumers looking to bulk with protein, research has shown that plant-based protein consumption supplements with soy can build the same muscle mass as animal-based foods while maintaining overall wellness.

New Innovative Vegan Meat Products

DSM’s protein isolate joins a growing portfolio of innovative vegan meat attempting to reduce the average 274 pounds of meat that Americans eat annually. Slovenian food tech company Juicy Marbles just released a whole-cut tenderloin made with exclusively plant-based ingredients. This vegan meat accompanies the brand’s plant-based fillet, both designed to persuade meat eaters to try plant-based alternatives.

Other companies such as Redefine Meat, Novameat, and even Beyond Meat have developed new methods of replicating conventional beef products. Both companies have developed 3D printing technologies that replicate the muscle texture of conventional meat with plant-based ingredients.

Food technology company Plantible Foods is also on a mission to create the world’s most sustainable protein, but using lemna –– an aquatic plant known colloquially as duckweed. The brand’s signature Rubi Protein is 50,000 times more protein efficient than beef and 400 times more protein efficient than peas due to its minimal land use and exponential growth capabilities.

For more plant-based happenings, visit The Beet’s News articles. 

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“I tried to come up with a good term for it because vegan has all those connotations,” Cameron said. “‘How many vegans does it take to screw in a light bulb?’ ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m better than you.’ You just want to punch a vegan. ‘Punch a vegan today: It’ll feel good.’’’

“So the term I came up with is ‘futurevore,’” the director continued. “We’re eating the way people will eat in the future. We’re just doing it early.”

Cameron sat down with GQ ahead of the newest installment of the Avatar film series to discuss his creative process as well as his personal lifestyle and interest. The renowned director hopes that by changing the terminology of sustainable diets, he can help better introduce plant-based eating to more consumers by avoiding negative stigma.

The “Futurevore” Diet

The Titanic director first adopted his “futurevore” diet in 2012, claiming that switching to plant-based foods helped him feel healthier than ever. During his interview with GQ, the director emphasized that he did not require animal-based products to stay in optimal shape.

“I’m 10 years, 100 percent, not a molecule (that I know of) of animal entering my face,” Cameron told GQ. “And I’m healthier than I’ve ever been, and most of these punks can’t keep up with me. It’s not a biological mandate that we have to eat this stuff. It’s a choice, just like any luxury choice.”

During the production of Avatar, Cameron stayed true to his commitment to the “futurevore” diet. Producer Jon Landau revealed that Cameron ensured that all set catering was plant-based.

Game Changers, Sustainable Investments & More

Cameron –– known primarily for box office blockbusters such as Aliens, Terminator, and Titanic –– helped produce the groundbreaking documentary The Game Changers. The documentary followed major athletes involved in several sporting events as they adopted plant-based diets. The documentary revealed how top-tier athletes sharpen their performance and health without meat and dairy, breaking decades of bias against vegan and vegetarian diets.

“We thought, ‘This is it: sports performance. Right? A lot of people care about sports performance — and between the lines, it’s sexual performance,’” Cameron said. “So it’s vigor, it’s energy, it’s staying younger, but we made it about sports, and then just went out after all the vegan athletes and showed how they were doing better.”

The Game Changers documentary also showed how plant-based dieting was not only comparable to conventional athletic diets but also presented several additional health benefits such as minimal inflammation and improved recovery time.

Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, work together to promote several plant-based and sustainable ventures. The couple founded MUSE in 2015 to help K-12 cafeterias transition to fully vegan menus. The Camerons also launched Verdient Foods in 2017 to assist in pea protein production.

Climatarians Eating for the Planet

About 55 percent of consumers today consider sustainability when they grocery shop, according to a recent survey, and these sustainable shoppers have adopted a term similar to Cameron’s “futurevore” moniker: climatarian. Initially conceived in 2015, the term climatarian refers to “a person who chooses what to eat according to what is least harmful to the environment,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

Similar to “flexitarians,” climatarians focus on eating mostly plant-based meals by actively avoiding meat and dairy products that significantly harm the environment. With nearly 85 percent of the world experiencing the impact of climate change, an environmentally-motivated diet is becoming increasingly popular. And diets can make a massive difference. In fact, addressing industrial farming –– and especially meat production –– poses a massive opportunity to save C02 and methane emissions, according to a 2020 study.

For more planetary happening, visit The Beet’s Environmental News. 

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Our charities are personal choices, and span from the environmental to the social, saving wilderness and public spaces and offering vegan meals to families in need of healthy food now, during a worldwide pandemic. We hope that you feel good (or great) when giving to causes you care about in your own lives and that you see this as a helpful idea generator for deciding where you want to lend your dollars today and your hands every day. Here’s to giving, and to feeling so good.

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Lucy’s Charity: The Wilderness Society

The Wilderness Society has made it its mission to protect outdoor spaces and prevent private companies from developing land or drilling or otherwise ravaging the natural beauty of our dwindling wild places: Bears Ears National Monument, Tongass National Forest, and other threatened wild places need your help, TWS tells us. If you have always loved polar bears and other majestic creatures, now is the time to come to their aid.

The Wilderness Society is working hard to preserve the world’s open spaces and defend the natural world against deregulation that would allow private interests to destroy the wilderness, across the continent and beyond. Today the Wilderness Society is matching 5 times your gift today. So $20 becomes $100 due to the generosity of their supporters. You don’t have to give a lot to have a big, icy impact. Polar Bear hugs all around!

Donate here on The Wilderness Society website.

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Stephanie’s Charity: Freedge Community Fridges

Freedge is an international organization that works to implement community fridges stocked with free food and produce in neighborhoods that typically have less access to healthy options in an effort to promote equal access across areas in the U.S., Canada, and South America.

Food insecurity is an important issue to me, and I believe it should be at the forefront of the vegan movement because although preaching to others that they should adopt a diet free of animal products is easy, due to socioeconomic circumstances that include a disproportionate amount of food deserts and food swamps in low-income and minority communities, a vegan or plant-based diet is not a realistic option for everyone.

Freedge also strives to educate community members about healthy options, which is equally important, because education is another barrier to developing a well-rounded diet. The work that Freedge is doing seeks to supply underserved neighborhoods with a ‘take what you need’ approach which not only fosters the development of healthier lifestyles but also deepens a sense of community. You can donate directly to Freedge, or visit the organization’s website to learn how to implement a community fridge in your neighborhood.

Donate here on the Freedge website.

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Hailey’s Charity: Support + Feed

Award-winning singer and longtime vegan Billie Eilish has helped spread the word about her mother’s nonprofit, Support + Feed. Maggie Baird is the creator of the organization which supplies plant-based food to hospitals, shelters, and first responders across Los Angeles and New York City.

The initiative was created in Los Angeles on March 27th and in New York City in April due to the coronavirus hardships on vegan restaurants and frontline workers. The mother-daughter-duo actively promotes the nonprofit on social media and has served thousands of plant-based meals to people in need, with the help of volunteers and donations.

“Support + Feed provides plant-based meals prepared by local restaurants and businesses to people experiencing food insecurity in BIPOC and other communities, with several goals: nourish those in need, provide education, support the small business community, and positively impact the climate crisis.”

Donate here on the Support + Feed website.

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Caitlin’s Charity: Ocean Conservancy

The easiest and most effective ways to play a part in saving the ocean include reducing your waste such as cutting back on plastic, conserving water, and donating to charities that are taking huge steps in saving the ocean such as Ocean Conservancy.

Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that has been devoted to making the ocean a healthier environment for marine life and coastal communities since 1972. Overfishing, climate change, and pollution are just a few reasons that marine life and the ocean have been put at risk. Ocean Conservancy has developed different programs to combat climate change such as organizing the world’s largest effort to remove trash from beaches, working with scientists, indigenous communities, and legislators to protect the Arctic, and restore the Gulf of Mexico from the damage it still faces from the BP oil disaster.

Ocean Conservancy takes action in both communities and in government relations pushing for funding and attention in at-risk areas. In honor of Giving Tuesday, Ocean Conservancy is pledging that every donation will be triple matched up to 100K by the board of directors and donors. You can donate to Ocean Conservancy here.

The post Happy Giving Tuesday: Here Are Our Favorite Charities to Donate to Today appeared first on The Beet.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just appointed Meera Vadher as his head of environmental policy, allegedly to improve his “green credentials.” Following the appointment, The Guardian reported that Vadher’s social media claimed that she is a vegan who possesses a “strong desire to smash the jargon and simplify politics and current affairs.” However, the newly appointed environmental leader has changed her bio to remove “vegan.”

Currently, Vadher has not signed the contract officiating her role as the new head of environmental policy. Previously, the politician worked as a special advisor for regional politics and with the Department for Health and Social Care to assist in COVID-19 pandemic response efforts.

Controversy at This Year’s UN Climate Summit

Shortly before this appointment, Sunak announced that he would not attend the annual COP27 climate summit hosted in Egypt. The world leader faced severe backlash from the public, criticizing his decision to not participate in climate talks with other world leaders. Soon after this initial announcement, the prime minister reversed his decision and attended the UN climate conference.

This year’s UN climate conference featured an inaugural food-centered event to discuss food production’s role in the climate crisis. With the help of ProVeg International, The Food4Climate Pavilion helped provide necessary information to guests on how food contributes to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, specifically highlighting the danger of the meat and dairy industries.

Plant-Based Solutions to the Climate Crisis

UN researchers claim that the world must cut methane emissions by 33 percent by 2030 to effectively curb climate change, placing significant responsibility on the beef and dairy sectors. Nearly 40 percent of global methane emissions are linked to cattle production. And several studies have revealed that plant-based meat is a viable option to protect the planet. Plant-based meat is 10 times more sustainable than beef production, according to new research from this August.

This October, Los Angeles became the first major American city to adopt the Plant Based Treaty. The LA City Council unanimously voted to adopt the pledge devoted to improving sustainable and innovative food systems as a solution to climate change. Following LA’s approval, 20 cities have endorsed the Plant Based Treaty. Recent endorsements have come from Gandhinagar, India; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Haywards Heath, United Kingdom; and Didem, Turkey, among others.

Food insecurity is a dangerous byproduct worsened by the climate crisis. Currently, more than 34 million people face food insecurity in the United States. In an attempt to address the problem, agriculture giants are accelerating meat and dairy production to feed those facing food insecurity, but new research reveals that despite short-term benefits, intensified animal agriculture increases the risk of long-term environmental issues and the risk of pandemics.

This study reveals the dangers of reliance on meat and dairy, promoting an increase in safer, more sustainable plant-based solutions. Despite only providing the world with 18 percent of its total calories, meat and dairy industries require 83 percent of the planet’s total farmland.

For more planetary happenings, visit The Beet’s Environmental News

31 Delicious, Plant-Based Recipes to Make on Repeat

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Brightly recorded that an average Thanksgiving dinner produces approximately 103 pounds of CO2. Typically, the Thanksgiving table is dominated by meat and dairy products, which cause significant environmental strains on the supply system.

Brightly’s report aims to raise awareness during the holiday season by asking people to consider introducing more eco-friendly and plant-based options without abandoning all of their traditional dishes. The report is meant to visualize the impact that a single dinner can have on the planet, further advocating for plant-based and eco-friendly solutions beyond the Thanksgiving table.

“No one is expected to forgo their favorite holiday dishes in order to reduce their carbon footprint, but we can all take small steps in order to make it a more planet-friendly feast,” Co-Founder and CMO of Brightly Liza Moiseeva said. “We recommend making vegetable stuffing instead of pork stuffing, using non-dairy swaps in some of your recipes, and cooking the meal all at once. It’s common to cook dishes ahead of time to reheat later, but that increases the carbon emissions associated with cooking.”

Make Your Thanksgiving More Sustainable

Brightly presents a six-step solution to the environmental problems that stem from Thanksgiving dinner. The report suggests that American consumers make vegetable stuffing, leave behind roast beef, cut down on dairy, cook in unison, defrost overnight to save water and energy, and add more veggies, especially as an alternative to Turkey.

The eco-friendly publication determined that a typical 20-pound turkey would account for 64 pounds of the total 103 pounds of CO2 emissions during Thanksgiving dinner. Between the animal agriculture supply chain and the energy it takes to cook a Thanksgiving turkey, it ranks as the most environmentally harmful dish on the table.

Read More: Your Ultimate Thanksgiving Guide: 50+ Plant-Based Recipes

Experts predict that 4.5 million plant-based turkeys will be served on Thanksgiving. With this in mind, a previous study concluded that a turkey dinner produces twice the greenhouse gas emissions as a vegan nut roast, meaning that omitting turkey from the table could slash the carbon footprint almost in half.

Some other signature dishes that Brightly suggest being made plant-based include:

• Stuffing: 25 pounds of C02)
• Mashed Potatoes: 9 pounds of CO2
• Cranberry Sauce: 2 pounds of CO2
• Pie: 3 pounds of CO2

By cutting the dairy and meat ingredients, Brightly intends to lift the disproportionate environmental burden from a single holiday dinner.

Eating Plant-Based to Protect The Planet

A recent study from the scientific journal Nature Food concluded that meat production is responsible for 57 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, more than twice the level that plant-based food production generates. The alarming statistic is a key motivation for Brightly’s report to promote a national shift to plant-based, sustainable foods.

“The emissions are at the higher end of what we expected, it was a little bit of a surprise,”  Climate Scientist at the University of Illinois and co-author Atul Jain wrote in the report published in Nature Food. “This study shows the entire cycle of the food production system, and policymakers may want to use the results to think about how to control greenhouse gas emissions.”

Avoiding beef and dairy products is necessary to curb the dangerous consequences of climate change, according to research claiming methane is 80 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres even claimed that to avoid a climate “disaster” then the world needed to turn to plant-based solutions.

The UN-funded think tank Chatham House released a report last year that claims the best thing that consumers can do for the environment is reduce meat and dairy purchases and incorporate more plant-based diets. The report states that “the largest differences occur between animal-sourced and plant-sourced foods, with the latter having smaller footprints; in some cases, substantially smaller.”

For more planetary happenings, visit The Beet’s Environmental News articles. 

Sandra Oh and 20 Others It Might Surprise You to Learn Are Plant-Based

1. Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney is no stranger to a meat-free life as he’s been vegetarian for 45 years. He initially went vegetarian in 1975 with his first wife Linda McCartney and began his advocacy for animal rights.

2. Sia

If you find yourself constantly singing along to the song The Greatest, then you’re already a Sia fan. Sia tweeted that she is “fully vegan now” back in 2014 and stays true to her word

3. Sandra Oh

Way back at the start of Grey’s Anatomy, Sandra Oh took the cast out for a plant-based lunch at Truly Vegan in Hollywood. In her effort to inspire contemporaries to eat vegan, the TV star is known to invite her friends for vegan meals that are delicious. She adopted the vegan lifestyle years ago and continues to quietly live a cruelty-free life.

4. Gisele Bündchen

Giselle revealed that when she was at the peak of her modeling career, her diet consisted of “cigarettes, wine, and mocha Frappuccinos,” according to an interview in People Magazine. Now 39 and the mother of two children, Gisele eats a “mostly” plant-based diet to nourish her body and stay fueled.

5. Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin has made a bigger commitment to plant-based eating since he was first told by doctors that he was pre-diabetic and needed to change his diet. That was decades ago. But, over the last few years, he’s been vocal about the benefits not only to his health but also the impact plant-based eating has on the environment.

7. Pamela Anderson

We all remember Pamela Anderson as the curvaceous blonde in the hit series Baywatch as she played Casey Jean in the red one-piece swimsuit that brought her world-class fame. She is a life-long active animal rights advocate and teamed up with PETA to join the Animal Protection Organization.

8. Kristen Stewart

“We shouldn’t eat as much meat guys,” Kristen Stewart told GQ in an interview in January. The Twilight star has made a full 180 from vampire to vegan. When she appeared on the game show “Hot Ones” she chose to skip the wings and instead compete by eating increasing spicier sauce on vegan cauliflower wings.

9. Jared Leto

This award-winning actor eats a high-protein diet consisting of only plants. Leto, who has been plant-based for 20 years, says it keeps him “shredded” in an interview. Now, 48, Leto looks half his age.

10. Jaden Smith

Jaden Smith switched up his diet from vegan to vegetarian, meaning that he doesn’t eat meat but does eat dairy from time to time. In a recent article by Plant Based News, Smith admits he skipped meals and was not getting the proper nutrition when he was vegan, but this hasn’t stopped him from espousing the plant-based life.

11. Meghan Markle

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has never admitted to being fully vegan, but sources say, she eats a plant-based diet most days during the week. She is teaching Prince Harry vegan cooking and in a Plant-Based News article, Markle explained how she hopes to raise baby Archie on a mostly vegan diet.

12. Serena Williams

As a professional athlete, fueling the body is a key factor to Willaim’s successes. In a Bon Appetite article, she explained that she adopted a plant-based diet back in 2012, she was eating a lot “healthier” for her sister, Venus, who eats a strict vegan diet for health reasons.

13. John Mackey

The popular grocery store, Whole Foods Market sells vegan products and nonvegan products which arises black lash from ethical vegans as CEO John Mackey follows a strict vegan diet. The successful businessman grew up in Houston Texas and told Business Insider that he would traditionally eat processed foods for dinner while watching TV with his family. Now, Mackey steers clear from the processed isle and eats a clean vegan diet and feels amazing at the age of 65.

14. Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz, singer of the popular song, I’m Yours, committed to a vegan diet to support his friend diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Mraz says he eats mostly raw food and told magazine sources his favorite vegan dish is “Chocomole, a mixture of avocados, dates, cacao, agave nectar, and coconut oil.”

15. Leona Lewis

Long time vegan, Leona Lewis grew up in a vegan household and continues to eat a plant-based diet. Lewis first adopted the diet at 12 when she learned about the health risks of eating animal products but told Women’s Health Magazine she occasionally eats an omelet. She also mentioned her 2:30 lunch is normally a kale salad topped with dried cranberries and she loves a veggie stir-fry for dinner.

16. Hannah Teter

Hannah Teter changed her diet after watching the documentary, Earthlings when she discovered how “horrible” factory farming is. After a strict vegetarian diet, Teter liked the way she performed as an athlete and believes that her diet helped her win gold at the 2006 games.

17. Maggie Q,

You may recognize Maggie Q as the star of the Nikita series, but in the plant-based world, she’s well-known for her heroic activism. Maggie Q has followed a strict vegan diet for 19 years, making her a true veteran of the lifestyle. She made the plant-based diet transition because she felt sluggish and had low energy, she has said. The famous actress keeps in shape by eating veggies and plant-based protein and working out with a passion.

18. Madelaine Petsch,

Winner of the first Masterchef vegan cook-off with Gordon Ramsay, Madelaine Petsch was raised vegetarian and went completely vegan at age 14. She claims that she started this diet before it was “trendy” and shot a campaign for PETA last year wearing a dress made of bok choy. Petsch says her vegan diet allows her to feel “healthier” and not “lethargic.”

19. Millie Bobbi Brown

After doing a little sleuthing on her social media platforms we think Millie Bobbi Brown qualifies as plant-based. Whether or not she is actually skipping all meat and dairy, one thing is for sure: She eats mostly salads, vegetables and grains and lives a predominantly plant-based lifestyle full of healthy foods.

20. Chloe and Halle Bailey

The grammy-nominated sisters went vegan for a week with their mom but liked it so much they decided to stick with it. For one thing, it helps keep their “voices in shape” by eating a vegan diet and they emphasize the fact that dairy helps to limit extra mucus build-up, according to a PETA interview.

21. Hilary Duff

Best known for her role as Lizzie Mcguire in the long-running series, Hilary Duff is a recent vegan advocate and entrepreneur. She recently launched the vegan and cruelty-free eyeshadow palette, “Day Dreamer” and changed her diet to plant-based last fall.

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Researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Health teamed up with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital to examine how different forms of vegan diets impact the environment differently. By examining the methods of food production such as fertilization requirements, the researchers determined how more organic, healthier diets contributed less to food-related emissions. The collective published their finding in the medical journal The Lancet Planetary Health. 

“The differences between plant-based diets was surprising because they’re often portrayed as universally healthy and good for the environment, but it’s more nuanced than that,” Aviva Musicus, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and corresponding author of the study, said in a statement.

The study is the first to simultaneously examine the health and environmental impacts of multiple plant-based diets. Even though several studies have shown that plant-based diets affected health differently, studies did not reveal how plant-based diets higher in refined grains, high-sugar beverages, potatoes, and sweets increased environmental strain. The unhealthy diets emitted more greenhouse gases, used more cropland, and wasted more water.

“An increase in unhealthy diets that are rich in heavily processed and animal-based foods (eg, red meat) is threatening both planetary and human health, contributing to increased rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases worldwide,” the study notes. “Because adverse associations between diets that are rich in animal-based foods and human and environmental health are well established, widespread adoption of healthier plant-rich diets has the potential to reduce disease risk and environmental degradation.”

More Reason to Choose a Healthier Vegan Diet

The research team examined the food consumption patterns of 65,000 participants picked from the Nuses’ Health Study II. The study analyzed the associations between health complications and environmental impacts. In contrast to unhealthy diets, healthy plant-based diets included higher quantities of legumes, nuts, whole grains, tea, coffee, vegetable oils, fruits, and vegetables.

The study found that the participants that ate an unhealthy plant-based diet were more likely to develop cardiovascular complications and other diseases. These findings correlate with other studies that have examined how eating vegan is not necessarily synonymous with perfect health. This April, another study from Harvard researchers found a substantial difference in diabetes risk between unhealthy and healthy vegan diets.

This July, research also showed that healthy plant-based diets beat other diets such as keto for lowering cancer risks. One study claimed that a healthy plant-based diet could lower your risk of all cancers by 14 percent.

Eating Plant-Based Can Protect the Planet

The Harvard research provides better insight into the benefits of healthier, more organic plant-based foods while implicating the agricultural industry as a whole, especially animal agriculture. This month, research showed that due to population increases and rising food insecurity, food industry giants are intensifying animal agriculture. Despite offering short-term benefits to food scarcity, this process is shown to present serious risks of environmental harm and animal-borne pandemics.

Avoiding beef and dairy products is essential to slow down climate change, according to research claiming methane is 80 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide. Recently, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres claimed that to avoid a climate “disaster” then the world needed to turn to plant-based solutions.

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As climate change continues and the CO2 levels increase, the nutrient content of our plant-based food will continue to diminish over time, a new study tells us. Why does this happen?One would logically think that as the ozone layer thins our plants would produce more protective compounds to stave off the harmful UV rays of the sun, and be more full of antioxidants.

While more carbon dioxide increases photosynthesis, and elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide will end up producing less nutrient-rich food, according to scientists from the Institute for Plant Science of Montpellier in France. But why would more photosynthesis within plants end up producing less nutrient-dense foods? Think of it as speeding up the production line, since the plants are essentially reacting by turning up the photosynthesis within their cells, but that can mean they have less time to absorb nutrients from the soil, the water, and the air.

So climate change drives up CO2 and those higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to more active photosynthesis –– the process plants used to produce energy. This leads to increased productivity (by the plant), which can actually make it more difficult for plants to retrieve enough key minerals from the soil to produce nutritious crops.

“There are many reports in the literature showing that the CO2 levels expected at the end of the twenty-first century will lead to a lower concentration of nitrogen in most plants, mainly affecting the protein content in plant products,” Alain Gojon, research director of France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, said. “It is very important to understand why growing plants at elevated CO2 has such a negative effect on the protein content of most staple crops and the future of food.”

Increased Carbon Threatens Nutrient Growth

The research team examined how more active photosynthesis in plants can lead to highly competitive crops, essentially fighting with one another for the nutrients in their environment.  This can drain key minerals such as nitrogen, iron, and phosphorus from the soil. Without the proper level of these minerals in the soil, crops cannot build a full nutrient profile. In general, mineral content in soil is significantly less abundant than just a few decades ago, the scientists found, and as climate change speeds up, ever increasing productivity rates in plants will further drain the soil of necessary minerals that get passed to us when we eat these foods.

Protein Content of Food Will Get Reduced

“Two main nutrients that are essential for human nutrition may be affected by this phenomenon,” Gojon said. “The first one is proteins built from nitrogen. In developing countries this can be a big issue because many diets in these countries aren’t rich in proteins and plants grown in environments with elevated CO2 can have 20 to 30 percent less protein. The second nutrient that is bound to be lacking in foods grown amidst elevated CO2 levels is iron. Iron deficiency already affects an estimated two billion people worldwide.

“The terrestrial carbon sink associated with enhanced photosynthesis may be limited, adds Gojon, “if most of the vegetation is deficient in nitrogen and other minerals, which may prevent any additional increase of CO2 capture from the atmosphere.”

Despite offering some benefits to crop production, the increased rate of photosynthesis could make combatting climate change even more difficult in the future. By draining the soil of its minerals, crop production will be unable to produce nutrient-dense crops humans need for food. The researchers set out to highlight how crop production is impacted by increased atmospheric carbon levels to mitigate intensified photosynthesis and crop productivity.

“We would like to really understand the mechanisms that are responsible for the negative effects of elevated CO2 on the mineral composition of plants,” corresponding author Antoine Martin, researcher of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said. “For example, we are currently exploring the natural genetic variation behind these negative effects, that could be used afterward to improve crops’ nutritional value under future CO2 atmosphere.”

How to Get the Most Nutrients From Your Food

Common fruits, vegetables, and grains grown today contain significantly less calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, vitamin C, and protein than crops grown 70 years ago, according to National Geographic. This trend is contributing to the growing number of Americans that experience nutrient deficiencies. As more consumers switch to plant-based diets, it is essential to understand how you can get the most nutrients from your food.

• Don’t overcook your vegetables. Be careful how you prepare your vegetables because overcooking causes several veggies such as broccoli to lose a substantial amount of their healthy nutrients, which get neutralized by steaming.
• Buy local produce. Visit your local farmer’s market or co-op to get the freshest vegetables and fruits. Less processing means more nutrients. The longer a vegetable or fruit has been off the vine, the lower its nutritional value is.
• Freeze or can your veggies. By preserving your food, either canning it or freezing it, the fruits and vegetable keep their nutritional quality for longer. Freezing does not harm most of the compounds such as vitamins and minerals that you are trying to preserve.
• Add healthy fats to your diet. Adding healthy fats like nuts and avocado to your salads can help you absorb several nutrients such as the vitamin K found in leafy vegetables. Make sure you know which nutrients are fat soluble and try to eat your spinach or other greens with a touch of heart-healthy oil like olive oil for best results.
• Be aware of anti-nutrients including phytates, tannins, and oxalates. These can inhibit the absorption of essential minerals in the gut and are known as anti-nutrients because even if you eat healthy foods they can strip the benefit of the nutrients/
• Eat plenty of vitamin C. By eating more vitamin C, you help your body absorb several nutrients at more efficient rates such as iron and folates.

Eat Plant-Based to Reduce Carbon Emissions

To help mitigate the ongoing climate crisis, introducing more plant-based foods can help protect the planet and keep the world’s soil healthy. Adopting a plant-based diet can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 61 percent. Without reducing meat and dairy production, carbon emissions will continue to increase at rapid rates, which could lead to a greater reduction in nutrients from our foods.

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Catholic bishops in England and Wales requested that their congregations give up meat on Fridays in 2011, but only a quarter of Catholic practitioners removed the meat from their diets. However, the study notes that this small change cut 55,000 metric tons of carbon annually.

“The Catholic Church is very well placed to help mitigate climate change, with more than one billion followers around the world,” Professor Shaun Larcom, the study’s lead author and researcher at Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy, said in a statement. “Pope Francis has already highlighted the moral imperative for action on the climate emergency, and the important role of civil society in achieving sustainability through lifestyle change.”

Meat-Free Fridays date back to Pope Nicholas I’s declaration in the 9th century to forgo meat consumption on Fridays in memory of Christ’s death and crucifixion. However, in recent history, this practice has dwindled. The research team from the University of Cambridge sought to understand just how beneficial this declaration and practice could be today as the world faces the worsening climate crisis.

While this proclamation calls for the reduction of meat, it still allows for the continued consumption of fish and other animal-based foods such as frogs and turtles. For decades, American Catholics followed this practice so closely that it resulted in McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish.

Eating Plant-Based to Save the Planet

The research team examined survey data with previously conducted diet and social studies to understand how the Catholic church could play an instrumental role in reducing greenhouse gases globally.

Larcom and his team found that 28 percent of Catholics in England and Wales changed their diets on Fridays, with 41 percent saying they stopped eating meat on Friday and 55 percent claiming they tried to eat less meat that day. The seemingly small change resulted in significant changes in the region’s carbon footprint. Assuming the Catholics maintained this diet, the researchers found that this results in about 875,000 fewer meat meals per week, saving 55,000 metric tons of carbon every year.

“Meat agriculture is one of the major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. If the Pope was to reinstate the obligation for meatless Fridays to all Catholics globally, it could be a major source of low-cost emissions reductions,” Larcom said. “Even if only a minority of Catholics choose to comply, as we find in our case study.”

With these results, the research team also extended the finding to propose that an international Meat-Free Friday could have tremendous benefits to the planet. The researchers noted that if Catholic bishops across the United States request their congregation to give up meat on Fridays, the benefits for the environment could be twenty times more than in London and Wales.

“Our results highlight how a change in diet among a group of people, even if they are a minority in society, can have very large consumption and sustainability implications,” Dr. Po-Wen She, a fellow of Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy and study co-author, said.

The Pope Encourages Young People to Care About the Planet

This July, Pope Francis urged young consumers worldwide to eat more plant-based for the planet in a letter released to the EU Youth Conference in Prague. His letter addressed a hope that younger generations who share a desire to create a kinder, better future can do so for the planet. He claims there is an urgent need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and meat consumption, which he deemed “superfluous.”

“I would like to tell you something that is very close to my heart. Above all, I invite you to transform the ‘old continent’ into a ‘new continent,’ and this is only possible with you,” Pope Francis stated in his letter. “I know that your generation has some good cards to play: You are attentive young people, less ideologized, accustomed to studying in other European countries, open to volunteering, and sensitive to environmental issues. This is why I feel there is hope.”

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