Showing The Earth Some Love

Is our diet partly responsible for global warming?

Livestock actually contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than you'd think, and our growing population and carnivorous diets mean livestock farms are ever-increasing in number and size.

Animals such as cows, sheep and goats produce methane whilst they're digesting their food, and pigs, sheep and other animals' faeces also give off methane. Livestock farming is globally the single largest source of methane emissions, and methane is 25 times more effective at trapping heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

It's not just the animals themselves that contribute to global warming either. Acres of forests,  which absorb carbon dioxide, are cut down to make room for pastures and to grow food for livestock as well.

Lots of carbon dioxide is also produced from the machinery used to process the meat, and from the transporting of the meat to supermarkets and different countries. This counts for non-meat food as well; lots of locally grown products are being shipped to different countries, and lots of products are also being shipped into our country. For some products this may be unavoidable- you're going to struggle to find locally grown bananas in Norway, for example. But if you live in the Uk and you're eating strawberries from Spain, you can easily make the switch to British grown strawberries, for example.

So, how can your diet help fight climate change?

+Buy groceries from your local farmer's market, and buy meat from your local butchers.

+Check the labels on food saying where food has been grown and opt for locally grown products if possible.

+Swap a couple of meaty meals for vegetarian meals every week. It may not seem like much but it makes a huge difference.

------------------------------------------

How often do you eat meat? There are plenty of vegetarian meat substitutes out there- comment any ideas for yummy meat-free meals to try.