Abstract
A growing number of people are paying more attention to the concept of environmental sustainability, implementing sustainable eating practices to minimize the waste of resources, and the production of waste products related to the food production process. The careful application of sustainable eating practices makes it possible to help the environment, public health, and society by increasing the availability of food and farmland to feed every inhabitant on Earth. Individuals impact the environment through their eating because of three factors: food, energy used in the home, and transport. The most powerful of these factors is food. Animal food production involves a greater use of resources (raw materials, land, water, energy) and produces more pollutants (chemical residues from agriculture, greenhouse gases, manure) than plant-based food. Thus, a lifestyle based on eating plant foods is not only beneficial for the environment, but also protective of a consumer’s health. Alternative practices, such as using renewable energy sources or alternative fuels, however desirable they may be in combination with limiting the consumption of animal foods, are more difficult to implement across society. To change one’s eating habits is, on the other hand, a simple, fast, and inexpensive approach.
References
Aleksandrowicz, L., Green, R., Joy, E.J.M., Smith, P., Haines, A. (2016) The Impacts of Dietary Change on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land Use, Water Use, and Health: A Systematic Review. PLOS ONE 11(11): e0165797. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.016579710.1371/journal.pone.0165797Search in Google Scholar
Alsaffar, A.A. (2016). Sustainable diets: The interaction between food industry, nutrition, health and the environment. Food Sci Technol Int., 22(2):102-11.Search in Google Scholar
Bach-Faig, A., Berry, E.M., Lairon, D., Reguant, J., Trichopoulou, A., Dernini, S., Medina, F.X., Battino, M., Belahsen, R., Miranda, G., and Serra-Majem, L. (2014). Mediterranean diet pyramid today. Science and cultural updates. Public Health Nutr., (12A):2274-84.Search in Google Scholar
Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (2015). The double food pyramid. On line at: https://www.barillacfn.com/en/dissemination/double_pyramid/ (accessed on Nov 10th, 2017).Search in Google Scholar
Baroni, L., Berati, M., Candilera, M., Tettamanti, M. (2014). Total Environmental Impact of Three Main Dietary Patterns in Relation to the Content of Animal and Plant Food. Foods, 3, 443-460.10.3390/foods3030443Search in Google Scholar
Berry, E.M., Dernini, S., Burlingame, B., Meybeck, A., Conforti, P. (2015). Food security and sustainability: can one exist without the other? Public Health Nutr 16:1-10.10.1017/S136898001500021XSearch in Google Scholar
Cooper, L. (2018). A new veganism. How climate change has created more vegans. Aberdeen University Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Journal. Available at https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pgrs/documents/Grantie%20Vol%202%20-%20Leanne%20Cooper.pdf (accessed on June 12th, 2018).Search in Google Scholar
Dernini, S., Berry, E.M. (2015) Mediterranean Diet: From a Healthy Diet to a Sustainable Dietary Pattern. Front Nutr. 7;2:15.10.3389/fnut.2015.00015Search in Google Scholar
Dernini, S., Berry, E.M., Serra-Majem, L., La Vecchia, C. et al. (2017) Med Diet 4.0: the Mediterranean diet with four sustainable benefits. Public Health Nutr. 20(7):1322-1330.Search in Google Scholar
Dinu, M., Abbate, R., Gensini, G.F., Casini, A., Sofi, F. (2017). Vegetarian, vegan diets and multiple health outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 57(17):3640-3649. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447.Search in Google Scholar
EFSA. (2005). Opinion of the scientific panel on contaminants in the food chain on a request from the commission related to the presence of non dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in feed and food. The EFSA Journal 284: 1 - 137 https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2005.284 (accessed on June 5th, 2018).10.2903/j.efsa.2005.284(accessed5th,2018)Search in Google Scholar
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency, (2004). Risk Assessment Evaluation for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. On line at: https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=901V0100.txt (accessed on May 6th, 2018).Search in Google Scholar
FAO. (2012). Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity: Directions and Solutions for Policy, Research and Action. http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3004e/i3004e.pdf (accessed on June 5th, 2018).Search in Google Scholar
FAO. (2006). Livestock impacts on the environment. Livestock’s Long Shadow: environmental issues and options. http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM FAO. (2001). Food Balance Sheet. FAO Database. On line at: http://faostat.fao.org/ (accessed on Nov 10th, 2017).Search in Google Scholar
Goodland, R. and Anhang, J. (2009). “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are...cows, pigs and chickens?”. WorldWatch. 22(6):10-19.Search in Google Scholar
Hirschfeld, J., Weiß, J., Preidl, M., Korbun, T. (2008). The Impact of German Agriculture on the Climate. IÖW Text Series186/08. Berlin, 187 S in: FOODWATCH (2008). Klimaretter Bio?. Also available at: https://www.ioew.de/schriftenreihe-diskussionspapiere/Search in Google Scholar
Jacobson, M.F. (2006). Six Arguments for a Greener Diet: How a More Plant-based Diet Could Save Your Health and the Environment. Chapter 4: “More and Cleaner Water”. Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest.Search in Google Scholar
Kaimowitz, D., Mertens, B., Wunder, S., Pacheco, P. (2003). Hamburger connection Fuels Amazon Destruction, Center for International Forestry Research-CIFOR. On line at: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/media/Amazon.pdf (accessed on Nov 10th, 2017).Search in Google Scholar
Koneswaran, G. and Nierenberg D. (2008). Global Farm Animal Production and Global Warming: Impacting and Mitigating Climate Change. Environ. Health Perspect., 116(5): 578-582.Search in Google Scholar
Marlow, H.J., Hayes, W.K., Soret, S., Carter, R.L., Schwab, E.R., Sabate, J. (2009). Diet and the environment: does what you eat matter? Am J Clin Nutr., 89(5):1699S-1703S.Melina, V., Craig, W., Levin, S. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets. J Acad Nutr Diet. 116(12):1970-1980. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025.Search in Google Scholar
McMichael, A.J., John W Powles, J.W., D Butler C.D., Uauy, R. (2007). Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health - The Lancet, Volume 370, No. 9594, p1253-1263.Search in Google Scholar
Mekonnen, M.M. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2010). The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands. On line at: http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Report-48-WaterFootprint-AnimalProducts-Vol1.pdf (accessed on Nov 10th, 2017).Search in Google Scholar
Padilla, M., Capone, R. and Palma, G. (2012). Sustainability of the food chain from field to plate: The case of Mediterranean diet. In: Burlingame B and Dernini S (eds) Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity- Directions, Solutions for Policy, Research and Action. Rome: FAO.Search in Google Scholar
Perignon, M., Vieux, F., Soler, L-G., Masset, G., Darmon, N. (2016). Improving diet sustainability through evolution of food choices: review of epidemiological studies on the environmental impact of diets. Nutrition Reviews, 75(1):2-17.Search in Google Scholar
Pimentel, D., Berger, B., Filiberto, D., Newton, M., Wolfe, B., Karabinakis, E., Clark, S., Poon, E., Abbett, E., Nandagopal, S. (2004). “Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues”. BioScience. 54(10): 909-918.10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0909:WRAAEI]2.0.CO;2Search in Google Scholar
Pimentel, D., Pimentel, M. (2003). Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment. Am J Clin Nutr 78 (suppl); 660S-3S.10.1093/ajcn/78.3.660SSearch in Google Scholar
Poore, J., Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science. 360(6392):987-992.Search in Google Scholar
Rosi, A., Mena, P., Pellegrini, N., Turroni, S., Neviani, E., Ferrocino, I., Di Cagno, R., Ruini, L., Ciati, R., Angelino, D., Maddock, J., Gobbetti, M., Brighenti, F., Del Rio, D., Scazzina, F. (2017). Environmental impact of omnivorous, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, and vegan diet. Sci Rep. 7(1):6105. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06466-8.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Ruini, L.F., Ciati, R., Pratesi, C.A., Marino, M., Principato, L., Vannuzzi, E. (2015) Working toward Healthy and Sustainable Diets: The “Double Pyramid Model” Developed by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition to Raise Awareness about the Environmental and Nutritional Impact of Foods. Front Nutr., 4;2:9.10.3389/fnut.2015.00009Search in Google Scholar
Scarborough, P., Appleby, P. N., Mizdrak, A., Briggs, A. D., Travis, R. C., Bradbury, K. E., & Key, T. J. (2014). Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic Change, 125(2), 179-192.10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1Search in Google Scholar
Springmann, M., Godfray, H. C., Rayner, M., & Scarborough, P. (2016). Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(15), 4146-4151.10.1073/pnas.1523119113Search in Google Scholar
Stoll-Kleemann, S., O’Riordan, T. (2015). The Sustainability Challenges of OurMeat and Dairy Diets. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 57, 3: 34-48.Search in Google Scholar
Tilman, D., Clark, M. (2014). Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature, 515(7528):518-22.Search in Google Scholar
Thornton, P., Herrero, M., Ericksen, P. (2011). Livestock and climate change. Livestock Exchange. International Livestock Research Institute.Search in Google Scholar
GAO - United States General Accounting Office (1999). Animal Agriculture: Waste Management Practices. On line at: http://www.gao.gov/archive/1999/rc99205.pdf (accessed on Nov 10th, 2017).Search in Google Scholar
von Koerber, K., Bader, N., Leitzmann, C. (2017). Wholesome Nutrition: an example for a sustainable diet. Proc Nutr Soc., (1):34-41.Search in Google Scholar
Weber, C.L., Matthews H.S. (2008). Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States. Environ. Sci. Tecnol., 42 (10), 3508-3513.10.1021/es702969fSearch in Google Scholar
© by Luciana Baroni, et al., published by De Gruyter
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
