Changing our Diets to Save the World

And now for something completely different with this episode on plant based eating. This is the second in a two part environmental series on thinking globally and acting locally. In the last episode, Nancy spoke with Daniel Katz of the Rainforest Alliance about the global effect of rainforest destruction on climate change and that the main cause for this destruction is cattle raising. But it’s not just cattle in rainforests that are the problem. Worldwide, animal agriculture accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than the entire transportation sector combined, which clocks in at 13%. This all means that eating a plant based diet has more of an impact on climate than driving an electric car. So this episode focuses on acting locally, and I mean hyper-locally because the most powerful personal action we can take to fight climate change is changing our diet.Our guides for this exploration of plant based eating are friends and veteran vegans, artist Gayle Kabaker and Suzette Moyer, design director at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gayle, Suzette and Nancy are all at different stages of their plant-based journeys – Gayle has been a vegan for 8 years, Suzette for two and Nancy is the newcomer since a recent diagnosis of high cholesterol.  In this preach-free zone, Gayle, Suzette and Nancy talk about tips, tricks, hacks and recipes, the vegan glow and demystifying weird-sounding ingredients. And if Gayle’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she appeared on earlier episode of the podcast, speaking about her work at Vital Voices to raise up women leaders around the world.So if you want to lose weight, if you want to improve your overall health, if you’re just curious or if you want to change your diet to save the planet, then this episode is for you. And be sure to check out the website at newfacesofdemocracy.org for additional recipes and resources.