God's Way

A scientific journal article published in 2018 contained compelling scientific evidence that eating a plant-based diet, which excludes meat and animal products, is better for the environment.

The study, Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers, conducted by Joesph Poore & Thomas Nemecek, gathered data on the environmental impacts of food produced on farms (primary producers of meat, fish, grains, fruit & vegetables), processors (food manufacturers and processing plants), food packaging plants and retailers.

Research Article Abstract

“Food’s environmental impacts are created by millions of diverse producers. To identify solutions that are effective under this heterogeneity, we consolidated data covering five environmental indicators; 38,700 farms; and 1600 processors, packaging types, and retailers. Impact can vary 50-fold among producers of the same product, creating substantial mitigation opportunities. However, mitigation is complicated by trade-offs, multiple ways for producers to achieve low impacts, and interactions throughout the supply chain. Producers have limits on how far they can reduce impacts. Most strikingly, impacts of the lowest-impact animal products typically exceed those of vegetable substitutes, providing new evidence for the importance of dietary change. Cumulatively, our findings support an approach where producers monitor their own impacts, flexibly meet environmental targets by choosing from multiple practices, and communicate their impacts to consumers.”

Joesph Poore & Thomas Nemecek, Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers

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