This Earth Day, what you eat matters more than ever
The earth is at a crossroads. The latest IPCC report released just a couple of weeks ago confirmed that the planet has already warmed 1.2°C (2.2ºF) since preindustrial times, and we have less than 3(!) years to reach peak global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – after which emissions must precipitously decline (approximately halving by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050) to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Unfortunately, we are nowhere close to being on track. Emissions have continued to rise, and scientists quietly acknowledge the 1.5°C target is essentially out of reach without “overshoot” – where the world warms beyond 1.5°C for a period of time (with disastrous global consequences), and then cools with the help of carbon dioxide removal. How far off are the current commitments governments around the world have made? About 19-26 GtCO2e per year – for context, that represents 32-44% of total global GHG emissions in 2019.
Though the IPCC rightfully focuses on the need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels and scale up renewable energy, it also acknowledges the critical role food systems play. Food systems comprise 23-42% of total GHG emissions, and globally account for 28% of households’ carbon footprint (more than that of energy!) while also contributing ~50% and 70% of negative land and water impacts, respectively. Even if we were to immediately eliminate all GHG emissions from fossil fuels, food system emissions alone would make it impossible to limit warming to 1.5°C and difficult to hit the 2°C target.
What you eat – and specifically, the amount of meat and dairy on your plate – is the biggest driver of our food system’s GHG emissions and other negative environmental impacts. That’s because meat and dairy products have 10-100x the emissions of plant-based foods, accounting for about 60% of food system GHGs overall. And because animal agriculture is massively resource intensive, it’s a leading driver of deforestation, species extinction, freshwater use, land use, and air and water pollution (this provides a great, readable summary). There is no other industry on earth as environmentally devastating as animal agriculture – which is why scientists say avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your overall impact on the planet.
Crucially, 80% of GHG emissions in the food system are due to farm level processes (e.g. planting, harvesting, fertilizer and manure application, methane emissions due to cow belches, etc.) and land use changes (e.g. deforestation releasing carbon), as opposed to things like transport (i.e. food miles) or packaging, each of which comprise approximately 5% of emissions – despite the disproportionate focus on these in the media as primary drivers of negative environmental impacts. Given this critical truth, eating locally or reducing packaging waste isn’t nearly sufficient to offset the harmful effects of eating animals: reducing our meat and dairy consumption is the key to driving meaningful change.
A prior IPCC report examined the climate mitigation potential of adopting different diets. Vegan diets provide the greatest benefit at nearly 8 GtCO2e reduction (around 30-40% of the current emissions gap, for context). But the research also shows that even limiting animal product consumption, without completely eliminating it, can have a significant impact.
One more recent study suggests that the mitigation potential of eliminating animal agriculture is far higher – by a factor of 3x – given the significant carbon sequestration potential of land used to raise animals and their feed (the so-called “carbon opportunity cost” if this land was returned to nature). Half of all habitable land on earth is used for agriculture, of which 80% is used for livestock and feed production. They calculate that direct emissions reductions from phasing out animal agriculture and the massive carbon sink generated by rewilding its land could offset almost 70% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, with 90% of this benefit coming from eliminating beef and other ruminants alone. The mitigation potential would be enough to close the GHG emissions gap, with numerous co-benefits for water use, global biodiversity, pollution, animal welfare, and human health.
Despite its potential, we know that dietary change is incredibly difficult. Serious discussions about eating less meat as a climate solution are still dismissed by policymakers, and this strategy continues to receive far less policy and popular attention than other interventions. Instead, we find ourselves pinning our hopes and dollars on unproven, expensive carbon dioxide removal technologies that offer few co-benefits and a good amount of risk rather than addressing the “cow” in the room. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to subsidize foods that destroy our health and planet – $38 billion each year going primarily to livestock and its feed, with less than 1% allocated to fruits and vegetables, making it easier and cheaper to eat animal products and processed foods than healthy produce and other plant-based foods. A similar pattern exists globally, with almost 90% of agricultural support worth $470 billion going to agricultural activities that hurt people and the planet, dominated by support for livestock, feed crops, and sugar.
We started Thistle with the goal of helping change this narrative by making it easy and delightful to eat more plants and removing all the obstacles that can come along with it. We know that in order to stick with a new way of eating, the food needs to be convenient, accessible, and, above all, delicious — so that’s what we aspire to do: make plants irresistible. For us, it’s not about banning meat, but making it obsolete with (plant-based) food so good and easy that you won’t even miss it. If enough of us eat this way, not only do we reduce demand for environmentally destructive animal products, but we help shift the window around what’s possible in food and climate policy and pave the way for important structural changes in our food system.
We hope you have a wonderful Earth Day, and get time to spend it outdoors and in nature. Stay tuned for our next post about what we’re doing at Thistle to continue to drive down our own footprint (sneak peek: carbon footprinting our products and our entire business, path to net zero, and packaging progress). As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@thistle.co.
Shiri Avnery, co-founder and President of Thistle, holds a PhD from Princeton University’s program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy and a ScB in Geological Sciences from Brown University. Her research has focused on air pollution, agriculture, climate change, and natural resources. Shiri and her husband Ash founded Thistle driven by the fact that two of the greatest challenges of our generation -- our growing health crisis and current climate emergency -- pointed to a common solution: eating more plants and eating less meat. Thistle aims to make eating healthy, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals easy to do and a celebration to enjoy with irresistible meals delivered directly to your door.
This Earth Day, what you eat matters more than ever
The earth is at a crossroads. The latest IPCC report released just a couple of weeks ago confirmed that the planet has already warmed 1.2°C (2.2ºF) since preindustrial times, and we have less than 3(!) years to reach peak global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – after which emissions must precipitously decline (approximately halving by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050) to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Unfortunately, we are nowhere close to being on track. Emissions have continued to rise, and scientists quietly acknowledge the 1.5°C target is essentially out of reach without “overshoot” – where the world warms beyond 1.5°C for a period of time (with disastrous global consequences), and then cools with the help of carbon dioxide removal. How far off are the current commitments governments around the world have made? About 19-26 GtCO2e per year – for context, that represents 32-44% of total global GHG emissions in 2019.
Though the IPCC rightfully focuses on the need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels and scale up renewable energy, it also acknowledges the critical role food systems play. Food systems comprise 23-42% of total GHG emissions, and globally account for 28% of households’ carbon footprint (more than that of energy!) while also contributing ~50% and 70% of negative land and water impacts, respectively. Even if we were to immediately eliminate all GHG emissions from fossil fuels, food system emissions alone would make it impossible to limit warming to 1.5°C and difficult to hit the 2°C target.
What you eat – and specifically, the amount of meat and dairy on your plate – is the biggest driver of our food system’s GHG emissions and other negative environmental impacts. That’s because meat and dairy products have 10-100x the emissions of plant-based foods, accounting for about 60% of food system GHGs overall. And because animal agriculture is massively resource intensive, it’s a leading driver of deforestation, species extinction, freshwater use, land use, and air and water pollution (this provides a great, readable summary). There is no other industry on earth as environmentally devastating as animal agriculture – which is why scientists say avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your overall impact on the planet.
Crucially, 80% of GHG emissions in the food system are due to farm level processes (e.g. planting, harvesting, fertilizer and manure application, methane emissions due to cow belches, etc.) and land use changes (e.g. deforestation releasing carbon), as opposed to things like transport (i.e. food miles) or packaging, each of which comprise approximately 5% of emissions – despite the disproportionate focus on these in the media as primary drivers of negative environmental impacts. Given this critical truth, eating locally or reducing packaging waste isn’t nearly sufficient to offset the harmful effects of eating animals: reducing our meat and dairy consumption is the key to driving meaningful change.
A prior IPCC report examined the climate mitigation potential of adopting different diets. Vegan diets provide the greatest benefit at nearly 8 GtCO2e reduction (around 30-40% of the current emissions gap, for context). But the research also shows that even limiting animal product consumption, without completely eliminating it, can have a significant impact.
One more recent study suggests that the mitigation potential of eliminating animal agriculture is far higher – by a factor of 3x – given the significant carbon sequestration potential of land used to raise animals and their feed (the so-called “carbon opportunity cost” if this land was returned to nature). Half of all habitable land on earth is used for agriculture, of which 80% is used for livestock and feed production. They calculate that direct emissions reductions from phasing out animal agriculture and the massive carbon sink generated by rewilding its land could offset almost 70% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, with 90% of this benefit coming from eliminating beef and other ruminants alone. The mitigation potential would be enough to close the GHG emissions gap, with numerous co-benefits for water use, global biodiversity, pollution, animal welfare, and human health.
Despite its potential, we know that dietary change is incredibly difficult. Serious discussions about eating less meat as a climate solution are still dismissed by policymakers, and this strategy continues to receive far less policy and popular attention than other interventions. Instead, we find ourselves pinning our hopes and dollars on unproven, expensive carbon dioxide removal technologies that offer few co-benefits and a good amount of risk rather than addressing the “cow” in the room. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to subsidize foods that destroy our health and planet – $38 billion each year going primarily to livestock and its feed, with less than 1% allocated to fruits and vegetables, making it easier and cheaper to eat animal products and processed foods than healthy produce and other plant-based foods. A similar pattern exists globally, with almost 90% of agricultural support worth $470 billion going to agricultural activities that hurt people and the planet, dominated by support for livestock, feed crops, and sugar.
We started Thistle with the goal of helping change this narrative by making it easy and delightful to eat more plants and removing all the obstacles that can come along with it. We know that in order to stick with a new way of eating, the food needs to be convenient, accessible, and, above all, delicious — so that’s what we aspire to do: make plants irresistible. For us, it’s not about banning meat, but making it obsolete with (plant-based) food so good and easy that you won’t even miss it. If enough of us eat this way, not only do we reduce demand for environmentally destructive animal products, but we help shift the window around what’s possible in food and climate policy and pave the way for important structural changes in our food system.
We hope you have a wonderful Earth Day, and get time to spend it outdoors and in nature. Stay tuned for our next post about what we’re doing at Thistle to continue to drive down our own footprint (sneak peek: carbon footprinting our products and our entire business, path to net zero, and packaging progress). As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@thistle.co.
Shiri Avnery, co-founder and President of Thistle, holds a PhD from Princeton University’s program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy and a ScB in Geological Sciences from Brown University. Her research has focused on air pollution, agriculture, climate change, and natural resources. Shiri and her husband Ash founded Thistle driven by the fact that two of the greatest challenges of our generation -- our growing health crisis and current climate emergency -- pointed to a common solution: eating more plants and eating less meat. Thistle aims to make eating healthy, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals easy to do and a celebration to enjoy with irresistible meals delivered directly to your door.
