Food production has a significant impact on the earth's health; what we eat has a significant impact on our health. Fortunately, research clearly shows that the same food choices can benefit both ourselves and our environment. Let's look at simple swaps you can make that will benefit both your health and the health of the planet you inhabit.
Agriculture (growing plants and raising livestock) uses a lot of natural resources. It accounts for 70% of the water we use and takes up about 40% of all habitable land, much of which was once forests and wildlands that supported a diversity of animal and plant life. It also can create damaging byproducts: food production is responsible for up to 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global climate change.
Additionally, agricultural runoff pours nutrients into waterways, leading to an excess growth of aquatic plants that kills off marine life (a process called eutrophication). The high number of variables makes it hard to make blanket statements about the relative environmental impact of different foods. For example, some sources recommend avoiding almonds because their cultivation uses a lot of water in areas where water is already scarce, but the greenhouse gas emissions from almond production are dramatically lower than that of any animal protein.
However, most studies assessing the environmental effects of food intake found the same thing: the more animal foods were replaced with plant foods, the lower the environmental .