Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

How to eat well — and save the planet

Switching to a healthier diet can reduce an individual’s water footprint by as much as 55%.

According to new research, turning vegetarian has the biggest impact, but even cutting down on meat gives a saving of at least 10%.

Shifting to a healthy diet is a "win-win situation", say researchers.

Citizens will be healthier and their food can be produced using less of one of our most precious natural resources – water.

"The main message is that if you shift to a healthy diet, be it with meat or without (vegetarian or pescetarian), according to your own preference, it’s not only good for your health, but it’s also very good for the environment in the sense that you reduce your water footprint substantially," said Dr Davy Vanham of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, in Ispra, Italy.

Facts from the study

  • The water footprint from food consumption (domestic and imported food) per person per day is 2,757 litres in the UK, compared with 2,929 for Germany and 3,861 for France
  • Switching to a healthy diet with meat (all food groups; based on national guidelines) would reduce water consumption by 11-35%
  • A healthy pescetarian diet (meat is replaced with fish and pulses, animal fat is replaced with oils from crops) reduces water consumption by 33-35%
  • A healthy vegetarian diet (no fish or meat, oils from crops in place of animal fat) reduces water consumption by 35-55%.

Freshwater resources are already scarce, but the problem is set to get worse, due to population growth, changing lifestyles and […]

Summary
Article Name
How to eat well - and save the planet
Description
Dr Davy Vanham: shift to a healthy diet, with meat or without, according to preference. It's not only good for health, it's very good for the environment.
Author
Publisher Name
BBC News
Publisher Logo

Recent Posts

Scathing report released detailing Navy’s handling of Red Hill fuel spill

The Inspector General of the Department of Defense released some scathing reports Thursday over the…

5 days ago

Growing Food Instead of Grass Lawns in California Front Yards

Photo: Morgan Boone, a volunteer with Crop Swap LA, harvested lettuce at the La Salle…

2 weeks ago

LA River restoration connects us back to ‘the life force of our city’

Los Angeles residents at a section of the Los Angeles River cleanup in Los Angeles,…

3 weeks ago

LAist: New study raises questions about heavy metals in fire retardants

Over the past decade, about 67 million gallons of fire retardant have been dropped on…

3 weeks ago

Meadow and watershed restoration in the Golden Trout Wilderness

Photo: Golden Trout Wilderness Seeking blue, seeing gold The Kern Plateau features a chain of…

3 weeks ago

First sighting of salmon in 100 years marks key milestone for California dam removal

For the first time in more than a century, a salmon was observed swimming through Klamath…

4 weeks ago