With the rise of veganism in popular culture, I have heard over and over again that there is a huge environmental impact of eating meat and animal products in general. I have heard that it can take hundreds of gallons to produce just one hamburger. When I heard that I thought it was crazy. Now, I had always heard this from those vegan YouTubers like Freelee the Banana girl so despite it being correct, when looking into it more, it isn’t just meat that can also be harmful to the environment. Many fruits and vegetables can also be just as harmful or even worse. Now, this doesn’t go for all of them, but some of our favorites may be doing more harm than good.
Bananas, for instance, are not always the greatest for our planet. While growing the fruit isn’t the problem, transporting them produces a lot of pollution. According to a Global Citizen article, the average banana travels over 5,000 miles.
While meat gets a bad rap for using up water, so do avocados and almonds. It takes over a gallon to produce just one almond. 500 gallons of water to produce just 2 pounds of avocados. Not only that but avocados are a single crop, meaning that they are grown on the same land over and over again. This causes issues because the plant depletes the land and soil of nutrients, therefore they are more likely to get diseases, which increases the number of pesticides used.
Soy milk is often seen as an alternative to drinking regular cow milk, but it is also one of the major contributors to deforestation, which also negatively affects the levels of greenhouse gases.
So how can we change our eating habits to better help our planet? It kinda seems like you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. So many foods that are advertised as more environmentally friendly aren’t as good as it seems. While going vegetarian or vegan can help, meat isn’t always the issue. Chicken and pork are actually really good substitutes for eating red meat, which seems to be the most dangerous to our planet. For our fruits and veggies, eating locally sourced foods is always best. To cause the least amount of harm and to avoid pollution, eating from local farms is significantly better for our environment.