Live Younger Longer

If not for yourself, then for the earth
My wife, Linda, and I have three children who are all millennials in their
late 20s and early 30s. I’ve talked to them about how important what they
eat is when it comes to lowering their chance of disease. They’ve basically
said, “Why should we worry about that when we’re young, healthy and
many years away from developing any kind of disease?” But when I told
them that eating less red meat and dairy could bring their carbon footprint
down by 70%, their perspective changed. The benefits suddenly seemed
more immediate.
If you’re like many millennials, you have climate change and the health of
the Earth on the brain. Luckily, habits that are good for you can also bring
down your carbon footprint.

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Researchers have studied the relationship between diets that are healthy for
people and diets that are healthy for the Earth. And the happy results are
that the two often go together.
Bad news first: On a global scale, food production is one of the largest
contributors to climate change. Food production and agriculture contribute
up to 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions, occupy 40% of the available
land on Earth, and use 70% of all available fresh water. And scientific
modeling predicts that unless dietary patterns change, by 2050 we will
likely see an 80% increase in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and
global land clearing.
The good news is that dietary changes that are better for people’s health
tend to line up with the kinds of changes that would reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The diets that use more land and water and produce more greenhouse gases
tend to be high in added sugar, saturated fats, processed foods and red meat.
And animal products account for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions in the
diets of people in high-income nations like the United States.
Moving toward a diet that’s higher in whole, plant-based foods like fruits,
veggies, nuts, seeds and whole grains and lower in processed and animal-
based foods can decrease your health risks while also reducing your carbon
footprint.
Millennials are now the largest living generation in the U.S. That gives this
generation power to change the kinds of foods that are most in demand and
the ways those foods are produced.
Other healthy habits that help the earth:

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