A healthier diet. It’s an often abandoned New Year’s resolution and something we don’t think about every day. However, how you eat and what you eat can have a real impact on your carbon footprint. That’s what the climatarian diet is all about, and it’s not a misnomer or a weird fad diet trending on TikTok. Cornell University reports that 99.9% of peer-reviewed studies agree: Anthropogenic climate change is happening. What we eat makes up about a quarter of world greenhouse gas emissions, according to Our World in Data. Unfortunately, much of that is down to animal agriculture, land use and a ..read more

As we welcome in the new year, many are thinking about resolutions – for ourselves, our families, our health, our lifestyle. Now more than ever, it's important to include the planet in our plans. Over the past 50 years, humans have more than doubled our consumption of natural resources, particularly in the United States. Losing our resources is directly linked to our own health as well, as the World Health Organization reports that 13 million deaths annually and nearly 25 percent of disease worldwide are due to environmental causes. Climate challenges impact health issues like asthma, cardio ..read more

The demand for plant-based meat alternatives has soared as concerns for animal welfare, biodiversity and environmental impact moved to the forefront of global news in the last few decades. A 2021 study published in Nature Food found that animal-based foods account for twice more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than plant-based foods. Researchers noted that 57% of global GHG resulted from food production of animal-based food. Bloomberg reports that a first-time global decline in demand for meat occurred in 2019, according to calculations by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Some area ..read more

Arugula has some weird common names, such as salad rocket, garden rocket, roquette and colewort. The benefits of arugula are definitely better than those names, and don’t worry: it doesn’t taste like rocket fuel. Arugula is from the plant family Brassicaceae (the “mustard greens” family), and you’ll recognize its relatives as cabbage, collards and cauliflower. If you’ve ever had arugula in a salad, you’ll recall its peppery and tart flavor. While it can be a bit bitter, the nutritional benefits of arugula are valuable to include in your diet. 1. It Can Suppress Inflammation Arugula contains ..read more

Your body can’t make vitamin C, which is water-soluble and found in fruits and vegetables from kiwi to kale. However, vitamin C is linked to many health benefits and serves many roles in the body that you may find extraordinary. 1. It Helps Make Collagen Collagen gives your skin a youthful appearance, but it is literally your skin’s infrastructure. Collagen is a protein that lies directly underneath your epidermis (outer skin layer) and contains a high concentration of vitamin C. Without vitamin C, your body can’t make collagen. This vitamin’s job takes on several roles in relation to collag ..read more

Are you looking for a New Year’s Resolution that will be healthy for both you and the planet? Veganuary is here to support you in trying out a plant-based diet for the first 31 days of 2022, and maybe beyond. “I think that January is the perfect time to try vegan,” Veganuary U.S. Director Wendy Matthews told EcoWatch. “It’s the time when people make New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives and often their health, it’s a contained period of time so it feels manageable when starting out, but it allows participants to find out more about the impact their food choices have and discover deli ..read more

It’s common knowledge that meat has an outsized impact on the environment, but a new study finds that the consequences are even more dire than previously thought. The study, published by Nature Research in 2021, determined that meat is responsible for nearly 60% of all food-production-related greenhouse gas emissions, which is 2x more than plant-based foods. In terms of total global emissions, 14% come from livestock alone, and beef is the main culprit. To put it into perspective, 2.5kg of greenhouse gases are emitted to produce 1kg of wheat, while 70kg are emitted to produce a single kilo o ..read more

When the snow starts falling, many communities send out the big trucks to dump loads of salts on roads. Many homeowners will also add salts to sidewalks to keep people safer from slip hazards. In the U.S., we use about 15 to 32 million metric tons of road salts per year. Road salts were first used in New Hampshire in 1938, and since have become a popular and effective deicing method. Much of the salt is mined in Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New York and Ohio. But conventional deicers can wreak havoc on ecosystems, as the salts often wash into nearby streams. Salts in water can create aquatic ..read more

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent this week to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for allegedly failing to adequately protect polar bears from a Western Arctic exploration project. Under the Endangered Species Act, a notice of intent is required 60 days before the pursuit of a formal lawsuit. The 88 Energy’s Peregrine Exploration Program, a five-year oil and gas exploration project that would run almost year-round and cause “near constant air and vehicle traffic, and other drilling-related activity” was approved by the outgo ..read more

Social media is no longer just a place for sharing selfies or pictures of puppies. Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook have become important sources of information; nearly half of American adults report getting at least some of their news from social media. These platforms have become especially important for social movements, including environmentalism. We spend hours on our phones every day, and following a few reliable, informative accounts can give us some new perspectives on environmental issues while we’re scrolling. Check out and follow these Instagram accounts to get some inform ..read more