Eat More Mollusks

Over the last six months or so I’ve been trying to design my diet to be more climate friendly.

My first, minimally informed, effort was to go vegetarian. This worked out fine and I enjoyed learning some new recipes. I noticed that I was eating a lot more dairy, though, and wondered what the impact of that was.

I did some research and found that some meats are actually better choices than some non-meat protein sources. Of course, vegan is the gold standard for climate-friendly diets, but I’m not prepared to go there.

One of the best resources I’ve found is this New York Times page. I feel like they made it specifically for me as it answers exactly the questions I had. The information is presented clearly and is easily digestible (sorry).

From the article:

The world’s food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat — beef, chicken, fish, milk, lentils, kale, corn and more — as well as processing, packaging and shipping food to markets all over the world. If you eat food, you’re part of this system.

New York Times

A couple of surprising findings:

• cheese can be a pretty bad choice in terms of climate impact (this was devastating news)
• mollusks for the win!

So my cheddar intake is way down (oh so sad) and I’ve learned that yes, you can buy frozen scallops—and they’re pretty good!

I think the larger point is that there are a variety of eating choices that can help reduce your impact on climate change. Resources like this make it easier to make informed decisions.