The report named Veganuary among other 'reasons to be hopeful'

The report recommends eating more plants for a smaller carbon footprint

A new

report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WFF) points to diet as a major indicator

of a person’s carbon footprint, and urges readers toward a plant-based lifestyle.

Titled Food

In A Warmer World, the study looks specifically to Britian to examine how food choices effect the environment.

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Staple

meals

The

report analyzes the carbon footprint of four nonvegan dishes - chicken tikka masala,

fish and chips, ploughman’s lunch, and a lamb stew called cawl - to determine the

effects of each ingredient in the meals, and compare them.

In every

dish, either meat, fish, or cheese was responsible for the largest percentage

of the meal’s carbon footprint, while the footprint of the plant ingredients

was minute in comparison.

The lamb stew had the same carbon footprint as 71 500ml plastic bottles (Photo: Instagram)

Food vs.

plastic

For

perspective, the WWF's report also compared the footprint of the dishes to the

damage caused by the use of disposable plastic bottles.

Each meal's

carbon footprint was equivalent to that of 19 or more plastic bottles, with the

lamb stew as the worst offender, reportedly as wasteful as the using 71 disposable 500 milliliter plastic bottles.

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'Reasons

to be hopeful'

In a section

of the report titled 'What Can We Do?' the environmental organization

highlights existing trends that indicate a shift toward less destructive

eating has already begun.

The

section lists month-long vegan challenge Veganuary, a booming plant-based

food and drink industry, and an increase of meat-free eating - all of which the

WWF calls 'reasons to be hopeful'.

Dietary

recommendations

In the

same section, the report lists dietary recommendations for the environmentally

concerned.

The

recommendations include eating more plants, wasting less food, and reducing meat

and replacing it with plant-based sources of protein, such as peas, beans, and

nuts.