EarthSave.org: Website

What is Earth Save?
EarthSave.org was founded by John Robbins who is the author of Diet for a New America and Food Revolution. He was the former heir to the Baskin-Robbins corporation but turned down away a fortune of money and an "easy" life in order to live a life that was in sync with his values. The website has a tremendous amount of resources for people who are looking to learn more about the health and environmental benefits of a plant based diet.

I have recently became a vegetarian and Food Revolution along with Peter Singer's "The Ethics of What We Eat" strongly influenced my decision. Check out the related blog "My Decision to Become a Vegetarian" for details on how I became a vegetarian.

Our Food Our Future:
EarthSave has an brochure titled Our Food Our Future which is available for free download. The brochure has 16 pages of text and is pretty much a summary of Robbins' "The Food Revolution" book. For those of you who are interested in the idea of a plant based diet but don't have the time to read his entire book, this brochure is a great overview of his key topics. Here is a list of some of the topics that the brochure covers:

• You Can Make a Difference - For Your Health
• Heart Disease
• Cancer
• Obesity
• You Can Make a Difference - For The Environment
• Air and Water Pollution, and Water Depletion
• Energy Use
• Global Warming
  
• You Can Make a Difference - For World Hunger
• You Can Make a Difference - For the Animals

Environmental Impact of Food:
My main reason for becoming a vegetarian is because of the huge environmental impact that animal products has on the environment. Here are some statistics that I have pulled from the "Our Food, Our Future" brochure.

• Amount of fossil fuel energy needed to produce animal protein: 8 times that of plant protein
  
• Amount of water to produce one pound of steak: 2500
• Amount of excrement produced by farm animals in the U.S.: 130 times more than humans

What Can Be Done?

"Other than not driving a car, not eating meat is the second most important positive environmental decision that a consumer can make"
-Union of Concerned Scientists

The general population has recently become conscious about sustainability and environmentalism related to transportation. Increasingly, people are taking action in order to reduce their transportation environmental impact. Some drive hybrid cars, some buy carbon offsets, some carpool to work, some use mass transportation, some bike to work, and some just work from home. The point is that these people want to reduce their environmental impact and have changed their habits.

The same thing can happen for food and the meat/dairy industry. It does not require that every single person become vegan and completely eliminate all animal products in their diet. Any reduction in meat consumption, which is then replaced by a plant based alternative, will lead to a reduced environmental impact.

Some can eliminate beef, some can eliminate eggs, some can eat one vegetarian dish each week, some can eliminate dairy. It does not have to be an all or nothing effort, but every part helps. Hopefully someday soon people will think about eating a steak in the same way they think about filling up their gas tank.

If you are conscious about the environment and do things such as recycling, carpooling, or anything else that has a positive effect on the environment, consider a plant based diet as another way to reduce your environmental impact on our world.

The VegPledge:
For anyone who is interested in trying a plant based diet, you should check out VegPledge. It is for anyone who is willing to make a pledge to reduce their consumption of animal products whether they eat steak on a daily basis or even are lacto-ovo vegetarians. If you pledge to reduce your animal product consumption for 60 days, they will send you a "Healthy Beginnings Care Package" which is a starter pack for vegetarians. At the end of your 60 day trial, you will be given a 6 month subscription to Vegetarian Times Magazine.

Additional Links on EarthSave:

• Health Articles related to plant based diets
• Environmental Articles related to plant based diets
• Lifestyle Articles related to plant based diets
• Download Free Brochures

Recommended Books:

• The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World - John Robbins
• The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter - Peter Singer

Recommended Movies:

• The Future of Food