Want to stop global warming? Eat more tofu.

Pop quiz:

Which of these activities helps more in the fight against global climate change:

A. taking public transportation to work every day.

B. Eating a vegan diet.

The answer is B, by a wide margin. This report is a real eye-opener. Check out this line from the summary:

Human consumption of meat and dairy products is a major driver of climate change. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their production are estimated to account for over 14.5 per cent of the global total. This is more than the emissions produced from powering all the world’s road vehicles, trains, ships and aeroplanes combined.1 

I’m not a vegan (for the record, I’m lacto-ovo, with shades of pescatarian), so I won’t preach too much. But it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. Just having one meatless day per week could help immensely. Check out these stats (Source):

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
•  70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
•  3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
• 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

• Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
• 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
• 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
• Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

So just for a day, skip the sirloin and have more salad. It’s better for the planet – and that’s no animal excrement.