Each meal is a choice and there are over 100 easy ways to save water, but many of us will have to look past the easy ways if we are going to solve the water crisis. The type of food we consume and beverages we drink make a significant impact on water use. Some simple changes in what we eat and drink combined with other easy ways to change are necessary to conserve enough water for future generations to thrive.
Each Meal Is A Choice: Meat or Vegetables
The beef producers have done a great job reducing the water needed to produce a pound of beef over the past few years, but the water footprint for meat is still larger than vegetables. Also, in the U.S. where approximately 40% of the population has a prevalence of obesity more vegetables in your diet helps with health issues.
You don’t have to follow a strict vegetarian diet to contribute to water conservation. You could just commit to eating more vegetables, try a meatless Monday or skip meat for a day or two a week. Each meal is a choice. A 1% improvement each day makes you 37 times better in a year. Small ideas which create big revolutions are a concept given to Jain Irrigation by its founder. If we all do our small part, we will create a big change.
Each Meal Is A Choice: Beverages
You should be taking most of your liquid as water from the faucet if you are lucky enough to live in a place where the water is clean and pure. Not everyone wants to drink just water all the time. For those of you wanting variety in your liquids considers the following water footprints from so of the most popular drinks.
According to Recycle Nation, it takes 1000 liters of water to produce a liter of milk. It takes 45 gallons of water for a glass of orange juice, 132 gallons of water for a 2-liter bottle of soda, and 35 gallons of water to produce a cup of coffee. Wine and beer as you can imagine also have a large water footprint. Once again we are not advocating only drinking tap water. There are many choices to make so just make an informed one.
Each Meal Is A Choice: Vegetarian or Vegan
Both vegan and vegetarian diets have become popular, but they are different in a few ways. According to the vegetarian society, a vegetarian is someone who does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish, or by-products of animal slaughter. A Vegan diet takes vegetarian diets to the next level. Vegans exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty as much as possible. So vegans exclude animals plus eggs and dairy plus any animal-derived ingredients.
What you eat and drink is your choice. Nobody is trying to make that choice for you. What you consume does have an impact on others, and when examining the options, it is essential to consider the substantial implications. The choice is yours.
