According to a 2019 study by Oxford researcher Joseph Poore, changing your diet by cutting down on meat and dairy is the single biggest way we can reduce our impact on the planet, because it addresses land use, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss. Whereas flying or driving less just cuts your CO2 emissions.
Eating Meat is Killing the Planet
Food production emits about a quarter to one-third of the world’s greenhouse gases, and when combined with its contributions to poor health and ecological damage, inflicts about US$12 trillion of damage to the world economy from biodiversity loss and CO2 emissions.
Livestock is responsible for almost 60% of all emissions from food production and takes up 80% of agricultural land, is 80% responsible for deforestation in the Amazon, while only providing us with 20% of our calories.
The Food and Agricultural Organization identifies animal agriculture as a leading cause of water pollution, dead zones in the ocean and the death of coral reefs. And 75% of antibiotics are used on livestock, which is leading to antibiotic resistance, making it harder to treat diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and salmonella, which are already showing increased levels of resistance.
You Don’t Have to Go Vegan
There are also a lot of fad diets like Keto, Paleo and Carnivore that advocate eating a lot of meat as a strategy for health and weight loss. However, they are not sustainable for the planet, and while they may help you lose weight in the short-term, they are not good for your long-term health.
However, members of the Blue Zones, the healthiest, longest-lived people on the planet, eat an average of just 2 oz (50 grammes) of meat five times per month, while the average American eats 67 oz (1,899 grammes) per week. This means that the average American could cut their meat consumption by 97% and would be healthier for it.
What You Should Eat
So, if you don’t want to eliminate meat and dairy from your diet, you can try cutting back to just one to three times per week instead of every day. You should also opt for lower emission meats like chicken, which produce about one-tenth the CO2 per kilogram as beef does.
If you like seafood, eating bivalve mollusks like mussels, clams, oysters and scallops fight climate change, clean the water and provide a habitat for fish to spawn. They are also nutrient dense and provide Omega 3s, zinc, iron and magnesium.
Eating organic is also important because pesticides on fruits and vegetables from Thailand often exceed the maximum residual level recommended by the European Union. Not only can this be bad for your health, but it is also bad for the environment, as excessive pesticide use destroys the biodiversity needed for a healthy ecosystem.
Farm To Truck
However, ever since the Phuket Farmers Club closed, it has been difficult to find places that sell organic food on our island. Introducing Farm to Truck which was founded by British expat Roy Tirthankar and his Thai wife Chotipa Wasantasiri in 2020 in Chiang Mai.
They started by delivering vegetables grown in their backyard to the local community. But now they deliver countrywide, selling a wide variety of mostly organic fruits and vegetables and artisanal products delivered in biodegradable or reusable packaging. The goods are now grown by a network of Thai organic farmers and producers.
Although you have to pay a shipping fee to have the groceries delivered to Phuket, their lower prices and the convenience of getting them brought to your door offset this. You might be concerned that the food producers aren’t local, but most of the fruits and vegetables that you purchase from night markets or the grocery stores around Phuket, the food has come from Northern Thailand or even overseas.
Buying Locally
Another sustainable farming operation that was set up locally in 2023, by German-Taiwanese expat Thomas Kraus and his Thai wife Zai is called Koh Yao Noi Farming. Located some 20 kilometres by boat from Phuket on the island of Koh Yao Noi, their mission is to build a business that empowers local farmers to grow food that creates healthier ecosystems and improves the well-being of their customers.
The operation has 200 chickens that roam 3.5 rai of land for at least six hours per day, rather than being stuffed in a cage. This allows them to hunt and forage for their favourite foods like insects and seeds or eat the black soldier flies that are grown for them from food scraps. This produces happier, healthier chickens that also lay better tasting organic eggs with a thicker, richer yolk. All while creating a zero-waste farm that has a lower carbon footprint than those that feed their chickens soybeans.
The operation also grows four types of organic rice. Although you can’t buy their products directly from Koh Yao Noi Farming, you can purchase their eggs and rice at the Panama Market (Cherng Talay), Crust (Phuket town) and Leikki Café (Rawai). Several restaurants also use their products, including Bella Fresca (Chalong) Tusky (Phuket town) and Laan sabai (Rawai).
In the future, they plan on expanding their range to include fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Event for Sustainable Agriculture
If you are interested in learning more about sustainable agriculture, KYN Eco Entrepreneurs are holding a three-day workshop on Koh Yao Noi from December 22-24. The cost to attend is B500.
Palmer Owyoung is the author of ‘Solving the Climate Crisis: A Community Guide to Solving the Biggest Problem On the Planet.’ You can download the first three chapters from his blog PalmerOwyoung.me