Plant-
rich
nutrition
"A vegan diet is probably the biggest lever to reduce your own ecological footprint. It's much more beneficial than buying an electric car or flying less."
Joseph Poore (University of Oxford)
With more than 18%, the animal industry causes more emissions than global traffic - more detailed calculations assume an even higher proportion (up to 51%). If everyone in Germany did not eat meat for just one day a week, we would collectively save more greenhouse gases than if we took 6 million cars off the road!
greenhouse gas emissions
in kg CO2 equivalent per kg food
Source:klimateller.debased on theData from the Federal Environment Agency
What we eat is crucial to the level of emissions from our food - in particular, whether it is of plant or animal origin makes a huge difference
(the figures are based on the figures from the CO2 calculator of the Federal Environment Agency*):
Omnivore diet high in meat: 1,950kg CO2 equivalents
Flexitarians: 1,480kgCO2 equivalents
Vegetarians: 1,160kgCO2 equivalents
Vegans: 940kg CO2 equivalents
In the course of a lifetime, everyone in Germany eats an average of 4 cattle, 46 pigs and 945 chickens; there are also countless other fish, rabbits, turkeys or geese. If we reduce this number, we can save an enormous amount of climate emissions - and save sentient beings great suffering.
But how come the big differences in the percentages above? Some only consider the direct consequences, while others also consider the indirect consequences. The background is summarized below.
Do you want to get active yourself?
Join theChallenge "14 days vegan"and exchange ideas with other challenge participants in your group. Gradually replace a few animal products in your everyday life. Below you will find the background information on Haller restaurants that offer vegan dishes, as well as links to great recipe blogs that will sweeten the transition for you :). Exchange inForum under "vegan diet"dating others Visit (regardless of your diet!) as soon as possible again, theOpen vegan join-in brunchfrom Schwäbisch Hall Vegan and exchange ideas with others there - children are also welcome! Would you like more vegan offers in Hall? Then always ask about the vegan offer, whether in the restaurant or in the bakery. The demand determines the supply :)!
What can I do?
Some people feel the need to completely change their diet when they find out the background. you belong Great! But that's certainly not the case for most people. The important thing is: every meal counts! Every single meal that replaces animal products with plant-based ones is good for the climate - and for you!
The largest association of nutritionists worldwide, the ADA, not only confirms in its position paper that a varied vegan diet provides everything the body needs. Many diseases of affluence such as obesity, heart attack, stroke, type II diabetes mellitus, gout and even colon cancer could even be significantly reduced through a vegetarian or vegan diet. But even one day a week with lots of vegetables, plus maybe whole grain products or legumes, instead of meat and fish, would be a big plus for your own health! Even the conservative DGE recommends no more than 2 servings of meat per week for health reasons.
It's best to start with a point. Here are some phased transition ideas that can be done in any order and in any number:
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Try on the varietyPlant drink varieties and find your favorites, with which you can easily replace cow's milk in the future.
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Try,replace non-visible animal products- so not your breakfast egg at the weekend, but eggs in pasta, muffins, cakes and co. You're wondering how cake without eggs should work? Try it a few times and you'll wonder what you used to use eggs in cake for ;). With the help of the recipes in the blogs linked below, you are sure to quickly find new favorite cakes.
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question inForum, like youVeganize your favorite recipescan. For example, have you ever tried tofu bolognese or chili con tofu? For minced meat, simply crumble tofu, fry in a cast-iron (or non-stick) pan until crispy (use enough oil - there would always be more fat in the mince!), then season generously and continue as usual.
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plan oneveggie daya week - whether without meat or completely without animal products, you decide! Maybe it tastes so good to you that after a while you start cooking vegetarian or vegan more often?
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Check it out next time you shopvegetable spreads- even in every supermarket and discounter you will find a whole range of them, which is far exceeded by the selection in health food stores and health food stores! Find your favorite spreads and make them an integral part of many bread meals.
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Reduce the amount of meat per dishand stop buying factory farmed meat. Instead (if you want to continue eating meat) buy less high-quality meat from regional production (but keep in mind that this also causes many times the climate emissions compared to plant-based products).
You will see: although you leave out food, you will ultimately discover a whole new variety of foods and preparation methods and gain a lot of new things for yourself :)
The backgrounds
Are you more of a visual type? Here you will find a small, informative animation of the mirror (less than five minutes) on the background. In the end, the only question that remains is:or do you prefer plant-based?
Source:"Eat what?! Animals, meat & I"- Heinrich Böll Foundation (free & recommended)
The most important climate hazards of industrial animal husbandry
land use
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In Germany alone, 53 million pigs are used every year to end up on our plates. Although these animals themselves have to live in a very small space, an enormous amount of space is required just for their feed, for which we in Germany do not have nearly enough space, although 60% of the agricultural area in Germany is already required for animal feed. The "solution" are soy imports from South America, without which factory farming in Germany would not be possible.*
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About 37% of the total surface of the earth - that is more than 90% of all agricultural land - is used for pasture and for the cultivation of fodder. For this, natural landscapes such as forests and moors have been and are being destroyed. As so-called carbon sinks, these could filter and bind greenhouse gases from the air. Deforestation and drainage, on the other hand, actually release bound greenhouse gases again.
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About seven football fields are bulldozed every minute to make room for farmed animals - about 70% of the Amazon rainforest has already been cleared for this purpose. This soy is animal feed - organic tofu, soy pudding, ... must not come from former rainforest areas.
digestion
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The animals bred for human consumption in the USA alone produce 130 times more excrement than the entire world population: 39,000 kg per second(!). Apart from the fact that Germany is much smaller than the USA, the situation here is quite comparable.
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These excrements are not only increasingly leading to immense pollution of our soil and water, but are also very relevant to the climate: methane gas, for example, is according to the climate council72-86 timesas harmful to the climate as CO2. Even if we take as a basis the previously applicable assumption that it is only 21 times as harmful, a cow emits around 6900 CO2 equivalents per day - this corresponds to driving a car more than 50 km/day or almost 20,000 km/day. year (calculation according to WWF).
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2018 were in Germany39.4%of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed solely to the digestion of the animals used.
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The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) currently estimates that the production of one kilogram of beef up to28 kilogramsgreenhouse gases, while for fruit and vegetables it is less than a kilogram.
Fertilization & area
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The more fodder is grown, the more fertilizer is used. However, many fertilizers contain nitrogen, which turns into nitrous oxide (N2O) in the soil. Laughing gas is round300 timesmore harmful to the climate than CO2. In addition to nitrous oxide, fertilization with animal manure also releases methane.
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It is important to remember that in order to "produce" just 1kg of meat, up to 15kg of grain or soya are required as feed - the cultivation of which also costs energy.
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With a purely plant-based diet80%of the areas used today - and could even be used as additional carbon sinks (which is not included in the calculations of the advantages of a vegan diet)
production chains
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The "manufacturing" and storage of animal products ismore complex than that of plant foods and includes other greenhouse gas sources such as energy and transport. Before meat, dairy products and eggs end up on the table, e.g. For example, tons of feed and millions of animals have been transported and umpteen stables, farms and cold stores have been supplied with energy.
As bad as an oil company
Collectively, the five largest meat and dairy companies are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions per year than any of the oil companies Exxon-Mobil, Shell or BP - or even than Australia, the United Kingdom or France. To this conclusion comes a commonstudy by the independent Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the environmental organization Grain in 2018.
if e.g. According to the scientists, if less meat and dairy products were produced and consumed in the EU, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, this would have “dramatic” effects on global greenhouse gas emissions.
The aim is to limit global warming to 2°C or even better 1.5°Cnot reachablewithout at least reducing global meat consumption. These are the results of researchers from Oxford, e.g. B.Dr. Marco Springmann, in several studies.
Sources:www.albert-schweitzer-foundation.de, *change.org, supplemented by points fromwww.sha-vegan.de
Are you interested in further arguments for a vegan diet? Also in relation toAnimalsor your ownhealththere are some - find out morewww.albert-schweitzer-stiftung.de,www.proveg.deorwww.sha-vegan.de.
find vegan products easier
Vegan logos
These logos, which can now be found on many products, inform you at a glance that the product in question is vegan.
ThatReformhaus Mohringand theDrugstore "dm"have marked all vegan products with a green dot on the shelf - this makes shopping easy, no need to read the ingredients :)
With theCode Check App you can easily check in the supermarket whether a product on the shelf is vegan.
Blogs that are guaranteed to sweeten your transition
Probably one of the best-known vegan German blogs - award-winning, with ingenious recipes
Christof attaches great importance to a simple list of ingredients and minimalist preparation. He only publishes dishes that he has cooked several times over months or years. The recipes are therefore wonderful for everyday use when there is not much time for elaborate cooking. Christof also deals with minimalism and sustainability - a highly recommended blog!
In Stina Spiegelberg's well-known blog there are recipes for all times of the day and from sweet to savory
Vegan recipes without any white sugar, white flour, substitute products & Co (many gluten-free)
Isa and Julia from Berlin love to prepare classic vegan dishes. Here you will find hearty and sweet dishes from home cooking to cheese alternatives and finger food to pancakes, waffles, cakes and desserts
justinekeptcalmandwentvegan.com
quick healthy vegan bowls & more (many gluten-free)
Here you will find a large selection of vegan basics such as pizza or pasta dough, spreads, gravy, hummus or porridge, as well as delicious main courses, sophisticated desserts and delicious cakes - all beautifully photographed and very well described.
Also on the sidevegan-taste-week.deyou will find many delicious recipes
Eat vegan in Hall
in theIndianForum Vegan dishes are specially marked.
At theHotel Hohenlohe there is now a great vegan offer - everything in a glass to take away.
atDebi's(Sports restaurant at the school center west) it is possible to have the Indian dishes prepared without cream - or with soy or oat cream you have brought with you :).
in theVietnamese restaurantin the Gelbinger Gasse there are Asian dishes with vegetables and/or tofu.
in thePosthornle there are turkish vegan dishes.
That tooAsian restaurantin the Gelbinger Gasse offers a small selection of vegan dishes.
For on the go there is:
at theBig Russela vegan burger,
at theKretzschmar sandwich.
Do you have any more tips? Write to us about thatcontact form:) - Thanks!
Interested in more?
Would you like to know how much it does for the climate if you prepare your Bolognese with crispy tofu instead of minced meat? Or how many CO2 equivalents are caused by your favorite food? With the calculator onKlimatarier.comyou can drag many different ingredients onto a plate, exchange them for others and adjust the quantities and see at a glance how the changes affect the CO2 equivalents caused.
Are you looking for people in Hall who are also trying to eat vegan (more often)? Check the calendar and upwww.sha-vegan.deaccording to current events on site :).
You even want to do more than just feed yourself vegan? write onenewsto the members of "Schwäbisch Hall Vegan" - those who are interested are welcome :).
Are you looking for restaurants with vegan options in your area/ on holiday/ ...? onwww.vanilla-bean.com you will surely find something :).
Would you also like to eat (mainly) vegan in the long term? This brings many health benefits - you should only consider one thing: an adequate supply of B12. You can find out how easy it is and why it's not unnaturalhereread.
Are you interested in extensive information about vegan, healthy nutrition? In"Vegan cliché goodbye! Scientific answers to critical questions about vegan nutrition"by Niko Rittenau you will find them.
*Source:#climatesavingby Rainer Grießhammer (Lambertus Verlag)
