Saving the environment is a very important topic for me. There are easy ways to take steps to help save the earth that I think people are unaware or skeptical of. Eating plant-based foods and eliminating red meat are easy steps to take that hold so many benefits for your body and the planet. For this explainer video, I will be titling the project “How Eating Plant-Based Will Save Our Planet.” Similarly to the benefits of coffee video, I will be taking a simple, but aesthetically pleasing approach to the content. I want things to connect easily to viewers, so I will be doing an animation & have a script to go along with it. Also, I will be breaking down the reasons in the videos to four categories: Water, Deforestation, Green House Gasses, and Food Waste. I think summarizing a very complicated issue into to four categories will help others realize the large impact meat agriculture has on our environment. I also am going to be using cute graphics of animals and plants to push the point across even further. Overall, I want the video topic to be as well received as possible, so making some sweeping points may also be necessary.
OUTLINE
Eating a plant based diet is not only good for your health, but also the environment
“Shifting away from animal-based foods [could not only] add up to 49% to the global food supply without expanding croplands;” but would also significantly reduce carbon emissions and waste byproducts that end up in our oceans and as seafood byproducts (Jalava et al, 2014).”
Here is why eating plant based will most likely be our future
pound of beef requires anywhere between 2000 and 8,000 gallons of water to produce, according to studies conducted by UC Davis. Much of this water is used in creating the feed for the cows, whether it is grass or grain (Beckett & Oltjen, 1993).
Conversely, 1 pound of Tofu requires 302 gallons of water to produce, and it requires 290 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of unprocessed oats.
If we all eliminated meat and milk from our diets and went to plant sources of these foods, we would be saving at least 50% of our water use.
We're also wasting too much food. The panel estimates that greenhouse emissions associated with food loss and waste - from field to kitchen bin - is as high as 8-10% of ALL global emissions.
Eliminates a large source of greenhouse gas emissions
But food production also contributes to global warming. Agriculture - together with forestry - accounts for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock rearing contributes to global warming through the methane gas the animals produce, but also via deforestation to expand pastures, for example.
These are major pieces of information that I would like to get out there.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49238749
https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/food-systems/the-case-for-plant-based/