Abigail Urbina

I was raised in a household that emphasizes the value and privilege of being able to put food on the table everyday. Before coming to college, when I still lived at my parents’ house, we would always hold hands and pray together before eating dinner. We acknowledge food as a grace and a blessing because we are aware that many families struggle to put healthy meals on the dinner table every night. My parents grew up in the Philippines, where many families are poverty-stricken and have trouble providing their children nutritious, sustainable meals everyday. Given their experiences in the Philippines, I have been taught by my parents growing up to avoid wasting food. Whether that meant finishing the food on my plate or storing it away in the refrigerator for later consumption, I always tried to avoid throwing my leftovers in the trash. I acknowledge, however, that refrigerators may not be widely available in underdeveloped countries. Whenever I go to restaurants, I usually try to share an entree with my sister when I know that the servings will be too large for me to finish in one sitting. Not only does this save us some money, but it also prevents us from having wasted leftovers. 

Now that I live in my college apartment in Westwood, most of my meals are not served “family style” like they are when I am at my parents’ house. That is, I am usually the only one that eats the meals I cook. Because of this, it can be difficult to estimate how much I should cook everyday. I never know if I am preparing too little or too much food. If I have excess leftovers from a meal, I sometimes offer them to my roommates, but they are not always willing to eat them. For this reason, it is a lot easier for more of my individually-prepared food to go to waste. Generating food waste produces more detrimental effects to the environment than I had previously realized, as Project Drawdown emphasizes that “[p]roducing uneaten foods squanders a whole host of resources – seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital – and generates greenhouse gases at every stage.” Transportation and industrial manufacturing are not the only sectors that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, as Project Drawdown also cites that the “food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions.” I can easily cancel out my sustainable transportation efforts by wasting food! 

I typically eat my meals at my desk so that I can work on my computer at the same time as eating. It can be difficult dividing my attention equally between food and work. Sometimes, I get preoccupied and stressed out with my homework that I forget about the food that is sitting right in front of me. The stress I face with schoolwork often makes me lose my appetite, and I generally end up throwing my food away instead of saving it. Other times, the distraction of my computer will make me eat too much without realizing that I am already satisfied with the amount of food I ate. Whenever I am not doing homework while eating, I am typically scrolling through Instagram or Facebook on my phone instead. I am going to try to put both my phone and my laptop away as much as I can whenever I eat because according to feedyourpotential365, a study found that “a distracted eater ate more not only during the distracted meal, but also had a greater intake later in the day.” I have noticed that I tend to do a lot of “midnight snacking,” so I am hoping that eating more mindfully will help to curb my late-night hunger. I am also going to try to avoid eating meals at my desk because I find that just sitting at my desk alone makes me feel more anxious. I typically associate my desk with sentiments of stress, anxiety, and tiredness related to school, so I do not want these negative thoughts to prevent me from enjoying a delicious meal that I worked hard to prepare. 

Furthermore, I am trying to be more conscious about my weight and my dietary choices because I have gained a few pounds staying in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the past year. According to Harvard University, “[m]ultitasking...and distracted or hurried eating can prompt you to eat more.” After reading this, it made me realize that perhaps this is why a lot of college students experience the “freshman fifteen” (i.e., gain about 15 pounds during their freshman year). Maybe the stresses of balancing school, work, food, and extracurriculars cause us college students to eat distractedly.I have noticed that whenever I practice mindfulness while eating, I feel less anxious and can take more time to reap the benefits of the efforts I put into cooking. Whenever I spend a decent amount of time (usually about an hour or more) preparing a particular meal, I feel much less inclined to throw away my leftovers. Why would I want to let all my labor and love go to waste? More importantly, why would I want all the carbon emissions released in order to produce my meal be released for nothing? Whenever I eat mindfully, I do less snacking and feel more satisfied throughout the day. On a more personal level, To help me avoid the issues of producing too little or too much food, I am going to try “meal prepping” on weekends so that I have several meals already prepared for me to eat throughout the week. I love to bake lots of cauliflower and asparagus to be included in several of my meals each week. Luckily, I have plenty of glass tupperware in my kitchen!

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I love seafood, but given the many allergies that I have, I am only able to eat certain types of seafood. For instance, I avoid eating codfish because I have had several allergic reactions to that type of fish in the past. I especially love shellfish, and my family and I love to purchase shrimp, crab, and mussels from The Boiling Crab. If I am going to be honest, I have never thought to question where my seafood comes from whenever I order it from restaurants or purchase it from the grocery store. After taking the time to explore the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch website, I learned a lot about the different types of seafood species from various regions that I should refrain from purchasing. The website categorizes their purchasing recommendations under four groups: “best choice,” “certified,” “good alternative,” and “avoid.” These ratings were formulated by evaluating how well the species is managed and whether their farming/harvesting methods cause harm to the marine habitats from which they are extracted. According to the website, it says that blue crab from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland is the “best choice,” and they recommend that we buy this first because “they’re well managed and caught or farmed in ways that cause little harm to habitats or other wildlife.” The next best crab option is blue crab from the Western Central Atlantic Ocean. To be honest, I felt somewhat relieved after reading this because whenever my parents purchase crab to cook at home, we always purchase blue crab. We don’t ever purchase rock crab, dungeness crab, or other types of crab from the grocery store. However, I’ve never taken the time to see where these crabs come from before we purchase them from the grocery store, so I don’t actually know if we’re buying the most sustainable kinds of crab. I was a bit alarmed to know that I should avoid purchasing Atlantic rock crab, as the website indicates that “they’re overfished, or caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.” Ultimately, the website suggests that if we want to buy blue crab, it should come from “Alabama, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay waters.” I don’t eat shrimp, crab, or mussels as often as I eat poultry, so I would like to believe that I fall within their consumption guidelines. However, in order for me to ensure that I comply with their suggestions to support seafood sustainability, I am going to now take advantage of what the website describes as “end-to-end traceability.” Nonetheless, there are still many difficulties that consumers face when trying to determine where their seafood is sourced from. According to Monterey Bay Aquarium, in the processing stages after harvesting, “[o]nce mixed, the sustainably raised fish are indistinguishable from fish raised in environmentally poor ways.” It’s somewhat common for seafood from different regions to get mixed up, which makes it difficult for consumers to discern which seafood was ethically sourced and which was not. However, I feel very optimistic with the advances in technology that will enable us to “scan a product package with [our smartphones] and learn how and where [our] seafood was harvested.” At Whole Foods, I’ve noticed that if you buy some frozen seafood, the package will have a small label which indicates whether it was responsibly farmed (see the small blue circle on the right side of the package in the picture). According to the packaging of these Atlantic salmon fillets from Whole Foods, the store requires minimal environmental damage from harvesting, traceability (from the time of harvest to delivery to the store), and third-party audits in order to qualify as “responsibly farmed.” From here on out, whenever I purchase frozen seafood from Whole Foods or other grocery stores, I will try to look for some type of official indication of sustainability on the packaging. If I get fresh seafood from the deli, I will be sure to ask the butcher if they know where the products came from. 

Source: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-basics/sustainable-solutions/improve-traceability 

For the past 3 quarters, my roommates and I have been participating in the CSA box program as well as the compost program of the Westwood Food Cooperative (WWFC). Students that are living in the Westwood area can sign up to receive an assortment of produce that is sourced from local Los Angeles farmers. A box of produce costs about $10, which I think is a great deal for the amount of items we typically get. In the past, our CSA boxes have included kale, chard, carrots, and other fresh vegetables. I signed up for another CSA produce box to be delivered to my Westwood apartment next week. As a result of my ongoing research, I knew that eating more plant-based foods was better for the environment, but I did not truly realize that where our produce is sourced from is also extremely important. In other words, eating plant-based is good, but eating locally-sourced produce is better. According to Molly Watson of The Spruce Eats, “[l]ocal foods usually have less environmental impact” because when food is shipped or transported long distances, a huge carbon footprint is left behind by the vehicles which transport them. Furthermore, Watson emphasizes that by “buying foods grown and raised close to where you live, you help maintain farmland and green space in your area.” More green space means more land sinks to absorb carbon dioxide! You are also supporting your local economy and infrastructure by spending your money on locally-sourced produce. Instead of supporting a large corporation in a completely different area from where you live, you can help financially maintain various local businesses. My roommates and I also purchased a “compost buddy” for $4 from the Westwood Food Cooperative that we place in our kitchen. We place our produce scraps there, but as per the advice of WWFC, we do not put any dairy or meat products in the bin. They urge us to fill these bins in a “vegan” manner! Overall, according to Project Drawdown, favoring a plant-based diet “reduce[s] land clearing, fertilizer use, burping cattle, and greenhouse gas emissions.” Our “compost buddy” is a reusable bin, so we go every week to the WWFC headquarters on Roebling Avenue in Westwood (either on Wednesdays or Saturdays) to empty our compost bins of the food waste for later reuse. If you visit their website, you will see that they say “our compost is processed [at their headquarters] and then returned to the local farmers who [they] source their CSA from.” Although I try my best to minimize the amount of food waste I generate, keeping this “compost buddy” in our kitchen is a great way of holding ourselves accountable. That way, if we ever do happen to have food waste, we know that the nutrients can be returned to the earth. I have also started to grow my own dill and cilantro on the balcony of my apartment. Now, I don’t have to purchase these ingredients from the market! I want to continue supporting local food systems because it reduces carbon emissions, the produce tastes fresher, I can build new relationships with the farmers/food cooperative volunteers, and I am financially supporting my local infrastructure.

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Throughout my four years living in Westwood, I have never had my car with me. My car would always stay at my parents’ house. I would often complain because I thought having a car would make my life so much more convenient – especially if I wanted to drive to a grocery store, a restaurant, or a mall. In retrospect, however, not bringing a car with me to Westwood was great because it prevented me from driving any unnecessary short-distance trips to the store. For the most part, my parents and I share all of our cars. The lease on my car is about to end next month, so my parents and I have to decide whether we want to keep this car or whether we would want to invest in a new car. I am more inclined to switch over to an electric car because according to Project Drawdown, “[c]ompared to gasoline-powered vehicles, emissions drop by 50 percent if an [electric vehicle’s] power comes off the conventional grid.” In fact, they can drop by an even greater extent of 95 percent “if powered by solar energy.” I know several electric vehicle owners, and one common complaint that I have heard from almost all of them is that you are not able to drive very far without needing to recharge your electric vehicle. Given that gasoline-powered engines still seem to dominate the automobile industry, electric vehicle charging stations are not as common throughout cities. As such, finding a charging station is substantially more difficult than finding a local gas station to fuel your car. Project Drawdown notes that on a single charge, electric vehicles can generally travel “a range of 80 to 90 miles, long enough for most daily travel.” Although the widespread prevalence of gas stations is convenient, I have noticed that I have to refill my gas tank very frequently. I probably need to go to the gas station once a week, which tells me that my car is not very fuel-efficient. On top of that, every full gas tank refill costs me around $50, which certainly adds up if I am going to the gas station weekly. The relative cheapness of electricity compared to gasoline makes electric vehicles seem like a much more attractive option to me. I believe that the money I would save from not purchasing gasoline every week very well compensates for the “downfall” of electric cars not having a large traveling mileage range. The financial advantages of an electric car are huge motivators for me to trade in my current car after its lease is over. To be quite honest, I don’t personally like to drive very long distances to begin with, as I have extensive lower back pain that becomes aggravated when I sit for very long periods of time. I have never found myself needing to drive long distances in the past, so I don’t anticipate that my habits would change if I were to purchase an electric vehicle in the near future. Even if I were to go on a road trip, I would try my best to plan around the limited availability of charging stations. Perhaps I would only lodge in cities with lots of charging stations. In the worst case scenario, I could rent a conventional car for this single trip just to avoid any hassles with recharging my electric car. Energy Sage outlined many of the advantages of electric cars, and I am a huge fan of the fact that electric vehicles are versatile in the sense that they can be fueled “from renewable sources, such as wind, hydropower, and solar [power].” This would mean that I would not have to be completely reliant on gasoline and oil companies to fuel my transportation methods. After doing further reading on Energy Sage, I think it would definitely be a worthwhile investment to purchase solar panels in my future home as an adult so that I “produce [my] own free electricity” to charge my electric vehicle. Not only would I eliminate trips to gasoline stations, but I would also save money by installing solar panels because my electricity bills would not skyrocket as much. My boyfriend has a hybrid vehicle right now, and while he is able to travel longer distances with the gasoline-powered component of his engine, I think I would rather commit to a more “complete” transition to fully electric cars (as opposed to an “in-between” transition to hybrids). If I could stop fueling my cars with gasoline entirely, why would I not want to be able to do so as soon as possible? According to fueleconomy.gov, the engines of electric vehicles are quieter and have stronger acceleration capabilities. I also don’t really mind waiting a few hours for an electric car to charge. It would probably be something to get used to, but I think that change is very minor and something I could learn to adapt to. I had cousins visiting from out-of-town, and we decided to go take a look at the Tesla showroom and dealership near my parents’ house. I plan to visit different Tesla and Audi dealerships to explore what my options are. I am going to be discussing these pros and cons with my parents so that we can make an informed decision before deciding what to do when my car’s lease ends. A Tesla Model 3 is around the same price, if not cheaper, than the car I own right now. As such, I don't think we will be spending much more money than we already are. I'm excited to hopefully get a new electric car soon!

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Throughout my education, I have realized that there is a broad disconnect between social rights, gender equity, and environmental issues. It is easy to forget that our global population is growing at a relatively fast rate. I have learned in previous ecology courses that scientists believe we are well beyond our planet’s carrying capacity (measured in terms of the natural resources that are available). If we are able to financially support programs for sexual education and family planning, more women across the globe will be able to make informed decisions and have control over whether they want children in the first place. Even more so, they can have control over how many children they want to have. According to Project Drawdown, “[w]omen with more years of education have fewer and healthier children.” Having a smaller human population would inevitably lead to a smaller anthropogenic contribution to carbon emissions. In a 2018 TedTalk, Katharine Wilkinson cites Project Drawdown and reiterates that “one billion fewer people could mean we avoid nearly 120 billion tons of [greenhouse gas] emissions.” This is primarily because a smaller population would “dramatically reduce demand for food, transportation, electricity, [and] buildings.” Beyond disseminating information about reproductive health, educational programs for women provide a foundation upon which women can take more informed, effective actions to preserve our natural resources. Katharine Wilkinson also argues that if we provide more resources to women, who happen to be the primary farmers of the world, we can be more efficient with our food production output. This could potentially mean that we can avoid more deforestation, a large contributor to carbon emissions, if women farmers are able to produce more food with a certain amount of land. At the end of the day, I am a firm believer that women are entitled to the right to decide what they do with their own bodies. As such, they should be able to exercise the right to carry a pregnancy if they WANT to. A lack of reproductive education and/or a lack of access to resources often leads to unintended pregnancies. Drastic increases in population sizes can put a massive strain on resource availability. As such, there are many beneficial environmental effects that are indirect byproducts of increasing family planning resources. Project Drawdown emphasizes that “225 million women in lower-income countries say they want the ability to choose whether and when to become pregnant but lack the necessary access to contraception.” We should not deny women the right to learn more about how they can take control over their bodies, how they can develop the resilience to cope with ongoing climate struggles, how they can efficiently optimize their resources. Although it may not be obvious to many, we cannot perceive gender inequity as an issue that is isolated from the climate crisis. As common as unintended pregnancies may be throughout the world, this does not undermine the notion that women should exercise the ability to choose if and when they want to have children. Pregnancies take a physical, emotional, and financial toll on women, so all women deserve to have the knowledge on how to navigate these issues. Ultimately, I feel very grateful and privileged to have received an education on these matters growing up, so I decided to donate some money to help support these programs for women who may not have had the same resources I had growing up. Gender inequity is a pervading issue that impacts almost every sector, including the medical sector, so I will continue to do more research on ways to support women empowerment educational programs. I have a friend who is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology at Harvard, and she has done extensive research as an undergraduate on family planning profiles in Armenia. I will reach out to her to see if she can educate me more on the relationship between family planning and the climate crisis. Because we are reaching a point where most of our environmental damage is irreversible, it is important that we try to adapt our forms of contraception to become more sustainable. For instance, I wonder if different companies can manufacture condoms that are less likely to pollute landfills and oceans. It is critical that every “innovation” or piece of technology we develop moving forward is sustainable for our environment. 

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Donation link: https://www.friendsofunfpa.org/how-to-help/ 

In the past, especially during pre-COVID times, I would often not care to bring my own cups or bags to coffee shops and grocery stores. In fact, I previously thought getting plastic bags from the grocery stores was great because I could then reuse those plastic shopping bags as my trash bags in the bathroom or kitchen. However, I’ve come to realize that the convenience of having plastic trash bags comes at a high cost to the environment. Now, I always bring reusable grocery bags with me to the store. According to Project Drawdown, the “roughly 310 million tons of plastic each year…[are] made from fossil fuels.” If we were to transition from using petro-plastics to using bio-based plastics, this would greatly reduce the amount of carbon emissions we generate. Although I was aware that single-use plastics generate lots of waste, I never truly realized the magnitude of waste that is left un-reused. I was quite disheartened after learning from the Green Education Foundation that “of the 30 million tons of plastic waste generated in the US in 2009, only 7 percent was recovered for recycling.” However, I was somewhat proud of myself after reading their list of tips to reduce plastic waste and realizing that my roommates and I had already been practicing some of these habits. For instance, in my Westwood college apartment, we have invested in purchasing many metal reusable straws. If we happen to order any to-go beverages from restaurants or shops, we never ask for plastic straws because we always bring metal straws with us. I am personally a huge coffee lover, so I always enjoy supporting local coffee shops and purchasing drinks from them. Instead of having my iced coffee packed in a disposable plastic container, I bring my reusable coffee tumbler that I purchased from Starbucks. Within the past year, there have been many sanitation concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic that forced restaurants to stop allowing people to bring their own cups, but I believe some places are gradually allowing customers to bring their own containers. Either way, I always like to bring it with me just incase they are willing to package my drink there instead! According to Kirsten Kaminski from The Tasty K, a plastic bottle from which we drink “will most likely still be on this planet when your grand grand grand child is born.” I knew that plastic lingers for a very long time, but this was a great example to quantify just how long it remains. The hundreds, if not thousands, of years it would take for the plastic to decompose is too slow to keep up with the rapid progression of climate change. My roommates and I all own reusable water bottles which we bring everywhere with us. We use a Brita to fill up our Hydro Flasks before we leave the apartment, so we ultimately minimize the money we spend on bottled water, and we refrain from drinking from plastic water bottles as much as possible. In our kitchen, we also have lots of glass tupperware that we use to store any of our food leftovers. We do own some plastic tupperware because they seem to be somewhat cheaper than the glass counterparts, but I personally prefer using the glass ones because I feel like my food is less likely to be contaminated from plastic-related chemicals. I attended a climate action event on plastic waste and learned that we consume, on average, a credit card’s worth of plastic each week. Ever since I learned that, I’ve refrained from packing any of my food leftovers in plastic containers and have instead used glass containers. However, I now wonder what I should do with all the plastic tupperware I own. Can the plastic from these containers be repurposed to manufacture more sustainable products? Although these products are not disposable, single-use items, I do not want to be contributing to more plastic waste! One thing I love about having reusable cups, straws, and containers is that it takes a lot more time to fill up the trash bins in our apartment. Instead of filling up our trash bins with these items, they go directly into our sink so that they can be washed and later reused. It makes life easier on us because we don’t have to take our trash out as often! Sometimes, it can be a hassle to take the trash out because we live in an apartment complex and have to walk relatively far to empty our bins into the designated city bins. Now, I hope to eliminate my use of Ziploc plastic bags, and my roommates and I would like to invest in purchasing more silicone Stasher bags for our foods.

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I invited my boyfriend to calculate the carbon footprint for his household using the Tradewater carbon footprint calculator linked from Project Drawdown. His household’s carbon footprint of 4.2 tons of carbon emissions per month slightly exceeds 4 monthly tons of carbon emissions, which Tradewater acknowledges as “[t]he average monthly footprint of a US household.” Since he graduated from college last year, he is currently living at home with his parents during his gap year before graduate school. Because he has a full-time job, he drives his own personal car almost every day. He also lives in the San Fernando Valley, so he has mentioned to me how there is usually traffic for him on the 101 and 405 freeways every weekday. In the past, I have commuted to UCLA for summer classes, so I have experienced firsthand just how congested the freeways can be in the mornings and afternoons. We’ve discussed that sitting in traffic alone is one large contributor to increased vehicular carbon emissions. However, if there is any consolation for how often he drives, he does own a Ford Fusion hybrid car and hence does not need to fill up his car’s gas tank as frequently as others usually do. He mentioned that he fills up his gas tank every few weeks – as opposed to some people I know who refill their gas tanks every week or every two weeks. Like my family and me, my boyfriend and his parents do not fly frequently. We both realized that the last time we had been on an airplane was during the summer of 2019, when we were both abroad in Europe. We took a minute to reflect on how harmful it can be to fly frequently – especially if these flights cover relatively short distances that can be traveled using other transportation means. Of course, taking a flight might be the only logical mode of transportation for long-distance trips (e.g., flights overseas), but he mentioned that he tries to refrain from flying not only because it can be expensive, but also because he realizes that flying short distances can leave a huge carbon footprint behind and is something that can be avoided. We also discussed how meat is a very prominent component of our respective cultures’ traditional food dishes. He is Peruvian, so many of his favorite dishes happen to contain some sort of beef or chicken. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, my parents and I sometimes like to joke that he is a “carnivore” just because he loves eating his meat dishes so much. He is a big fan of Brazilian steakhouses and Peruvian dishes such as “lomo saltado.” Some of his favorite meat dishes are so tasty that it is somewhat difficult to blame him for loving them so much. However, I’ve mentioned to him that there are ways for him and his family to make their diets more sustainable for the environment. I always make sure that I do not criticize his dietary choices and that I am not hypocritical about the issue of meat consumption. I have always grown up eating lots of meat as well, as many of my family’s favorite Filipino dishes are meat-based. Whenever I go out to eat at restaurants with my boyfriend, we usually order dishes with some type of meat. However, I am challenging us to cut down on ordering meat dishes whenever we order food from restaurants. Since he does not have any allergies like I do, I’ve encouraged him to experiment with different plant-based alternatives to meat, such as “Impossible” meat. I have committed myself to having at least one meatless meal per day, and I also try to uphold having “Meatless Mondays.” I have encouraged my boyfriend to join me in this challenge of Meatless Mondays not only because reducing meat consumption will help reduce carbon emissions, but also because this will greatly benefit our cardiovascular health. In the past, I have lost loved ones due to cardiovascular disease, so maintaining good cardiovascular health in any way that I can has sentimental importance to me. I have suggested to him that we should try to find more activities for us to do that are walking distance from our respective homes. This way, we can get more exercise by walking to our destinations, and we can also help reduce carbon emissions by cutting down our driving. If there are farther destinations that we need to go to, I’ve suggested that we opt to take public transportation instead of driving there. Rather than taking Uber or Lyft, we will try to take the bus more. This will also save us money by not paying for parking! I have not ordered an Uber or Lyft in more than a year, and I will try to avoid doing so unless it is absolutely necessary. In addition to encouraging his parents to join him in eating less meat, especially red meat, my boyfriend mentioned to me that he plans on encouraging his older brother (who no longer lives with them) to participate in Meatless Mondays with us. His brother is an athletic trainer and has mentioned to us that there are many different foods where we can obtain sufficient protein. 

Resource: https://tradewater.us/offsetnow/#household 

According to Project Drawdown, diets which comprise of meat and dairy-based products stem from a food production sector that ultimately contributes “one-fifth of global [greenhouse gas] emissions.” I also learned that if I, along with many others, were to adopt a vegetarian diet, a 63% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions becomes much more feasible. Project Drawdown also acknowledges that “eating is profoundly personal and cultural,” so making somewhat “drastic” dietary changes can be more difficult due to the social implications of food. For me personally, eating is not only a necessity for survival, but it is also a social activity which facilitates bonding with others. I grew up in a Filipino household, where most Filipino dishes served contain some sort of meat or fish product. At the current moment, because I feel so heavily rooted in these cultural food traditions, I cannot imagine giving up some of those dishes – at least not immediately. My family loves eating Filipino food at the dinner table, and eating dinner together has definitely been pivotal to cultivating our strong social relationship. However, engaging in this research has pushed me to initiate a dialogue with my parents regarding the ways they can change their own diets not only to benefit our environment, but also to benefit their health! Now that I live in an apartment with several college roommates, one of whom is vegetarian, they have been able to teach me about a plethora of new meatless recipes that I would love to share with my parents. After all, they really only feel accustomed to cooking Filipino food. My roommates have taught me how to prepare their favorite roasted brussels sprout salad, and now I cook roasted brussel sprouts at least two times a week. I have also attached a picture of this “chicken-less” tortilla soup I made today. This soup is so immensely flavorful and spice-packed that I do not really notice or care that there is no chicken in it. I will definitely try to make this once a month, and it is so easy to make with an Instant Pot!

Based on a few (unfortunate) experiences, I have realized that I am allergic to many popular processed, plant-based substitutes (e.g., non-dairy cheeses, vegan “meats,” and plant-based protein powders). However, during the times where I do choose to eat vegan meals, I typically do not purchase such meals from vegan restaurants that use the aforementioned products because I am never entirely aware of what ingredients are being used. Instead, I choose to cook vegan meals on my own – which is arguably healthier and cheaper anyways! Nonetheless, given my allergy-related restrictions on popular plant-based dairy and meat alternatives, I feel that adopting a vegetarian diet would be much more feasible for me in terms of taste preferences and health restrictions. I have also realized that I spend a lot less money at the grocery store whenever I do not purchase some of my go-to protein sources, such as chicken. According to Vox, shifting to a plant-based diet can mitigate risk of cardiovascular disease, so “everyone should eat half as much red meat and sugar, and twice as many nuts, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.” However, Vox also notes that populations from less wealthy countries may suffer from malnourishment if they do not consume enough nutrients derived from animal products. This can have large implications on cognitive development and growth. To reiterate, Eliza Barclay from Vox emphasizes that “[s]tunting in kids...is sometimes associated with low consumption of animal products and other protein-rich foods.” Although I am not entirely well-versed in why this disparity exists between wealthier and poorer countries, I would assume that this has a lot to do with the high costs of producing animal products (e.g., cultivating large land spaces for grazing cattle, growing enough plants to feed the cattle). If wealthier countries such as the United States consume less meat, perhaps we can redistribute our resources to ensure that poorer countries have a more balanced share of animal product nutrients for their malnourished populations.

Nonetheless, this does not mean that wealthier countries’ levels of meat consumption are harmless. Instead of preparing my typical breakfast and lunch sandwiches, which usually contain some animal protein like chicken or turkey, I have been swapping out some of my meal portions to include more salads and fruit smoothies. I am wondering if anybody else can relate to me in the sense that their allergies greatly restrict what foods they can and can’t eat. If anyone who can relate is vegan or vegetarian, I would love to learn more about the meatless and plant-based recipes they typically follow. Given what I now know about the meat industry’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, I would like to challenge myself to restrict my consumption of meat products to a maximum of one meal per day. I would like to continue following the “Meatless Mondays” trend. Simply changing certain aspects of our diet (e.g., cutting down on meat) can significantly slow the rate of global warming due to increased greenhouse gas emissions. I will continue to encourage my friends and family to do more research on meat consumption so that they can make educated decisions regarding how they can modify their diets. 

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