Eating meat jeopardizes our own future destroying our ecosystems and releasing Greenhouse Gases (GHG) to the atmosphere [LOTS OF GHG]. As simple and straightforward as that. There’s not much to debate about this, because is simply true!
As a young Mexican man living the Swedish dream, I find myself in this constant dilemma about eating meat; first of all because is soooo expensive to buy it here, second, because it destroys (REALLY) our planet, and third, because here I find myself in this beautiful paradise of environmental friendly healthy food alternatives… and veggie Swiss roomies haha (I’ll explain this in a bit).
The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) recently estimated that livestock production is responsible for 14.5 per cent of global GHG emissions.
14 freaking point 5 per cent! That 1Kg of beef you ate last week, as stated in statistics of the Green Life Travel (2013) site, represented a consumption of,
It’s really hard to see these numbers when you come from a country where a lot of people (including me) tend to consume meat almost everyday. So what is Sweden actually doing to me? Well, here are some images of how Stockholm’s healthy and environmental friendly lifestyle is impacting on my daily cooking!
For example, this boiled rice with vegetables, olives, sweet-mexican-spicy sliced onion and some avocado aside.
Coconut-oil fried vegetables mixed with potatoes and beans.
Fresh salad with vegetables, nuts and vinaigrette dressing.
At the beginning, I really thought it was going to be hard to start changing my diet habits, but taking it step by step, I’m reducing the amount of meat I eat per week. When it comes about my roomies (long story short), I live with these 2 healthy Swiss guys that also study Sustainable Technology. They have proved to me that a free-meat diet, can also be really tasty. They are way more skilled than I when it comes to cook vegetarian though. Still, I feel the social and environmental pressure from them (haha) to step up with my green diet. 
Conclusion, no, I’m not demanding you to stop eating meat, but just to look at the facts, try alternatives that are healthier, reduce your consume, and spread the word! Even though you don’t feel like doing it, someone might be brave enough to try it!
Vegetarian tips for eating out: https://www.kth.se/blogs/divya/2017/06/the-best-veggie-restaurants-in-stockholm-student-friendly/
This is a really nice post. On the basis but still effective and informative. Well done!