Why Jane Goodall Chooses to Not Eat Meat

The Amazing Reason Why Jane Goodall Chooses to Not Eat Meat 

Jane Goodall has been a household name since the 1960s for her work with chimpanzees. Her past work in primatology, namely her studies on the social structures of primates, has been her claim to fame. Now, Goodall is also on the front lines of the battle with climate change and global warming.

Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman spoke to Goodall at the 21st session of the conferences of the parties (COP21) Paris in December 2015. Goodall attended COP21 to discuss the impacts of global warming on rainforest ecosystems and how saving these precious forests can actually help mitigate climate change! That’s a whole lotta GOOD!

Preserving rainforests around the world is important! Why? Well, rainforests are known to be huge carbon sinks and that’s a good thing because carbon sinks suck in harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Yay! Such an easy way to fight global warming, right? Unfortunately, there’s a slight problem … our love for meat and dairy is destroying these vital ecosystems.

Looking at the stats related to how much forest is lost to make way for livestock grazing and growing their feed, one simply can’t deny that our food choices are having a major impact on the planet. This is something that Jane Goodall is very aware of – and because of this, she chooses a vegetarian diet to lower her own personal impact.

In the video, Goodall breaks it down quite simply,”… In order to feed the billions and billions of cows and pigs and chickens … you have to admit huge areas of forest are cut down to grow grain to feed them. Intensive cattle grazing is turning forests to woodland, to scrubland. And food in one end, gas out both ends, that’s methane. And that’s an even more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. It’s about 36 percent of all methane emissions come from this intensive farming.”

While this volume of emissions can be daunting – by simply leaving meat off your plate, you can cut your personal contribution by half! That’s pretty astounding. It’s so amazing to see Jane Goodall speaking out for this important issue and showing the world the connection between their food choices and the greater impact that they have on both the planet and animals.

It is One Green Planet’s view that our food choices have the power to heal our broken food system, give species a fighting chance for survival, and pave the way for a truly sustainable future. To learn more about how you can use your food choices to benefit the planet, join One Green Planet’s #EatForThePlanet movement!