One of the greatest traits of human nature is our ability to innovate and cooperate during times of crisis. With growing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation, more attention has been paid to the role industrial agriculture has on these issues. Industrial agriculture prioritizes maximizing yield and profit, often neglecting the health of the animals and environment involved. A recent Guardian article argues that the best way to help the environment is to adopt a vegan diet. The meat and dairy industry contributes significantly to a number of environmental problems that include: increased levels of greenhouse gases, land use, water scarcity, and habitat loss (Carrington, D., 2018). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Meat and dairy products are a regular part of the diet in the developed world, and their consumption is increasing, especially in developing countries due to increased affluence. In low-income countries, consumption rates are low and stable, with moderate to strongly increasing consumption in middle-income countries and, ultimately, stagnant or declining consumption in high-income countries (Godfray, HC et al, 2018 ). Current animal farming practices pose a serious threat to the environment, and in order to mitigate these changes, people must practice conscious nutrition and reduce their consumption of animal products. The rate at which the population consumes meat poses an alarming threat to the environment when examining the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A study conducted by scientists at the University of Oxford analyzed the food consumption of 30,000 meat eaters, 16,000 vegetarians, 8,000 fish eaters and 2,000 vegans. It has been established that diets rich in meat (over 100 g per day) result in 7.2 kg of carbon dioxide emissions while vegetarian and pescatarian diets release approximately 3.8 kg of CO2 per day. In contrast, vegan diets produced only 2.9kg of carbon dioxide emissions per day (Scarborough P. et al, 2014). However, a study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition contradicts the view that a healthy plant-based diet is much more beneficial to the health of the planet than a diet composed of animal products. The study found that plant sources, expressed in kilocalories (kcal), release a similar amount of greenhouse gas emissions as other animal products. The plant-based category of fruits and vegetables releases 290 g of carbon dioxide/100 kcal, a higher percentage than dairy products which releases only 216 g of carbon dioxide/100 kcal but similar to the emissions of pork, poultry and eggs which release 308 g of carbon dioxide/100 kcal. Furthermore, emissions from a plant-based diet were even lower than those of fish which releases 517 g of carbon dioxide/100 kcal and ruminant meat at 857 g of carbon dioxide/100 kcal. The second part of the study looked at emissions by weight and found that emissions for plant-based sources were significantly better. For comparison, fruit and vegetables released 114 g of carbon dioxide/100 g while ruminant meat contributed 1627 g of carbon dioxide/100 g, dairy products 283 g of carbon dioxide/100 g, while pork , poultry and eggs released 610 g of CO2 per 100 g (Florent Vieux et al, 2013). While the study disproved that plant-based diets are always better for the environment (e.g. when expressed in kcal), the data still revealed that plant-based foods are at the lower end of the, 2014)..