Cutting Down on Meat and Dairy Reduces Nitrogen Pollution by 40 Percent

What we eat may be impacting our environment. Scientists have discovered that our food choices may affect pollutant nitrogen emissions, climate change and land-use.

The work was conducted by the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen of the United Nations Economic commission for Europe (UNECE).  The new report itself is an assessment of what would happen if Europe were to decrease its consumption of meat and dairy products.

"The report shows that the nitrogen footprint of meat and dairy is considerably higher than that from plant-based projects," said Henk Westhoek, one of the researchers, in a news release. "If all people within the EU would halve their meat and dairy consumption, this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 25 to 40 percent, and nitrogen emissions by 40 percent. The EU could become a major exporter of food products, instead of a major importer of, for example, soy beans."

In fact, if Europe reduced its meat and dairy consumption, it would also reduce nitrogen air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. It would also free up large areas of farmland for food export or bioenergy.

"Humans' use of nitrogen is a major societal change that links environment, food security, and human health," said Mark Sutton, one of the researchers, in a news release. "There are many ways in which society could improve the way it uses nitrogen, and this includes actions by farmers and by ourselves. Our new study shows that adopting a demitarian diet across Europe would reduce nitrogen pollution levels by about 40 percent, which is similar to what could be achieved by adopting low-emission farming practices."

The latest findings reveal how by simply changing lifestyle, people can have a huge impact on their environment. Reducing meat and dairy consumption could help reduce pollution and could improve the climate in years to come.

The findings are published in the journal Global Environmental Change.