{"id":7902,"date":"2022-02-14T17:37:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T17:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=7902"},"modified":"2022-02-14T17:37:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T17:37:13","slug":"wichert-plant-based-foods-have-the-ripple-effect-we-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=7902","title":{"rendered":"WICHERT: Plant-based foods have the ripple effect we need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<header aria-label=\"Beginning of Article\" class=\"article-header\">\n<nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Breadcrumb Trail Links<\/h2>\n<ol class=\"breadcrumbs__items list-unstyled\">\n<li class=\"breadcrumbs__item\"> <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"breadcrumbs__item-link\" href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/category\/opinion\/columnists\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Columnists<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<p class=\"article-subtitle\"> We can enact measurable change by supporting the plant-based industry <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<div class=\"published-date\">\n<p>Publishing date:<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"published-date__since\">Feb 14, 2022<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 <span class=\"updated-date__since\">33\u00a0minutes ago<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 <span class=\"published-date__word-count\">3 minute read<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 <span> <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-meta-comment-count\" data-smooth-hash-scroll-component=\"\" href=\"#comments-area\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span class=\"comment-bubble\">    <\/span> Join the conversation <\/a> <\/span> <\/div><\/div>\n<figure class=\"featured-image\">       <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alex Wichert is specialist, Forward Food, with Humane Society International\/Canada, helping the food service industry make plant-based options a bigger part of their menus.\" class=\"featured-image__image\" height=\"1824\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/torontosun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Alex-Wichert-scaled-e1644853425340.jpeg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;h=216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/torontosun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Alex-Wichert-scaled-e1644853425340.jpeg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;h=216,&#010;                    https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/torontosun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Alex-Wichert-scaled-e1644853425340.jpeg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=576&amp;h=432 2x\" width=\"2432\" \/><figcaption class=\"featured-image__caption image-caption\"> <span class=\"caption\">Alex Wichert is specialist, Forward Food, with Humane Society International\/Canada, helping the food service industry make plant-based options a bigger part of their menus.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Photo by Supplied<\/span> \/<span class=\"distributor\">Toronto Sun<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Article content<\/h2>\n<p>When we decide upon important resolutions, our goals are always in some way about making life better: For ourselves, for family, for the world.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"ad__section-border article-content__ad-group\">\n<section class=\"ad\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Advertisement<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ad__container\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\" id=\"ad__inner-2\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner__container\" data-ad=\"[[6,6],[1200,250],[1200,90],[970,90],[970,250],[728,90],[300,250]]\" data-ad-interscroller=\"6x6\" data-ad-loc=\"2\" data-ad-mobile=\"[[6,6],[320,50],[300,50],[300,250],[300,600]]\" id=\"ad-2\">\n<div class=\"ad__placeholder\">\n<p> This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Article content<\/h2>\n<p>Yet it can be difficult to determine how to change, and paths to improvement become more complicated with global issues such as climate or public health crises.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, however, simple ideas can have significant payoff, and that\u2019s the case with plant-based foods. Through Humane Society International\/Canada\u2019s Forward Food program \u2014 an innovative culinary resource that offers free-of-charge plant-based services to food service professionals \u2014 I have had the opportunity to collaborate with many decision-makers in food service, business and education. These relationships demonstrate that plant-based foods produce the \u201cripple effect\u201d necessary for catalyzing change.<\/p>\n<p>To clarify, \u201cplant-based\u201d means ingredients and dishes sourced from plants and which contain no animal products (meat, fish, eggs or dairy). Some advantages of plant-based eating are more apparent. Since plant-based means no animals are killed, it is compassionate. Across the world, we are recognizing animals\u2019 sentience and sapience (self-awareness) through declarations and laws. Recently, the Spanish legislature declared that animals are not objects but sentient beings while the U.K. government has acknowledged the sentience of vertebrates, decapod crustaceans and cephalopods in a bill currently going through Parliament.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"ad__section-border article-content__ad-group\">\n<section class=\"ad\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Advertisement<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ad__container\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\" id=\"ad__inner-3\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner__container\" data-ad=\"[[7,7],[1200,250],[1200,90],[970,90],[970,250],[728,90],[300,250]]\" data-ad-interscroller=\"7x7\" data-ad-loc=\"3\" data-ad-mobile=\"[[7,7],[300,250],[320,50],[300,50]]\" id=\"ad-3\">\n<div class=\"ad__placeholder\">\n<p> This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Article content<\/h2>\n<p>Yet there are also many, often less obvious, ways through which the plant-based ripple spreads outward. Plant-based foods are more environmentally sustainable. Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture are at least 16.5%, comparable to emissions from global transportation. In a 2020 Science paper, Clark et al. explain that, even if fossil fuel emissions were immediately halted, current global food system trends would prevent achieving the 1.5-degree climate target.<\/p>\n<p>What is good for the earth, meanwhile, is good for personal health. Research links diets rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and other whole foods to reduced risks of chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The pandemic has brought a stern reminder, too, of how intensive animal agriculture is an incubator for zoonotic diseases.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"ad__section-border article-content__ad-group\">\n<section class=\"ad\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Advertisement<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ad__container\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\" id=\"ad__inner-4\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner__container\" data-ad=\"[[1200,250],[1200,90],[970,90],[970,250],[728,90],[300,250]]\" data-ad-loc=\"4\" data-ad-mobile=\"[[320,50],[300,50],[300,250]]\" id=\"ad-4\">\n<div class=\"ad__placeholder\">\n<p> This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<section class=\"article-content__content-group\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Article content<\/h2>\n<p>Plant-based ingredients are also often more cost-efficient compared to animal protein, and foods from plant sources promote food security and help feed a growing population. In fact, the farm animal production sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, with meat, egg, dairy and aquaculture production systems using approximately 83% of the world\u2019s farmland while providing just 37% of the world\u2019s protein and 18% of calories. A video from the World Economic Forum outlines how a global plant-based shift would free 75% of our planet\u2019s farmland.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embedded-video\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"video-fallback\">\n<p>We apologize, but this video has failed to load.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Although not all land can be converted to crops for humans, we can feed more people with less farmland and challenge world hunger by rethinking land use. With this comes increased biodiversity \u2014 a 2018 PNAS article by Bar-On et al. shows how humans account for 0.01% of all living things but have caused the loss of 83% of wild mammals and half of plants. Animal agriculture heavily contributes to this total, yet rewilding and reforestation are still possible through progressive measures.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Any start, be it on individual or global scales, can be daunting. We can enact measurable change, though, by supporting the plant-based industry and making conscientious decisions to show policymakers what matters. For resources on how to begin, visit <a target=\"_blank\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" data-evt-val=\"{\" href=\"http:\/\/friendsofhsi.ca\/issues\/forward-food-support\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">friendsofhsi.ca\/issues\/forward-food-support<\/a>\u00a0and create another ripple in this rising tide.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u2014 Alex Wichert is specialist, Forward Food, with Humane Society International\/Canada, helping the food service industry make plant-based options a bigger part of their menus.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-content__share-group article-delimiter\" data-evt=\"beforeunload\" data-evt-typ=\"page_scroll\" data-evt-val=\"{\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Share this article in your social network<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"widget article-content__widget-group article-content__widget-group--slot1\">\n<section aria-labelledby=\"LatestNationalStories3068587681290605029929847049782671\" class=\"list-widget list\" data-async=\"\" data-category-colour=\"default\">\n<ol class=\"list-widget__content list-unstyled list--loading\" data-content-id=\"e4d6c3fe-7aff-4412-b833-01fe933cdb88\" data-list-component=\"\" data-list-id=\"750b25a8-e919-4c89-97b7-38feb92870d9\" data-list-max=\"5\" data-list-min=\"3\" data-list-name=\"latest-national-stories\" data-list-native_ad_enabled=\"True\" data-list-native_ad_position=\"2\" data-list-pos=\"\" data-list-render=\"widget\" data-list-type=\"wcm-dynamic-list\" data-remove-duplication=\"\" data-template-name=\"feed-card-list\" id=\"e4d6c3fe-7aff-4412-b833-01fe933cdb88\"> <\/ol>\n<div class=\"visually-hidden js-e4d6c3fe-7aff-4412-b833-01fe933cdb88-native\">\n<article class=\"ad__native\" data-list-position=\"2\" data-native=\"\">\n<section class=\"ad\">\n<h2 class=\"visually-hidden\">Advertisement<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ad__container\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner ad__inner--native\" id=\"ad__inner-native-1\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner__container\" data-ad=\"[[5,5]]\" data-ad-light-ineligible=\"\" data-ad-loc=\"1\" data-ad-mobile=\"[[5,5]]\" data-ad-ref=\"off\" id=\"ad-native-1\">\n<div class=\"ad__placeholder\">\n<p> This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<div class=\"widget article-content__widget-group article-content__widget-group--slot2\">\n<section aria-labelledby=\"YourMiddaySun7878192841527391735202768336724477\" class=\"newsletter-widget None\" data-account-id=\"b9d3df2fccd108b5eff3c44f573b2cd6\" data-newsletter=\"single\" data-newsletter-component=\"\" data-target-list=\"TORSUN_YourMiddaySun\" data-widget=\"newsletter\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"opening envelope\" class=\"newsletter-widget__logo newsletter-widget__logo--TORSUN_YourMiddaySun\" height=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/pmd-stage-northamerica-northeast1-dcs-static-files\/9.4.2\/websites\/images\/newsletters\/logo\/newsletter-envelope.svg\" width=\"97\" \/> <\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-widget__body\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-widget__text\">From our newsroom to your inbox at noon, the latest headlines, stories, opinion and photos from the Toronto Sun.<\/p>\n<div class=\"js-replace-main\">  <small class=\"newsletter-widget__disclaimer text-size--micro\"> By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. 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