{"id":15643,"date":"2016-03-09T18:51:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T02:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/?p=15643"},"modified":"2020-05-17T23:12:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T06:12:16","slug":"4-cos4s-four-things-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/4-cos4s-four-things-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"4 COS4S (Four Things), Part\u00a03"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Kathryn Hayward, M.D. and Elle Stetson-Dibble<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

There are few activities that affect our individual health and well-being more than what we put in our bodies for nutrition.\u00a0<\/span>When we make daily decisions about what to eat, we usually think about how that food is going to taste, going to make us feel, and how it is going to affect our health and our weight.\u00a0 <\/span>However, we often do not think about how the production of the food that we eat has on the health of our planet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HappyCow<\/a> helps with this vital issue by offering us resources to eat healthfully, both for ourselves and for Planet Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this blog post, we explore how our environment is affected by what we eat.\u00a0<\/span>We approached the research with curiosity and openness, eager to read about this theme from a variety of perspectives to learn more about a subject that is one of the underpinnings of 4 COS4S<\/i>.\u00a0Our conclusion from scratching the surface of this critical topic:\u00a0<\/span>there are few activities that affect our planet\u2019s health and well-being more than the food that we eat. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"4<\/a>From prior posts, you will recall the 4 COS4S<\/i> initiative led by International Integrators Facilitator Caty Genestra Villalonga in Spain. 4 COS4S <\/i>started by inviting restaurants on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca to add to their menus \u201c4 things\u201d whose ingredients are whole food, plant-based and do not include any animal products and at most a small amount of refined products such as oil, sugar and salt.\u00a04 COS4S<\/i>\u00a0now includes a\u00a0Restaurant Project<\/i>, an Education Project<\/i>\u00a0and a\u00a0Medical Project<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The expression \u201ccuatro cosas\u201d (\u201cfour things\u201d) is used frequently in Spain. For instance, you might invite a friend over, saying, \u201cI want to show you four things that we have done to our house\u201d. The number of things usually is not four, but the literal translation of the expression is \u201cfour things\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s blog post focuses on how eating whole, plant-based foods is good for The Earth,<\/i> the second of the four areas of interest that we identified in our last post on Our Bodies<\/a><\/i>. Future posts will explore the remaining two areas of interest, Animal Welfare\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0World Hunger<\/i>. We then will have shared \u201cfour things\u201d that are good about eating plant-based, whole foods. Through this blog, we are sharing some of the resources with which we engaged, so that we can continue our journey of learning as an International Integrators<\/b> community. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Earth<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a vast array of strong views and research about food production. Whether we were reading material produced by scientists from across the globe, or by representatives of the meat and dairy industry, or by vegan environmentalists, we see common acknowledgement that food production affects four key environmental factors: <\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Land \u2013 through soil degradation;<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Climate \u2013 through global warming and air pollution; <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Water \u2013 through shortages and water pollution; and <\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Life \u2013 through a loss of biodiversity. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These are vast and complex problems that each of us can to contribute to solving.\u00a0It is indisputable that eating plants contributes less to environmental destruction than eating animal products does. Every meal we eat that does not have animal product in it is an action in favor of the health of Planet Earth. <\/span><\/p>\n