The next time you are scanning the Dining Hall for what to eat, consider making yourself that sandwich we all know and love: peanut butter and jelly. Studies have shown that eating plant-based meals, such as PB & J, green salads, or oatmeal, can make all the difference for our environment. You are probably unaware that every time you choose to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of a hamburger, you are personally preventing 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. Who knew that eating a different—and equally satisfying—meal for lunch would slow the effects of global warming?
When you eat an animal-based meal, you waste significant amounts of water. It takes a great deal of water to raise each animal on a farm. Most people do not realize that 280 gallons of water go into making one hamburger. These are gallons that could easily be preserved simply by switching to a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. The amount of water needed to make one hamburger can make seventeen peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Choosing not to eat a hamburger on one occasion saves the same amount of water as switching to a low-pressure showerhead.
A lot of valuable land is also wasted in raising animals. Twelve to fifty square feet of land, subject to deforestation, overgrazing, and various fertilizers and pesticides, can be saved by replacing that hamburger that might catch your eye with the classic choice of a PB & J. The land required to make enough meat for one hamburger is equivalent to the land needed to make enough peanuts for nineteen PB & J sandwiches.
According to the Trophic Efficiency Law, about 90% of energy from organic matter is lost at each stage of a food chain. Eating top predators means wasting copious amounts of vegetation. Eating lower on the food chain, or adopting vegetarianism helps to conserve the earth’s resources. The ingredients PB&J sandwiches--wheat, nuts, and fruit—are primary producers low on the food chain. Eating these sandwiches means reducing the effects of energy transfer inefficiencies.
Believe it or not, a group of concerned environmentalists have congregated and launched the PB&J Campaign. Their well-crafted mission statement describes the purpose of their efforts: “The PB&J campaign is working to combat environmental destruction by reducing the amount of animal products people eat. The PB&J Campaign approaches positive change one meal at a time by illuminating the differences one single dining decision can make. Become a part of this PB&J revolution, and limit the amount of hamburgers and other animal-based meals you eat.”
Are you are interested in doing your part to save our earth, but just don’t know how? The answer is simple: eat peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches!
