I wrote a cookbook: “Carbon-Conscious Cooking”!

Read "Carbon-Conscious Cooking" for free at tinyurl.com/cccooking.

This book matters

If we don’t act now, we will face irreversible changes to the planet we call home. The frequency and severity of natural disasters will increase— which we’ve already seen with record-breaking California wildfires. While sea levels are rising, the ocean’s heat and acidity are consistently increasing. The ripple effect of our warming climate has implications that are largely overlooked: everything from the studies that demonstrate that at hotter temperatures, conflict, wars, and crime rates increase significantly to the fact that fish may lose their ability to smell.

Action at all levels is required to turn this situation around. Now is the time to take individual action including a shift towards a plant-based diet.

Diet matters

Agriculture, in general, accounts for 24% of global greenhouse emissions— a sizable chunk. Within this, animal products are responsible for 75% of total agricultural emissions and 80% of land use despite only creating 18% of consumed calories. Animal products are a massively inefficient use of calories. For every 100 calories of grain we feed animals, we get only 40 calories of milk, 22 of eggs, 12 of chicken, 10 of pork, or 3 of beef.

Livestock’s land use, water use, and carbon footprint are disproportionate to plants. Think about it this way: if cattle were their own nation, they would be the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Even more astonishing, of its carbon emissions, livestock breathing accounts for 14% of the pie. Beyond the agriculture industry, there are further emissions from food with cooking, storage, waste disposal, and packaging. In comparison, the carbon footprint of a vegetarian diet is about half that of a meat-lover’s diet. Your diet matters, and you can take action to change it.

Why I wrote this book

I wrote this cookbook to share my favorite plant-based recipes, in hopes of making plant-based eating more accessible to all. My recipes are simple and versatile, and hopefully kickstart your journey with carbon-conscious cooking!

Sustainability and carbon-conscious cooking bring up the issue of accessibility. More specifically, accessibility to a simple, versatile approach to sustainable cooking. I’ve developed short recipes that are accessible and easily adaptable for different people. My hope is that increasing accessibility to sustainable cooking will lead to an increase of the impact of carbon-conscious diets.

Letter to reader

Dear reader,

For the past many months, I've transformed my passion for sustainability into "Carbon-Conscious Cooking," a vegetarian cookbook. Aligning one's daily habits with environmentalism is exciting and empowering! I want to share part of my learning with you, through these simple recipes. With cooking, sustainability can be delicious, too. My hope is that this cookbook inspires you to join me on a journey to be kinder to the planet.

Yours, Margaret

Read more of "Carbon-Conscious Cooking" for free at tinyurl.com/cccooking.

Find me on Medium @mcapetz and on Instagram @apinchofsugarr :)