It seems like only yesterday that the first Earth Day brought people together to celebrate this big ole planet of ours but did you know this party for the planet started on April 22nd, 1970? That’s 45 years ago! A lot has changed since then in regards to the third rock from the sun and not necessarily for the best.

 Darned hipster planet!

Animal agriculture is one of the most resource-intensive industries on the planet. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that livestock production is responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while other organizations like the Worldwatch Institute have estimated it could be as much as 51 percent. At our current world population of seven billion, we are already expending 70 percent of the world’s freshwater and 45 percent of arable land resources for the livestock system – and 850 million people across the world still suffer from lack of food. As our population grows to nine billion by 2050, these percentages are set to grow exponentially, pushing our planet’s finite resources to their limit.

If every person in the U.S. were to choose more plant-based foods, we could cut our collective carbon footprint in half, save approximately 200,000 gallons of water each, and redirect enough grain from the livestock system to feed over two billion people each year!

Check it out! Healthy, yummy, AND it’s saving the planet! 

We get three chances every day to make a difference, whether you choose to eat plant-based once a week, a day or all-day-every-day, you can make a huge positive impact on the planet!

Which is why One Green Planet wants to flood social media with pics of the very thing that can make the most profound difference for our planet in the fight against climate change – vegan food! We want YOU to post pics to your Instagram or Twitter of the incredible, plant-based dishes you’re eating, cooking, buying and/or drooling over with the hashtag #EatForThePlanet.

Check out the campaign page to see your photos (and hundreds of others!), here: www.onegreenplanet.org/eatfortheplanet

So, let’s start spreading the word in the most delicious way possible! Need cooking ideas? We’ve got over 5,000 of them for you right HERE! Don’t really cook so much? No problem! Take snaps of the vegan foods you order out or con your friends/significant other/deli manager at Whole Foods/co-workers into whipping up for you and add #EatForThePlanet. If your photos are SUPER yummy-looking, we might even share it on our Instagram page too!

When you eat vegan, it becomes a pretty tasty fight.

Lead image source: Jaimi Dolmage

In-text image source: Stupid Simple Bean Burgers