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Ever wondered how 'little 'ME’' makes a difference? You may have heard of the big Climate Conference in Glasgow, lots of world leaders meeting and making decisions. But does it make you think what can ‘I’ actually do? This week’s challenge relates to MEat and MEthane – can you help your parent/carer make a special plant-based MEal for your family to share?
Being a Young Climate Warrior is about taking little steps, and ‘little by little, a little becomes a lot’. As part of a wider team of Young Climate Warriors our little carbon-busting actions all add up – ‘little ME’ is really important! Have you ever thought about the fact that the more we start making little changes, the more other people think – ‘oh that’s a good idea’, and so the idea spreads? Undertaking the weekly challenges can actually make more of a difference than you might think!! This week when planning your special MEal, can you mix it up a bit - try to use ‘plant-based’ proteins – maybe try a new recipe or some new ingredients? How about cooking with chickpeas, lentils, peanuts, almonds, quinoa, wild rice, beans, almonds, peas, chia and hemp seeds, sweetcorn, even spirulina - a type of algae. Did you know dark green vegetables – like broccoli and kale, mushrooms and baked potatoes also contain protein!? Look a little further down to find out more about MEthane – and then decide if you’d like to be adventurous with your special MEal. If you HIT THE RED BUTTON after doing the challenge then we can help let your voice be heard – send us your photos we’d love to share them!
At the UN Climate Conference (COP26) over 100 countries signed a Global Methane Pledge - to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. But what is Methane, and why does it matter? Methane is a really powerful greenhouse gas – its impact on climate change is around 34 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. It is released into the atmosphere naturally from wetlands, geothermal activity, thawing permafrost, as well as via agriculture, fossil fuel mining and drilling and landfill waste sites.
You have probably heard that cows, sheep and goats produce lots of methane when they burp. Did you know that fish farming also produces methane because fish poo and uneaten fish food gather at the bottom of ponds where there is barely any oxygen, making it the perfect environment for methane to be produced? Rice paddy fields, like natural wetlands, are also a source of methane. Swapping meat and farmed fish for more plant-based foods, can help lower the related methane emissions, as well as enabling higher productivity from agricultural land and reduced water demand.
If you’d like to find out more about which foods contribute most to climate change you can click here to try out the BBC’s ‘climate change food calculator’. Don’t forget to HIT THE RED BUTTON when you have made a special MEal, helped reduce our MEat consumption, and reduced our MEthane emissions.
