Gavin Yang

This week I tried cooking with zero waste by heading to my friends apartment and looking for any ingredients close to expiring that he had. I saw that he had a few eggs and some miscellaneous vegetables like potatoes that he bought a few weeks prior that hadn't been used so I decided to use them all to make a frittata. Overall it tasted pretty good which was surprising since I just used random ingredients, some of which were close to expiring. It made me realize that it isn't too difficult to use leftover ingredients so reducing food waste is achievable with just a little bit of effort.

This week I tried to be more mindful while eating my meals by refraining from using electronics while eating and trying to focus more on the food that I had. As several others have said, eating with less distractions helped me appreciate my food more and savor the flavors more thoroughly. I found myself paying closer attention to the ingredients in my food and thinking about the impacts they would have to my health. I also felt that mindful eating helped me eat more slowly than normal since I was paying attention to the food itself rather than simply eating out of habit. Often times when I rush through meals I find myself still hungry after eating and wanting to have something else for dessert which increases the calories I am consuming. By eating more slowly, I have more time to digest the food while eating which leaves me feeling satiated even before I have finished. This not only keeps me from overeating, but it also means I am taking less food each meal, reducing food demand.

In the past few weeks as I have been learning more about the impacts of meat on my health and the environment, I have adopted a mostly vegan diet as an experiment to see if I feel any differences in my overall energy levels and to guage how difficult it is to stop eating meat. Overall, a fully vegan diet is definitely achievable as a student with a meal plan, but it is hard to find variety. Dining halls often have one vegan or vegetarian alternative per meal, which makes vegetarian meals feel somewhat repetitive after a few days. Going to different dining halls each day can help reduce the monotony of having similar types of food every day. Ordering food from outside campus is also an option and there are many places to get vegan meals in Westwood. Below is a tofu bowl from Gogobop that I ordered one day as a break from dining hall food.

Last week I did some research into the cattle industry to further my understanding of how animal agriculture impacts both climate and health. According to Project Drawdown, the methane produced from cattle digestion accounts for 27% of all methane produced by human activity. One solution they propose for reducing methane is to change the composition of animal feed used to feed cattle. By decreasing the fiber content of feed, cattle will have an easier time digesting food and thus produce less methane. On the health side, I watched the documentary What the Health, which had a section focusing on cows and dairy in particular. I was suprised to learn that milk not only has excessive macronutrients like saturated fats and sugars, but also has many growth hormones and even pus. Although I have already been trying to minimize the fats I get from dairy by choosing skim milk, I was unware of the harmful effects of growth hormones such as increased proliferation of tumor cells. The knowledge that pus is highly present in milk also makes it less appealing to me and has made me consider switching to plant-based alternatives like soy or oat milk. In addition to the health benefits, decreasing dairy consumption would lead to less demand for cattle and thus lower methane emissions from the animal agriculture sector.

This week I tried to be more mindful about my food waste and finish everything that I put on my plate. According to Project Drawdown, about one third of all food that is produced worldwide is wasted. Although agricultural advancements have allowed us to grow more food than ever before, many people still go hungry because of the inefficient and wasteful distribution of our food resources. Since I have a meal plan, I eat most of my meals at the dining halls. I often find that the plates that are returned have various unfinished scraps like pizza crust, burger buns, or extra vegetables. This week, I tried to leave no excess food unfinished which forced me to think more carefully about the portions I grabbed. Unless I was certain that I would be able to finish, I wouldn't take it. At the same time, I tried to encourage my friends who I ate with to minimize how much food they threw away. Although some were a little stubborn, most of them understood the importance of reducing food waste and will hopefully consider it more seriously in the future. I felt that this exercise helped me appreciate the food that I am eating and to be more mindful about what I ultimately chose for my meals. I believe that decreasing food waste at the individual level is an integral step in alleviating global food shortages. If excessive demand for food diminishes, producers will be more incentivized to sell their food to less wealthy areas. Below is an image of my finished meal after trying to waste as little as possible.

I am participating in the Drawdown Eco Challenge because I believe that climate change is one of the biggest issues in our world today and requires individual action from everyone in order to mitigate or potentially reverse. I think that the only way forward is to create natural incentives for every person to decrease their everyday consumption of natural resources and voluntarily choose options that are more environmentally friendly. In the current discourse, many who oppose climate change may feel that they are being forced to change their ways to potentially prevent a future tragedy. By participating in these eco challenges, I hope to find ways through which I am willing to change my own habits that do not significantly affect my everyday life. Through a series of minor changes, I want to decrease my own contributions to climate change and hopefully inspire those around me to do the same. Last year, I volunteered for a garden in Korea town that provides land to grow produce for the local community. Providing more fresh plant-based food options is a great way to help reduce consumption of meat and other industrial agriculture products that contribute a large portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. I hope that I can continue my efforts in the food sector through my actions in the Drawdown Eco Challenge.