What can I do post the COP26 Summit?

my COP 26 action plan
  • Ali

From a commitment to fostering more forests and preserving peat lands, cleaning up pollution in our inner cities and lowering land use stress, the COP26 Summit hosted in Glasgow this month has created a masterplan that governments around the world are signing up to.

Climate talks dominated the last day of the summit, as you might expect of a climate change conference, but with leaders struggling to agree the final outcomes it was a day fraught with challenges.

While goverments fight about what they will commit to, what can we do, as individuals, on a daily basis.

We can all take small steps to lower our carbon footprint from traveling less, to eating a more plant based diet. I wrote a blog about eating a more plant based diet recenty and have been walking the wlk of late too.

Going plant based is one of the big changes we made as a family about 3 years ago but it was only in the throws of the pandemic that we fully embraced it. This was mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining organic meat from the usual farms we supported and also that in being more home based, we had more time to prepare and cook at home.  There’s no doubt in my mind that cooking largely plant based meals does take longer to prepare than simply throwing a piece of meat in the oven and vegetables into a pan but it also better supports our health too. From ensuring we eat more fibre, essential to supporting our gut, to providing an increase in our nutritional intake. It’s a great way to live and according to the science, is better for the planet too.

COP 26 delegates agreed that we can Lower land-use stress, by immediately shifting from industrial animal agriculture to growing and eating diversified plant-based foods. We also need to look at reducing food waste,  something I am passionate about. Governments are also being encouraged to minimize methane emissions by applying the Methane Guiding Principles and aiming to achieve, by 2025, a 25% shift from animal to plant-based food, and a commensurate cut in methane emissions from the agriculture and oil and gas sectors.

So what can you do?

Switch to having a plant based day one or twice a week – more if you can go for it.

What does a plant based day look like?

Instead of eating a largely meat and dairy diet think about how you can incorporate plants into each meal and still get a range of healthy proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and vegetables onto your plate.

Breakfast

Switch cereal and milk to a plant based protein packed smoothie.

Here’s a few great recipes I love

Lunch

Switch a ham and cheese sandwich to a hummus and roasted veg sandwich or wrap

Switch a chicken soup to a plant based soup – here’s a couple of recipes I come back to again and again – they’re super filling and nutritious

Mixed vegetable soup

Spiced Cauliflower soup

Supper  

Switch spaghetti bolognaise or chilli to a plant based bolognaise with mushrooms as the star of the show or create a black bean chilli  instead of a traditional meat dish – here’s my favourite chilli recipe.

Black and kidney bean chilli – so easy we created it as part of our lockdown cooking with kids masterclass!

 

While I’ve continue to eat fish and a little white meat I’d say we pretty much eat plant based 5 days a week and feel so good on it. It takes a bit of organising but once you have a selection of recipes you love it’s super easy.

If you’re interested in my 5 day plant based meal plan drop me a message and I’ll email it to you.

 

What else will you be doing as a result of teh COP 26 summit?