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My quest for a climate-friendly family diet.txt
My quest for a climate-friendly family diet14 August 2025ShareSaveGraihagh JacksonShareSaveSerenity Strull/ BBCClimate journalist Graihagh Jackson goes on songs to fan the flames of discontenta quest to find a diet that's healthy for her child, and helps fight climate change – but will her son actually eat it?It's been one of those mornings – the Lion King soundtrack has played non-stop on repeat since 06:00, sloppy cereals are cemented to the kitchen floor and my kid's newfound obsession with sticky tape means my living room looks like a laser maze. This is a typical Saturday morning for me and my son. As a single mother to a three-year-old, I cope with caffeine. And now that I have quaffed a couple of coffees, I have snuck away to the bathroom for a private, er, moment. Within seconds, the doorknob rattles perilously and in he charges, demanding, of all things, to know where ham comes from.My mind is whirring: How can I put this delicately? "Well, it comes from pigs," I say, slightly unsure of my approach."PIGS? But they're dirty!" His gorgeous blue eyes are staring at me in total disbelief."Yes, I'm sure they get washed before they're eaten. It's where sausages come from too."He picks at the skirting board, possibly pondering this revelation or perhaps peeling paint is more interesting than what I have to say. He leaves within a minute without a word. I'm initially pleased that our first conversation about the origins of meat has gone well. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder about his meat consumption – and whether his diet should have a higher proportion of plants – like mine. My diet is currently about 75% plants and I follow EAT-Lancet's "Food for the Anthropocene" report recommendations.Environmentally, the case is clear: put simply, plant-rich diets produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than meat-heavy ones, which makes them better for the climate and planet. For these and other reasons, I eat mostly plants – and feel very healthy. But what's the best diet for my child – and the planet?Graihagh JacksonI set out to find the healthiest and most sustainable diet for my son (Credit: Graihagh Jackson)Climate impactFor context, I host The Climate Question, the BBC World Service's flagship podcast on our warming world. I have interviewed experts from across the world about meat, and its impact on the climate. I've learnt that about 14% of the world's planet-warming gases are caused by farm animals. That is a lot. If livestock were a country, it would emit the same amount as the US does every year, making it one of the biggest climate-polluters in the world.There is a clear consensus on meat's climate impact and what we should do about it, which is summarised by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report in 2022: "Examples of healthy and sustainable diets are high in coarse grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds; low in energy-intensive animal-sourced and discretionary foods (such as sugary beverages); and with a carbohydrate threshold."In other words, the IPCC report says that our plates should be mostly made up of plants and some lower-impact animal products like eggs, chicken, some types of fish and pork. Beef, dairy, lamb and goat have a much higher impact on our climate, according to the report."It's mainly because [cows, sheep and goats] emit methane, that is a very powerful greenhouse gas," says Ximena Schmidt, a lifecycle sustainability expert at Brunel University in London. She's being polite by using the word "emit". They burp like babies (i.e. all the time, though cows do so weirdly silently, as I found out when I tried to record one for a podcast). "So, depending on evaluation methods, methane could be 34-35 times worse than CO2 [over 100-year time frame]," Schmidt says.Farming livestock is also a major cause of deforestation in the tropics, which further causes the climate to change.Graihagh JacksonI let my son pick some of the fruit and veg he wants to eat (Credit: Graihagh Jackson)For those considering cutting meat and animal products out entirely, one factor to consider is age, as a vegan diet can be risky for young children, and there have been cases of death or severe malnutrition of babies or young children being given only plant-based food or drinks."When there's a discussion about vegan diets or plant-based diets generally, I often feel there's little attention given to the age group," says Mary Fewtrell, a professor of paediatric nutrition at University College London. "You've got to make sure that the infant and the child get enough of the nutrients that they need to grow and develop properly."Younger children have a high requirement for energy micronutrients, and as a result "animal-sourced foods are a good option because they provide all of those nutrients", Fewtrell says. "If you just give them plants, they're very high in fibre. It fills them up, and then there's a risk that they may not then be able to consume enough nutrients because the nutrient density can be very low."Fewtrell has co-authored studies that have found vegan and vegetarian children who don't supplement are at risk of being deficient in Vitamin B12, iodine and iron. These nutrients are more readily available in animal products."You could say, well, OK, if they didn't get the nutrients they need, it might have a short-term effect and you could remedy it. But actually in some cases, it could be irreversible," she explains. "The one that's usually cited is [vitamin] B12 deficiency, which can have quite devastating effects on brain development."On the other hand, high red-meat consumption in adolescence may increase the risk of breast cancer and a high dairy intake in childhood is associated with colorectal cancer.A plant-rich dietRegardless of one's specific diet, eating more plants seems like a safe and healthy way to proceed.But here comes the next challenge: getting my toddler to actually eat those plants. He frequently tells me he only likes eggs, fish fingers and pancakes and eschews the colourful plate of my carefully cooked (and in my opinion, delicious) vegetables I serve up alongside his favourites.Graihagh JacksonIntroducing more plants into my son's diet seems like a safe and healthy way to proceed (Credit: Graihagh Jackson)I turn to my friend, MC, for advice on getting children excited about vegetables. When we celebrated the new year together with our kids, there was a platter of party food – pizza, sausage rolls, crisps – and her eldest turned to her and said in a quiet whisper: "Where are the vegetables?"Over coffee, she tells me how she involves her children in cooking, makes up food-related games (like "name this nut") and plates up many different vegetables across the week for them to try. I make a note to take my son to the greengrocers with me and let him select some vegetables.More like this:? Why do we throw away the best bit of our fruit?? How I cut my food miles to fight climate change? Is it better to buy in bulk?At a time when the world is breaking temperature record-after record, little changes to our daily lives have never felt more pertinent, especially as parents. After all, we all want a happy and safe future for our children. It's something I speak to Elizabeth Cripps about. She is a political theorist who researches climate change ethics at the University of Edinburgh and she's written a book called Parenting on Earth in which she unpacks the morality around our choices as parents in a warming world."The thing that matters most to me is what kind of life my daughters will have, and one of the things that I can do is to think about our lifestyle as a family," she says.Back in the kitchen, my toddler is blowing Zs in his bed. The Lion King has finally stopped playing and I'm on my hands and knees, trying to scrape the cereal out from between the grout. As my mind meanders, I'm struck by an image of my son. He's older but still has those same curious eyes locked with mine. I imagine him asking me: "Did you do everything you could to fight climate change?" And I want to be able to reply yes, I did. I want the best possible future for my kid and I want him to feel good about those decisions too.--For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.Sustainability on a ShoestringEarthDietHealthClimate changeFoodSustainabilityChildrenFeatures
