Since its inception in 2024, Los Angeles Climate Week has quickly become L.A.’s flagship event for climate activists, environmental organizations, local businesses, municipal governments, and regular Angelenos to come together to advocate for action on climate change while celebrating the planet and our community.
This year’s Climate Week has featured events including beach cleanups, film screenings, speaker panels, art exhibits, volunteer opportunities, networking mixers, flea markets, and nature walks. I’m excited about the variety of educational workshops offered on a range of topics, from gardening and composting to sustainable innovation.
However, the most important thing that I’m doing to celebrate L.A. Climate Week — something any Angeleno can do — is eating plant-based food.
Diets that feature a variety of nutritious plant foods and reduce consumption of meat and other animal products are far better for the environment.
Animal-based foods are responsible for twice as many GHG emissions — at least 16.5% of total global emissions — as plant-based foods, despite accounting for just 5% of total calories consumed.
Animal agriculture is by far the leading cause of methane emissions in the United States, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
A recent Harvard study found that to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, GHG emissions from livestock production must decrease 50% by 2030. This is the same deadline the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change has given us to halve total global emissions in order to maintain global warming below the critical 1.5 Celsius mark and avoid irreversible catastrophic climate change.
Unfortunately the current trend toward more meat- and dairy-heavy diets is leading us in the opposite direction.
Agricultural expansion, the vast majority of which is done for livestock grazing and feed, is responsible for 90% of global deforestation. This land conversion destroys not only native ecosystems, but also the planet’s natural carbon sinks, which are critical to combating climate change through their capture and storage of carbon dioxide.
Meat production is the single largest cause of regional water shortages in the U.S., diverting nearly half of all water drawn from the Colorado River, which Los Angeles relies on for about half of its water supply.
Animal agriculture also places a tremendous burden on our planet and is a major threat to biodiversity. Many species native to California and Los Angeles have become threatened or endangered due to livestock production, including greater sage grouse and American bison. Meanwhile the federal government kills hundreds of thousands of native animals such as coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions every year to protect private livestock interests.
To help encourage people to shift their diets in the right direction, this year’s Climate Week has featured a great selection of sustainable food events, showcasing support for the fact that reducing meat, dairy, and egg consumption is one of the most effective ways to protect the Earth for ourselves, other species, and future generations.
For example, the city of West Hollywood cosponsored a free public “ Food Day” event on April 7 featuring three panels on sustainable food policy, delicious plant-based meals, and plenty of networking opportunities with policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and plant-based food businesses.
Other food-related Climate Week events included a webinar on food systems curricula in higher education, the 10th annual Vegan Street Fair, a virtual panel on plant-based city food policies, and a Future of Food Day.
This L.A. Climate Week and Earth Month, I encourage you to learn more about plant-based eating by checking out these great food-related events and join me in opting for a better diet for yourself and the planet.
By Leah Kelly. Leah Kelly is a Los Angeles resident and policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, where she works to foster a more just and sustainable food system.
