Walking into your grocery store or fish market, you might not realize fisheries (and seafood) around the world are collapsing. We take fish out of the oceans faster than they can reproduce. Already 1/3 of fish stocks around the world are unsustainably fished and 60% are maximally fished where any additional removal will turn them unsustainable. Only 7% of fish stocks are underfished. Warming ocean temperatures and increased acidity due to climate change and higher levels of carbon dioxide negatively affect the health of the oceans and the base of oceanic food web (tiny plankton, krill, and corals). These insults along with overfishing will lead to a 6% reduction in fish production by 2100 (11% in tropical zones). There will be an additional 2-3 billion people on Earth, many of whom depend on fish and seafood for their protein. Farmed fish is not yet the answer. Many farmed fish harbor pests and diseases that can spread to wild fish, and many farmed fish have a high wild-fish in to farmed-fish (flesh) out ratio, though this is improving. Consuming more fish and fish oil is not sustainable as we deplete the oceans of their diversity and fish some species to near extinction.

Current dietary guidelines in the US (2015-2020 (2020-2025 have not yet been published)) recommend too many portions of too many foods that are detrimental to both human health and the environment. The US-DGAs recommend relatively high intakes of meat, dairy, eggs, poultry, and fish, which are associated with an increase in the risk of several chronic diseases and also harm the environment (which was discussed more in depth in Chapter 1). Many Americans support having dietary guidelines that make recommendations concerning the environment and sustainability. The DGAC (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) did in fact provide sustainability and food security recommendations for the 2015-2020 US-DGAs, which were almost entirely left out. Reasons for these omissions are often politically motivated due to the lobbying of various industries. This chapter makes the argument that having sustainable dietary guidelines that support human health and the environment first and foremost is more important than lining the coffers of various food and agriculture industries.

Several species are stolen from the wild and forced into tiny cages, small tanks, or other terrible conditions, where they are forced to work or be physically or emotionally abused. This chapter provides examples of animals in captivity, describes how they were captured, and describes their current "living" conditions. Many animals in captivity do not have their basic physiological or psychological needs met. Examples include Tilikum, a male orca, who was captured at the age of 2 and confined to a tiny cell (14 hours a day) with two female orcas who attacked him mercilessly. Tilikum eventually snapped and killed two humans. He died at only 35. Lolita (aka Tokitae), another captive orca, was captured from her family at the age of 4, and has lived in isolation for over 50 years in the smallest orca tank in the US. There are hopes to recuperate and potentially release her back to her family (native to the Pacific Northwest); except, the aquarium where she "lives" will not release her. Two additional examples are the dolphin-capture hunts of Taiji, Japan, and the horrific lives of enslaved, captive, working elephants in Southeast Asia. This chapter advocates to end animal captivity.

I wrote this book in the hope that it would help protect the planet for my son, his generation, and future generations. The preface describes my motivation for writing this book, some of the experiences that have shaped the book itself including my research in Ethiopia, my experiences as a new mother, a researcher, a teacher, and a practicing dietitian. The preface likens Earth to a very sick patient and how as clinicians we would do everything in power to save her, and that it is time to treat Earth in that same manner, and do everything we can to save her. It is a very emotional and powerful message to the reader.

This chapter/part of the book provides twenty-one ideas or "recipes" to empower you to make impactful changes that improve your own health and help the environment. Each recipe is an individual action you can take to start making a difference today, and that when done together – in aggregate – can make a big difference. This chapter is a very hopeful one, compelling you to start with even one recipe and then add on more. Each recipe is doable, and tips, suggestions, and information are provided to make it 100% achievable. Some examples of recipes/ideas from this chapter include eating more plants and significantly less meat, decreasing food waste, canning, composting, engaging with ecotourism, voting, educating others and advocating, planting trees, and finally a number of resources you can read or watch for additional information.

We protect species or hasten their extinctions. We protect the environment or destroy it. We slow down the climate crisis or ignore it and hit a point where Earth cannot remain a viable planet. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is supposed to protect wild species (over 5,800 animal and 30,000 plant species) from overexploitation and trade. However, it does not seem like CITES protections work. Despite capture and trade bans several species remain endangered and some are critically endangered or at risk of extinction. When humans decide which species to protect or not, corruption (and poaching) often follows. Examples of highly poached and endangered species are provided throughout the chapter including sharks (fins), elephants (tusks), rhinoceros (horns), tigers (bones), giraffes (skins), pangolins (scales), bears (bile), turtles (eggs), and totoabas (bladders) and the incidentally nearly extinct Vaquita. It is predicted we will lose 99.9% of critically endangered and 67% of endangered species within the next 100 years leaving cows as the largest land species on Earth. To retain biological and genetic diversity on Earth, we must stop the trade and exploitation of wildlife now.

Currently 7.8 billion people live on Earth, and by 2100 there will be 11.2 billion. As developing countries urbanize, their populations eat more meat and dairy. But if everyone on Earth eats the amount of animal products that we do in the US and Europe, we will need two Earths to feed us all. We are rapidly cutting down rainforests for agriculture, cattle farming, and palm oil production, which is not sustainable. Chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, stroke) are closely related to the foods we eat and are also the most common causes of premature death around the world. To reduce chronic diseases and feed a growing world population, many of us should transition to a healthier and more sustainable, plant-based diet. Additionally, new infectious diseases will be an even greater risk in the coming decades with so many people eating a meat-heavy diet due to increased interactions with wildlife – as we destroy their homes in the forests to grow the many animal products humans want to eat. To prevent both chronic and infectious diseases and agriculturally induced climate change, it is absolutely necessary that we transition to a more environmentally sustainable and healthy diet.

We each use 150 plastic bottles and 300 single-use plastic bags every year. Very few of these get recycled. Plastic is used in everything because it is light, cheap, disposable, and virtually indestructible. Nearly 380 million tons of plastic are produced every year. Plastic is made from oil, natural gas, and other petroleum-derived chemicals that do not biodegrade and persist in the environment for hundreds or thousands of years. Every year nearly 9 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans, most of it single use, where it breaks down into small pieces known as microplastics, leaching chemicals (like BPA, styrene, and PCBs) into the ocean. Animals sometimes mistake microplastics for food and ingest them. This can block their digestive tracts leading to starvation, or allow chemicals and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) attached to the plastics to concentrate in their flesh and fats. When other animals (and humans) eat these smaller animals, chemical toxins – carcinogens and endocrine disruptors – bioaccumulate up the food chain and can affect health and fertility. Plastics also harm (or kill) coral reefs, fish, and other marine animals due to entanglement. We can and should reduce our use of plastics.