Dr. Marilyn Kroplick has led In Defense of Animals as President since 2011, championing the interconnected welfare of animals, people, and the environment. Drawing from her expertise as a board-certified psychiatrist, an award-winning political activism photographer, and a Stanford-certified sustainability specialist, she speaks during the Food Day event in West Hollywood for LA Climate Week for an audience of city leaders, environmental professionals, sustainability experts, activists, and local business leaders. Read her speech to explore how our food choices drive climate action.
As you know, we are in the middle of a crisis — one that is threatening our future, our world’s ecosystems, wildlife, and our entire shared planet! This is not a crisis that is coming; it is already here! And the longer we wait, the worse it gets. For decades, we have known the science. We have seen the reports, the data, the warnings. And yet, we still allow systems that destroy our world to thrive. Why is that?
The answer is simple: because the people in power are protecting their profits, their convenience, and their power. They do not want to change. But we have no choice.
Animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and it's worsening the climate crisis. World Resources Institute (WRI) reports that 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture.
However, studies differ. Some report 51% if all indirect factors are included -- such as deforestation, feed production, food transport, waste disposal, fires, and land-use changes. Differing percentiles confuse. However, it’s become clear that animal agriculture emissions are significantly higher than previously thought. Now, animal agriculture is the major driver of the climate crisis!
Have you noticed—the media rarely reports on animal agriculture as an important factor in a worsening climate? Why is that? The meat and dairy industries are incredibly powerful and politically connected. Spending billions on lobbying—their job is to keep negative information away from the public, to keep animal subsidies flowing, and to keep policies in place that positively support animal agriculture.
What is also hidden from public scrutiny is the high environmental cost of meat that is heavily subsidized by our government. If prices reflected the true health, climate, and environmental costs, meat prices would be 20 to 60% higher in price. The truth is that every burger and every piece of meat we consume contributes to emissions, to deforestation, and to the suffering of both humans and other animals.
Emissions from animal agriculture are highly damaging to the planet because they include powerful methane and nitrous oxide in addition to CO2. Domestic farmed animals emit massive amounts of methane. Methane is 80 times more potent compared to CO2 over a 20-year period (over a 100-year period, methane’s warming potency dwindles to 20 times). Although less potent, CO2 stays around for centuries.
In 2024, the World Bank published Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System. The report emphasized that animal agriculture’s effect on climate change has been underreported and underfinanced--only 2.4% spent on mitigation solutions. The report recommends shifting away from “wasteful and harmful” subsidies for red meat and dairy and toward lower-emission plant-based alternatives.
People need to stop believing that they need animals in their diet.
The truth is, we can stop- we must! We cannot adapt our way out of this climate crisis. Otherwise, conditions are set up to deteriorate even further as the world attempts to feed a global population that will grow by 2 billion in 2050.
More food means more land use and more related emissions—all exacerbating global heating. In turn, global heating negatively affects agricultural yields. To compensate, food producers intensify their food-producing activities, causing even higher GHG emissions in a vicious circle.
Meanwhile, conventional agriculture degrades soil and ecosystems and contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, extreme climate events, and air and water pollution. Our future may seem bleak with irreversible destruction, extreme weather events, and increased human suffering from chronic illnesses- cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
We have no time to waste—scientists at the World Bank report that our current food production system is unsustainable! The climate crisis is here—it’s up to us to fix it. We must act as if the house is on fire — because it is!
In our hearts, we must demand truth, we must demand change, and we must demand it now. Our food system must be fixed because it’s making our planet ill.
In Defense of Animals has many programs that address plant-based eating and sustainability. We are in the early stages of talking with the corporations of Ponterra and Microsoft to restore ecosystems, improve diversity, and create carbon credits by reforesting former grazing land in the western Azuero Peninsula, Panama.
We are also in the early planning stages of creating a tree-planting program at Freedom Farms, our vegan sanctuary in Creston, California. This January, we started a Vegan Wake-up Call with resources and vegan mentor support groups.
Also, we are part of a coalition pressuring banks to redirect investments away from animal agriculture. We collaborate with the Plant Based Treaty, urging governments and charities to fund plant-based initiatives and discourage animal gifting. You can take action by signing our alerts and making a donation to support our vegan advocacy.
