Citations

Below are citations for the information on this website and contained in the Greener by Default one pager.

79% of Gen Zers are “eager to go meatless” more often.

Schroeder, B. (2019, September 13). How Generation Z Is Creating The Opportunity Of A Lifetime. Pay Attention As This Is Not A Fad But A Deep Long-Lasting Trend. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernhardschroeder/2019/09/13/how-generation-z-is-creating-the-opportunity-of-a-lifetime-pay-attention-as-this-is-not-a-fad-but-a-deep-long-lasting-trend/?sh=4a677d642bf8

More than half of Millennials identify as flexitarians.

Wunsch, N.-G. (2020, November 26). Americans interested in alternative diets, by generation 2018. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/875526/share-alternative-diet-us-generation/

70% of Millennials are more likely to work for a company with a strong sustainability plan.

Peters, A. (2019, February 14). Millennials would earn less to work at a sustainable company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90306556/most-millennials-would-take-a-pay-cut-to-work-at-a-sustainable-company

Four of the most expensive health conditions for employers are related to diet, including heart disease and diabetes. Combined, lost productivity from heart disease, diabetes, and stroke cost $525 billion annually. 

Asay, G. R. B. (2016). Absenteeism and Employer Costs Associated With Chronic Diseases and Health Risk Factors in the US Workforce. Preventing Chronic Disease, 13. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.150503

Plant-forward meals can cut health care costs and absenteeism while improving employee well-being and productivity.

Agarwal, U., Mishra, S., Xu, J., Levin, S., Gonzales, J., & Barnard, N. D. (03/15). A multicenter randomized controlled trial of a nutrition intervention program in a multiethnic adult population in the corporate setting reduces depression and anxiety and improves quality of life: The GEICO study. American Journal of Health Promotion: AJHP, 29(4), 245–254. https://doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.130218-QUAN-72

“Lactose Normal”
Food Empowerment Project founder lauren Ornelas coined the term "lactose normal" to reflect the fact that most people of the global majority are unable to digest lactose and there is nothing “abnormal” about it.

Lactose Intolerance*—Food Empowerment Project. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2024, from https://foodispower.org/access-health/lactose-intolerance/

Globally 60 to 75% of people are lactose intolerant.

Storhaug, C. L., Fosse, S. K., & Fadnes, L. T. (2017). Country, regional, and global estimates for lactose malabsorption in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 2(10), 738–746.

Approximately 30-50 million US adults experience some degree of lactose intolerance, the majority of whom are people of color.

Lactose Intolerance: Information for Health Care Providers. (2016). Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

31% of non-white Americans have recently reduced their meat consumption, compared to 23% of Americans overall.

Mccarthy, J., & Dekoster, S. (2020, January 27). Nearly One in Four in U.S. Have Cut Back on Eating Meat. Gallup.Com. https://news.gallup.com/poll/282779/nearly-one-four-cut-back-eating-meat.aspx

Research shows that restaurants that transition to plant-based menus can significantly cut food costs.

MacKenzie, K. (2023, January 27). Opinion | An apple a day might actually keep the doctor away. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/27/healthy-food-prescription-policy/

Fox, K. (2018, April 4). These Restaurants Removed Animal Products From Their Menus And Went Vegan—Here Are The Results. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katrinafox/2018/04/04/these-restaurants-removed-animal-products-from-their-menus-and-went-vegan-here-are-the-results/

Serving plant-based defaults can increase their take rate by 60%.

Hansen, P. G., Schilling, M., & Malthesen, M. S. (2021). Nudging healthy and sustainable food choices: Three randomized controlled field experiments using a vegetarian lunch-default as a normative signal. Journal of Public Health, 43(2), 392–397. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdz154

Plant-based defaults can decrease food’s carbon footprint by 62% and water footprint by 35%.

Resource Guide Page 26

Over the course of a year, a company with 1,000 employees that serves lunch every weekday can save over 8 million gallons of water and 250,000 kg of CO2 eq.

Resource Guide Page 26

Our food system accounts for over ⅓ of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Food systems account for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions | UN News. (2021, March 9). United Nations News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086822

Adopting plant-forward diets is necessary in order to meet the Paris Climate Agreement.

Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S., Garnett, T., Tilman, D., DeClerck, F., Wood, A., Jonell, M., Clark, M., Gordon, L. J., Fanzo, J., Hawkes, C., Zurayk, R., Rivera, J. A., Vries, W. D., Sibanda, L. M., … Murray, C. J. L. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393(10170), 447–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4

Clark, M. A., Domingo, N. G. G., Colgan, K., Thakrar, S. K., Tilman, D., Lynch, J., Azevedo, I. L., & Hill, J. D. (2020). Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets. Science, 370(6517), 705–708. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba7357

Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987–992. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216