Turns out eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet (i.e. Yummm!) isn't just good for us - it's also good for the embattled heavenly sphere we call home.

Now that global warming is an undisputable scientific fact (see Time magazine, April 3, 2006 if you're not already doing everything you can to reduce greenhouse gases), and the effects threaten to overwhelm our comfortable existence (tsunamis, hurricanes, threats to the food supply, killer poison ivy, instant ice age, etc.), the question is, what can we do about it? As individuals in our own lives, and as activists for our kids.

Until recently, the trendy way to show your concern was to buy a Prius or other hybrid electric car. And the statistics confirm this as a responsible choice, if you have a family of four or fewer, and your dog is smaller than a chinchilla.

And you can turn down the thermostat, opt for products that aren't overpackaged, and turn off TVs and computers and stereos when you aren't using them. Oh, and don't forget compact fluorescent lights.

But given the gravity of the situation, I wondered, what's the single biggest thing I could do for the planet I'm bequeathing to my children? Short of moving into the woods and wearing a loincloth?

The answer comes from the research of two professors at the University of Chicago: eat produce, not animal products. Gidon Eschel and Pamela Martin crunched the numbers and determined that for each individual who transitions from the standard American diet to a vegan diet keeps 1.5 tons of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere. That's like trading in your SUV for a Prius. Get the whole family to go along, and you're preventing some serious damage to our Mother.

Here's an article from ABC News about their research.

And for your number-crunchers out there, here's a link to the research paper.