What we eat matters
production, transport, leftovers
meat production generates a huge amount of greenhouses gases and it takes a lot of water too. food needs to be carried to the consumer, so as often as possible, try and select items produced closest to you. finally, food often comes in plastic containers which will take hundreds of years to degrade and will clog our rivers and oceans for generations to come.whenever possible, select your vegetables form the loose stalls.
diet
because the production of meat and dairy has a heavy environmental cost, a vegan diet is best.you might find it difficult, so being vegetarian is a lot easier and a great step forward.
failing that, cutting meat and dairy from your diet will help too. (that is called flexitarianism.) you can obtain proteins from lentils, beans, soy (in the form of tofu, milk, etc.).
milk and dairy substitutes and are getting better all the time! if you miss the taste or feel of meat, these companies produce popular replacements:
Quorn, Vivera, Linda McCartney, Cauldron Foods (UK only), Beyond Meat, Supermarkets also have their own products, for example Iceland No Bull burgers (UK only), so it's worth having a browse.
impact
food production will harm the environment when done unsustainbly. For example the amazon forest is being destroyed to grow soy to feed US cattle. palm oil has caused the loss of habitat for many species, including the very iconic orang utan ape in south east asia. excessive use of water causes desertification in Africa.we need to preserve habitats to maintain biodiversity: it's wrong to kill off entire species and it is very dangerous indeed to damage food chains we may not even know we rely on for our own survival.