The PB &J Campaign

Yummy! I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So does Mom and she eats them almost every day. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are good for you and for the environment.

Check out the peanut butter and jelly that we eat. Mom usually eats it on rye bread, but occasionally she switches it up and eats it on wheat bread.

This peanut butter is so good and Mom lets me lick the knife after she finishes spreading the goodness on the bread. The jelly is made with agave instead of sugar and it is delicious.

But how could eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches be good for the environment? It's the PB & J Campaign! And since today is Meatless Monday, it is the perfect day to introduce another meatless option.

The premise behind the campaign is that any plant-based meal you eat instead of something based on meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products can have a big impact on the environment. But how? By reducing the impact of agriculture. We all know that eating a meat-based diet uses a lot of natural resources and creates a lot of waste. Animals are inefficient at converting plants into meat, milk, and eggs, so by not eating these things, we are using the maximum potential of plants.


This diagram of the flow of imputs through the human ecosystem is from the PB & J Campaign website. It shows that a lot goes into raising animals for food. It takes a lot of corn and soy to produce just one pound of beef, eggs, or milk. Since most of what goes into livestock comes out as waste, we are wasting food by trying to produce it. We are also wasting resources like fossil fuels, water, and land. Each step in the food chain requires a big layer of imputs to support it.

If we take out a layer, in this case the livestock layer, we shrink the base thus using a lot less resources to support us. Finite resources. This method of eating is cleaner all around from air, to water, to land quality. Better for us and better for the planet.

According to the PB & J Campaign website, the water it takes to produce the beef on one burger could produce peanuts for about 17 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's food for 17 instead of just one. And the land it takes to produce that burgercould produce peanuts for 19 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These figures show how inefficient it is to raise livestock.

The PB&J Campaign is an effort of private citizens concerned about the environment. They are trying to educate the public about the environmental destruction caused by eating a meat-based diet. Their mission is to combat environmental destruction by reducing the amount of animal products people eat. The PB&J Campaign approaches positive change one meal at a time by illuminating the differences one single dining decision can make. We can do it. One peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time.

If you eat just one peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of a meat based sandwich for lunch, you will save 2.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. You will also save 133 gallons of water. Wow! And how much land do you think you'll be saving? 24 square feet will be saved from deforestation, over-grazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution.

These statistics are per person so imagine what all of us could do if we joined the campaign. And just think about what will happen if we don't. It's our world, yours and mine. We share it with everything that lives here, yet we make the decisions that impact everything. Let's start making better decisions today, while there's still time. Join the PB & J Campaign today at http://www.pbjcampaign.org/ and of course, spread the word because everyone loves PB & J, don't they?