My journey to sustainable eating started about 5 years ago. I can't pinpoint exactly what prompted me to start paying more attention to the environmental impact of my diet, because at the time I was not the climate advocate I am today. It's not a specific documentary that I watched and created an "ah ah" moment. I started reducing my meat and fish intake overtime, and changed my shopping habits - think local, in season, with minimal packaging.
I used to call myself a flexitarian, but disliked the term, because it was confusing people, it didn't fit in a "box" and it would get easily dismissed as being yet another food fade. "Why can't you just decide if you eat meat or not?"
But it's a lot more socially accepted now as more and more people are better informed about environmental issues with food, and have significantly reduced their meat and/or fish intake.
I now call myself a "climatarian" which describes more accurately my food choices. It's not a perfect term though, because it does not embody my other personal reasons for reducing meat (ethics and animal cruelty) and fish (overfishing)
I want to highlight that I am far from a "perfect" diet from a climate standpoint. I still eat meat (1-2 times / week), fish (1-2 times / month) and dairy regularly.
I don't think I will ever go full vegan, but I am aiming to reduce my consumption further, to a point I deem "sustainable" - though that is very hard to define.
To get to the next level, it would help to have better support from society, such as:
Eating a more climate-friendly diet is one of the most powerful actions you can take at an individual level. Here are the core principles I try apply consistently to my diet-related decisions: