IntroductionThe environmental impact of a diet based on animal products is well documented and is the source of much debate. According to a controversial United Nations report titled Livestock's Long Shadow (2006), “The livestock sector emerges as one of the two or three main contributors to the most serious environmental problems, on every scale from local to global.” For those committed to reducing their environmental impact, one solution may be to switch to a vegetarian or even vegan diet. It is not necessarily ethical to prescribe a single way of being to environmentalists around the world, especially without thinking about cultural differences. However, committed environmentalists should adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet, with some caveats. This is because (1) animal products are an inefficient source of protein in terms of environmental impact, (2) greenhouse gas emissions from an animal product-based diet are significantly higher than from a plant-based diet and (3) animals are part of the environment and its treatment is as important as the treatment of the planet as a whole. Different opinions among environmentalistsEnvironmentalists engage in many causes in their fight to protect nature. Their tactics can include direct actions, petitions, media stunts and boycotts. Boycotting a company involved in unethical behavior can be very effective and one of the simplest and most direct ways to exercise your power as a consumer, as the majority of the world's population is embedded in the capitalist economic system. Three areas where research has shown we contribute the majority of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are transportation, home energy, and food, all areas where committed environmentalists are... half the paper.. .rental dietary protein choices, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 78, p. 664s-668s.Stepaniak J, 2000, Being vegan: living with conscience, conviction and compassion, Lowell House, Los Angeles.Tukker, A & Jansen, B 2006, 'Environmental impacts of products: a detailed review of studies', Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 159–182. Waller, D, 1997, 'A vegetarian critique of deep and social ecology', Ethics and the Environment, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 187-197.Weber, CL & Matthews, HS 2008, 'Food miles and related climate impacts of food choices in the United States', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 42, no. 10, pp. 3508-3513.Wells, T 2005, The world in your kitchen, New Internationalist Publications, Oxford.Yacoubou, J 2011, 'Ecocriticism as vegetarian activism', Vegetarian Journal, vol, 30, No. 2, pp. 12-14.