Jess Lundie is the creator of Openly Balanced, a blog about balancing life and sustainability, and what it means to live consciously in a modern world.

If you could only do one thing to help the planet, what would it be?

Let’s face it.   We all live busy lives.   I don’t think I know a single adult who would say that they have enough time in the day to get everything done.   Most days, the last thing we need is one more item on our never-ending to do lists, one more thing to worry about, one more thing to feel guilty about.

I think that’s one of the things that environmental and sustainability advocates get wrong.  They bombard people with too many things.   Every time I see one of those lists of “100 Ways to Go Green,” I wonder if they’re really helping.   Because research demonstrates that the human brain works like a muscle.  It can only handle so many things at a time, and engaging willpower to resist temptation or build new routines actually takes real energy.   Additionally, most of us are better at picking one thing and changing it, rather than trying to take on everything at once.

But how do I know where to start?  Fortunately, there is an answer for that.   And there is one small change you can make that really will make a big difference.

Eat Less Meat

The biggest small thing you can do to help the planet is… that’s right, eat less meat.  (Also, redefine your relationship with consumerism.   But I suppose that is more of a “biggest big thing” you can do.)

Meat – or, more accurately, the way we now produce the majority of our meat – is bad for the planet.   Factory farmed meat, and beef in particular, requires a huge amount of fossil fuels to produce.  Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are also responsible for soil degradation, water pollution, and a whole host of supergerms evolving in an environment saturated in antibiotics.   We won’t even go into the animal cruelty issues except to say that it is a strange form of mercy that feed animals in the CAFO system are slaughtered so young.   No creature should have to live like that.

It should come as no surprise that factory farmed meat isn’t actually very good for you.   Grain-fed meat has a higher ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids.   Omega-3s are so important to our health that we are now adding it into other processed food products and taking them as supplements.  It is well-known that Omega-3s come from certain types of fish, but we used to get it from pasture-raised meat as well.  Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to pay extra to get them injected into our kids’ juice boxes?  The fat content of grain-fed meat is also higher than that of its grass-fed counterpart, and a higher percentage of the fat in grain-fed meat is unhealthy saturated fats rather than healthy unsaturated fat.  (Yes, fat = healthy, so long as it’s the right kind of fat.)

It’s not hard to eat less meat.   Order a salad or pasta instead of a hamburger.  Ask for your salad without chicken.   Pass on the pepperoni and put mushrooms on your pizza instead.  And don’t worry about protein.   If you’re like most Americans, you already eat way more meat than you need to for health purposes.   Cutting back a little bit isn’t going to send you into protein deprivation.  On the contrary, it will probably be excellent for your health.

Eat Meat Consciously

When you do eat meat, take a look at where you’re getting your meat from.  The up-front price tag of meat in the grocery store is impressively low.  But the only reason industrial meat providers can afford that is because they’re externalizing their costs.  We don’t pay for our cheap meat in the checkout line – we pay for it as healthcare costs and devastating environmental degradation (which also translates into human health costs).  In the long run we’ll be paying a much higher price for that for that $0.99/lb hamburger.

Depending on where you live, you might have great options for grass-fed and finished beef and pasture-raised lamb, goat, pork and poultry.  Check your local farmer’s market, ask around, or look up your area on Eat Wild.  It takes a little care and advance planning, and the up-front cost is higher (except that you’re eating less meat, right?), but the health and environmental benefits of finding sustainable sources for your meat will pay you back in dividends for the rest of your life.

Don’t Stop There

Alright, so now you’re eating less meat and paying attention to how your meat is produced.  Don’t stop there.

The fact is that the “going green” culture is actually part of the problem.  People change their lightbulbs and think they’re finished, that they’ve done their part.  Sadly, that is far from the case.  Those little “light green” fixes may in fact be distracting people from advocating for more meaningful change.

So start with just one change and give yourself a pat on the back for getting started.  But once you’re comfortable with it and it seems “normal,” try changing something else.  Everything you do is a step in the right direction, so long as you remember it’s just part of the journey, not the destination.