Climate change helper | sustainable earth eating program

A Sustainable Earth Eating ProgramWelcome to Climate Diet

At Climate Diet, we shed light on a critical, yet often-overlooked climate change culprit—animal agriculture. Recognized as the second-largest producer of human-made greenhouse gas emissions, animal farming is also the leading cause of deforestation, pollution, biodiversity loss, and soil erosion.

While seeking environmental-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels is paramount, it’s equally important for humanity to choose a more sustainable, plant-based diet. Together, we can tackle the dual challenges of climate change and food insecurity.

Want to join our cause? Sign our Meat Down Pledge or support our mission by donating to our non-profit organization.

History

In 2021, our founder Jane DeMarines was planning her retirement after years of leadership in public affairs, media relations, fundraising, and Federal program management. That’s when she stumbled upon a United Nations report highlighting the severe environmental impact of animal agriculture and meat production.

As an 18-year vegetarian, Jane was stunned to discover that meat production was a monumental contributor to climate change. Realizing that if she wasn’t aware of this, most of the general public likely weren’t either, she discovered that only around 10% of Americans were aware of this issue, compared to 30% in European countries.

That’s when Jane leveraged her media-savvy skills and management experience to amplify this issue, founding Sustainable Earth Eating and the Climate Diet Project—a national non-profit committed to creating awareness, outreach, and educational programs about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment.

Our Mission

We are on a mission to educate and inspire individuals about the profound effects of their food choices on the planet’s climate. Animal agriculture’s influence on the environment is not only extreme but also unsustainable, leading to detrimental consequences that affect our world. Join the Climate Diet team, and help us in our quest to stop further environmental degradation and reduce global food insecurity.

Join the Climate Diet Project in Creating a Sustainable Future

At the Climate Diet Project, we believe that each one of us holds the power to make a difference. By embracing a sustainable, plant-based diet, we can positively impact our health, the environment, and the future of our planet. Get involved today, and be part of the solution.

The Real Cost of Food

According to a 2018 study, 12.4 million acres of forest—the equivalent of more than five Yellowstone National Parks—are cut down each year for industrial agriculture.

“If diet-related disease prevalence rates were reduced to be comparable to countries such as Canada, health care costs could be reduced by $250 billion/year.”

– True Cost of Food, Rockefeller Foundation Study

The current global food system is the primary cause of diversity loss, with agriculture being the identified threat to 86% of species at risk of extinction.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.

– Albert Einstein

SEE Board of Directors

Jane DeMarines

20-year vegetarian, and award winning executive, fundraiser, advocate, builder of partnerships and memberships, Jane M. DeMarines is dedicated to advancing causes related to environmental conservation and green community development. As founding Executive Director of National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA, Ms. DeMarines rewrote legislation and worked with key U.S. House and Senate staff to advance a “Green Policy” agenda.

She has eight years of federal agency experience, including with the Dept of Homeland Security, addressing climate change-related disasters. Her lengthy career includes managerial and executive positions for banking, housing, and community development. She has served on the boards of several advocacy and volunteer organizations. A resident of the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C., she developed a Green Party for the Citizens’ Association, with an environmental platform; co-managed a conservation coalition focused on urban forest preservation; testified on tree legislation at Montgomery County Council hearing, certified by “Casey Trees,” and participated in Potomac River conservancy through two coalitions.

She continues her commitment to improving Planet Earth at the Climate Diet Project.

Edgar Ndjatou

Edgar Ndjatou is the Principal of Officium, LLC, a consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He is also the Executive Director of the non-profit, Workplace Fairness. Edgar is a reduced meat consumer.

Deborah McElroy

Deborah (Debby) McElroy currently assists Airports Council International-North America with special prjects, after retiring as Executive Vice President in December 2018 following 12 years of service with the association. She previously worked with the Regional Airline Association, the U.S> International Trade Associations and Department of Labor. A graduate of the University of Maryland, with a degree in economics, McElroy has more that 35 years of experience in aviation, regulatory and trade issues. She is a reduced meat consumer.

Sydney Hansford

Sydney is currently an accounting analyst at Bloomberg Tax, monitoring for new developments from various standard-setters. She previously worked in public accounting and has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Masters in Taxation from Arizona State University. Sydney is a reduced meat consumer.

Andrea Mones

I have eaten a vegan diet since I was 30 years old. My motivation was my neurological health. I don’t hold an ethical or philosophical position for limiting myself to these choices. Rather, I started because there was no medical answer to my physiological problems. After seeking consultation with a nutritional counselor, within four months, I could tell my condition had improved. Now, 43 years later, I have achieved successful aging. I can “fast walk, lead an independant life, have emotional vitality, and am very healthy.” (all levels within optimal range of those components that are tested), and no arthritis, or diseases. And the side benefit? I’m improving the environment at the same time.

Dr. Anne Schnare

“I am joining the Board because I want to learn more about the relationship between diet and climate change, and the role that financial institutions can play in supporting environmental sustainability efforts through their ESG investments.”

Dr. Ann B. Schnare is President of AB Schnare Associates LLC, a consulting firm specializing in housing and mortgage finance. She provides a range of consulting services focusing on the mortgage and housing markets, financial reform, the secondary mortgage market, credit scoring and credit risk, and fair lending. Her clients include financial institutions, trade associations, law firms, consulting companies, and credit bureaus. From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Schnare staffed a CEO-level policy forum comprised of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders that addressed a variety of policy and business issues related to mortgage regulation and financial reform. She has also assisted clients attempting to create a secondary market for mortgages to recent immigrants, developed automated underwriting models for nontraditional borrowers, and evaluated the potential use of so-called “alternative data” in the assessment of credit risk .

Prior to starting her own firm in 2000, Dr. Schnare was Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations at Freddie Mac. During her tenure at Freddie Mac, she served on the company’s operating committee; directed the company’s corporate communications, industry relations, issues management, and philanthropic giving; and ran its research division. Dr. Schnare has served as Director of Housing and Public Finance at the Urban Institute and managed several large government consulting practices. In addition, Dr. Schnare was Chair of the Center for Housing Policy from 2000 through 2006, and also served on the Board of Volunteers of America National Service. Dr. Schnare holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and a BA, summa cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis.

Deborah Strauss Lynch

Washington journalist covering environment and agriculture with a particular focus on global biodiversity.

She was the former Executive Director of Genetic Resources Communications, that published the award-winning international journal: DIVERSITY. Such eminent contributors included Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug and Pulitzer-prize winning Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. DIVERSITY was awarded the Vavilov Medal from the Russian government. She continued her career as a consultant to the World Bank and the Council for Science and the Environment.

Larry Frank

Currently a Writer and Editor with the Bloomberg News Company, L.A. Frank has a degree in communications/journalism from the University of Maryland, Mr. Frank has more than 25 years of experience in publications and online written materials focusing on a variety of issues including tax and related federal developments as well as Native American housing advocacy. He is a reduced meat consumer who now enjoys the impossible (burgers).

Nick Rudd

Nick Rudd is a Middle School Science teacher in Maryland. He is a reduced meat consumer and avid Tai Chi practitioner. He enjoys helping others, teaching, tutoring, playing guitar, travel and learning languages. He favors healthy improvised meals almost always made without recipes.

Erin DeMarines

Erin is President and CEO of E-Fit Foods, a vegan energy bar and food company. Erin is also a vegan chef and appears on national shows as a vegan spokeswoman and entrepreneur.

Fabricio Zambranoick

Founder of Fabrizio & Sons Marble Restoration.
In 1998, I moved from New York City to Florida to open my business, seeking a better quality of life for my family.
My two sons now own and operate this business today.
After a long battle and a history of being overweight, including with type 2 diabetes, in 2013 at the age of 50, I changed my life and began a plant-based health journey. With consistency and determination, I reversed my obesity and diabetes. “FabTheVegan: The Plant Based Health Influencer LLC” was born. I now do public speaking, encouraging others to adopt a healthier lifestyle through plants and exercise.

SEE Advisory Board

Eric C. Lindstrom

Eric C Lindstrom, Executive Director of Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), started his career in the animal rights movement in the most unusual way which became the subject of two best-selling books: The Skeptical Vegan and Raising Vegan Kids. Raised by an Italian mother and Nana on meat-heavy Italian dishes, Lindstrom is the last person anyone would expect to go vegan. Then, in 2012 his wife challenged him to try vegan for 30-days which ultimately became a bet that Lindstrom, to this day, refuses to lose. Taking his passion for compassion to another level, Lindstrom started a vegan advertising and marketing firm and later sought a career where he could tie his business expertise to the animals. After four years as Program Manager (FARM) and Director of Marketing (Animal Outlook), Lindstrom was tapped for the Executive Director position at FARM, the nation’s first animal rights organization committed to end the use of animals for food.

GlenMerzer

Glen Merzer is a playwright, screenwriter, and author. He has authored or co-authored twelve books with a vegan message. His latest book, Food Is Climate: A Response to Al Gore, Bill Gates, Paul Hawken, & The Conventional Narrative on Climate Change, argues that the only way to reverse climate change is to eliminate animal agriculture, rewild grazing land, and protect the oceans.

Glen is also the author of Own Your Health (The Book Publishing Company, 2021), an examination of role of nutrition in health, told with humor and with personal anecdotes. Chef AJ contributed more than 75 recipes to the book.

Glen began his career in non-fiction as co-author, with Howard Lyman, of Mad Cowboy (Simon & Schuster, 1998). Glen is also co-author of The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss (2018) and Unprocessed (2011) by Chef AJ, as well as other books advocating plant-based eating. The Tenth Anniversary New Edition of Unprocessed has just been released.

Glen’s one novel is Off the Reservation, a political satire about a vegan congressman from the Midwest who runs for president. Off the Reservation was selected as one of the “Best Books of 2015–Indie” by Kirkus Reviews and one of “Our Favorite Books of 2015” by Progressive Magazine. Glen grew up in Bellmore, N.Y., and attended New College of Florida in Sarasota. You can find him at www.glenmerzer.com.

Dr. Sailesh Rao

Dr. Sailesh Rao has over three decades of professional experience and is the Founder and Executive Director of Climate Healers, a non-profit dedicated towards healing the Earth’s climate. A systems specialist with a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Dr. Rao worked on the internet communications infrastructure for twenty years after graduation. During this period, he blazed the trail for high speed signal processing chips and technologies for High Definition Television, real-time video communications and the transformation of early analog internet connections to more robust digital connections, while accelerating their speeds ten-fold. Today, over a billion internet connections deploy the communications protocol that he designed. He received five Exceptional Contribution Awards from AT&T Bell Laboratories between 1985 and 1991, a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff award in 1990, the Intel Principal Engineer Award in 2003, and the IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2013 for his technical contributions. He is the author of 22 peer-reviewed technical papers, 50 standards contributions, 10 US patents and 3 Canadian patents. He was the co-founder of Silicon Design Experts in 1991 which was acquired by Level One Communications in 1996 and which was later acquired by Intel Corporation in 1999 for $2.2 billion.

In 2006, he switched careers and became deeply immersed, full time, in solving the environmental crises affecting humanity. Dr. Rao is the author of two books, Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies and Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis, and an Executive Producer of several documentaries, The Human Experiment (2013), Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014), What The Health (2017), A Prayer for Compassion (2019), They’re Trying to Kill Us (2021), The End of Medicine (est. 2022), The Land of Ahimsa (est. 2022), Animals – A Parallel History (est. 2022) and Milked (2022). His work is featured in the award winning film, Countdown to Year Zero produced by Jane Velez-Mitchell and Unchained TV.

Dr. Rao is a Human, Earth and Animal Liberation (HEAL) activist, husband, dad and since 2010, a star-struck grandfather. He has promised his granddaughter, Kimaya Rainy Rao, that the world will be largely Vegan before she turns 16 in 2026, so that people will stop eating her relatives, the animals. He has faith that humanity will transform to keep his pinky promise to Kimaya, not just for ethical reasons, but also out of sheer ecological necessity. Along with Kimaya, Dr. Rao was the co-recipient of the inaugural Homo Ahimsa award from the Interfaith Vegan Coalition in 2021. He has formally taken the Ubuntu pledge to become Homo Ahimsa and the Liberation Pledge to accelerate the adoption of Veganism.

Dr. Rao’s Curriculum Vitae can be found here. To book him for podcasts and shows, please contact him here.

David E. Blockstein, PhD

David E. Blockstein, PhD, Co-Director, Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week, reaching more than 100,000 students in 70 countries, has joined SEE’s advisory board. Blockstein is an ecologist and conservation biologist at Bard College with more than 35 years of national leadership in science and the environment.

Blockstein has worked on a wide range of science and policy issues, including climate change and energy education, biodiversity policy, sustainability, increasing the representation of minorities in science, mechanisms to improve the linkages between science and decision making on environmental issues, and digital communication of scientific information on the environment. Notably, Blockstein worked with SEE Board member Deborah Strauss Lynch when she served as the executive editor of the academic journal, DIVERSITY. He has also formed and helped lead six non-profit organizations in environmental education, science, and policy. In addition, he has written federal legislation, organized congressional hearings and played an active role in many political campaigns.

My two sons now own and operate this business today.

After a long battle and a history of being overweight, including with type 2 diabetes, in 2013 at the age of 50, I changed my life and began a plant-based health journey. With consistency and determination, I reversed my obesity and diabetes. “FabTheVegan: The Plant Based Health Influencer LLC” was born. I now do public speaking, encouraging others to adopt a healthier lifestyle through plants and exercise.

Mark Rifkin

Mark Rifkin is a Registered Dietitian, and holds Master’s Degrees in health education and environmental science and policy. He specializes in practical applications of plant-based diets and implications for sustainability, policy and health. He is the author of a 2023 peer-reviewed article on implications of chronic disease and climate-related disasters on health care capacity and nutrition policy. Mark previously worked in policy for the Center for Biological Diversity, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, provided nutrition counseling, and worked in environmental health.