While the current system makes food cheaper and more accessible, the unaccounted for damage on both the environment and human health comes at a far greater cost down the line

Communities across the world are becoming more interested in eating a healthy, nutritious, and low-footprint diet. But there remains a big disconnect between consumers, producers, and the impact current production and consumption patterns have on the environment and climate. What can you do? The good news is that fighting climate change can start with each meal.

From clearing forests to producing fertilizer to packaging food, global food production now contributes about 43 to 57 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), according to a TEEBAgriFood Report due out June 5.

Corporations and large-scale producers are often subsidized to grow select staple crops, which are typically grown in monocultures—making the crops cheaper to produce, but also stripping the soils of nutrients. Today, one-third of the Earth’s soil is moderately to highly degraded, leaving our food with fewer nutrients to nourish us.