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"High school senior Emily Abrams is an environmental activist on a mission: to save the world, one meal at time. Her book, Don&amp;#39;t Cook the Planet, is out today, and features recipes from food world bigwigs like Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Tom Colicchio, and more. Below, she tells us how what we eat can have a huge impact on the environment, plus shares her mom&amp;#39;s famous chocolate chip cookie recipe.\n\nWhether it&amp;#39;s choosing foods that are nutritious or selecting delicious meal combinations, everything we eat is a choice\u2014and all of our choices have consequences. If we pick foods that are high in protein, it builds muscle; if we pick foods that are high in sugar, we get quick bursts of energy. But guess what: Our food choices also affect the planet.\n\nEvery single thing we eat has a carbon footprint, or as I like to call it, a &amp;quot;carbon foodprint.&amp;quot; Our food&amp;#39;s carbon footprint is measured by the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced through growing, rearing, farming, processing, transporting, storing, cooking, and disposing of what&amp;#39;s on our plate.\n\nOn average, fruits and vegetables in the United States travel approximately 1,500 miles before they reach the dinner table. By eating locally-grown organic produce instead of produce flown in from other countries, we can drastically reduce our carbon foodprint. And because it doesn&amp;#39;t have to travel far, we also receive fresher and more delicious food. Farmers markets are a particularly good place to source produce since they provide the opportunity to ask the farmer directly if any chemicals were used in the growing process.\n\nPerhaps even more important than where we buy our food is what we buy. According to the Environmental Working Group, lamb, beef, and cheese have the highest carbon footprint, while raw fruits and vegetables have the lowest. Making mindful choices such as instituting &amp;quot;Meatless Mondays&amp;quot; can help reduce our impact on the planet.\n\nOther simple ways to decrease our foodprint? Bringing reusable grocery bags to the store, avoiding Styrofoam-packaged products that aren&amp;#39;t recyclable, and growing your own spices on your windowsill. Switching from bottled water to tap water is another easy way to make a difference. A study done by the Pacific Institute found that it took about 17 million barrels of oil to create the amount of bottled water that Americans consumed in 2006. That number is equivalent to the amount of energy needed to fuel 1 million cars for an entire year.\n\nIt&amp;#39;s our generation&amp;#39;s responsibility to take action and lead the fight against climate change. We can&amp;#39;t save the planet overnight, but integrating these approaches into our daily lives really does make a difference. And while we won&amp;#39;t always be perfect, knowing that our choices can have a positive impact on the planet is totally empowering. And now? Some treats!\n\n\n\nMy Mom&amp;#39;s Chocolate Chip Cookies\n\nIngredients:\n\n 2 sticks butter\n\n 3/4 cup brown sugar\n\n 2/3 cup white sugar\n\n 2 eggs\n\n 1 teaspoon vanilla\n\n 1 teaspoon baking soda\n\n 1teaspoon salt\n\n 2 2/3 cups floor\n\n 2 cup chocolate chips\n\nDirections:\n\n Soften butter in microwave to the point where it is easy to blend without lumps, but not liquid; set aside.\n\nPut brown sugar and white sugar into a mixing bowl. Stir in the butter and mix well with a wooden spoon. (If you use a hand mir the batter and the cookies will be thinner.) Add in eggs; stir. Add in vanilla, baking soda, and salt; stir. Mix in 1 cup of the flour; stir. Add in the rest of the flour, and stir. Pour in chips, stir.\n\nBake at 235\u00B0F. The key to baking the best cookies is taking them out of the oven at precisely the right time (and this will vary from oven to oven). Take them out as soon as they no longer look &amp;quot;wet&amp;quot; but before they are brown. They will look undercooked, but they will continue to bake for a few minutes on the hot cookie sheet when you take them out of the oven.\n\nRecipe reprinted with permission from Triumph Books."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.teenvogue.com/story/dont-cook-the-planet-emily-abrams>