We sit down with Dr. Tushar Mehta to talk about the global impact of animal agriculture. Dr. Mehta is an ER physician working in Brampton and Georgetown, Ontario, and has practiced family and addictions medicine in the past. Over the years he has worked with Project Canoe - a Toronto-based organization serving youth. He's also conducted medical outreach with village schools in India, and works with health education Project Haiti.Along with a small team, Dr. Mehta founded Plant Based Data (plantbaseddata.org), an online database which collects and organizes the most important academic and institutional literature regarding the impact plant diet on health, environment and food security, including the role of animal agriculture in creating pandemics.In this episode we also discuss:How our food choices impact our environment, and how our food systems work.The amount of resources like land use ad fresh water usage that go into raising animals and growing crops.How does animal agriculture stack up to other greenhouse gas emitters and other side-effects like ocean dead zones, water pollution, species extinction, and biodiversity loss.Food insecurity, poverty, and environmental racism.How our treatment of and relationship to animals can lead to zoonotic disease like COVID-19. What we can learn from past zoonotic diseases like SARs and MERs that can help us better understand COVID-19 and potential future diseases.Socials:InstagramTwitterFacebookPlantbaseddata.org