Last month, in his historic U.N. address, Pope Francis put the campaign for the Earth back on the front page, asserting that “a true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

The pontiff not only reiterated the call for action that he had sounded earlier this year in his sweeping encyclical on the environment but also threw down the gauntlet for the upcoming 21^st U.N. Climate Change Conference. “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,” he wrote.

When world leaders convene in Paris in late November, it will be with the overdue goal of leaving with a pledge from nearly 200 countries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The pope’s commitment to protecting the environment—a bold appeal that resonated with millions of people—is music to the ears of vegans who help save the Earth every time they sit down to a meal.

Eating animal products hurts the environment in just about every way possible. More than 50 percent of global greenhouse gases are caused by livestock agriculture. One cow used for milk can consume 50 gallons of water daily, so it takes 683 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk and more than 2,400 gallons of water (and 10 pounds of grain) to produce 1 pound of beef. Runoff from factory farms and livestock grazing is a leading pollutant of our rivers and lakes. In the U.S., 80 percent of agricultural land—nearly half the land mass of the lower 48—is used to raise animals for food and grow crops to feed them. Some 17 percent of air-fouling fossil-fuel energy is sucked up by the agricultural industry.

Global meat production has nearly quadrupled since 1963, from 78 to 308 million tons annually. The world’s population, now 7.2 billion, is projected to reach 9.6 billion in 2050.

What can you do to heed the pope’s call to save the planet? For starters, go vegan. It’s good for the environment, good for your health—a plant-based diet is linked to lower rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and some types of cancer—and even better for animals. More than 56 billion farmed animals are killed each year: Every second, more than 3,000 die in slaughterhouses around the world.

Vegan eating: It does a world of good.