The world is facing an unprecedented climate crisis and everyone is running out of time to reverse course before it is too late. One of the biggest ways you can make a personal impact on the health of the planet is to change your diet. These are six ways that changing your diet can help the environment.

1. Create a Market for Healthy Food

The more people start purchasing healthier food, the more people who sell food will produce it. Purchase sustainably and locally grown organic produce whenever you can. Buy produce that is in season, instead of food that has been trucked in from hundreds of miles away. Shop at local farmers' markets and buy directly from local farmers whenever you can. The more middlemen you can cut out of the food chain, the fewer fossil fuels are burned transporting food to the grocery store. If you lack access to seasonal produce in your area, consider making up for nutrients you might miss by using the Thrive patch. Read these Thrive reviews to see if it sounds like a good option for you.

2. Eat Less Processed Food

Processed foods require more resources to produce than natural or minimally processed foods. This means more fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity to run the machines, more fuel is burned to transport raw materials, and more packaging waste is generated. Make whole foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, the focus of your diet. Start a garden to grow some of your own food or join a local food cooperative.

3. Encourage Local Institutions To Shop Local

Make a bigger impact by encouraging local grocery stores to stock and sell more sustainably produced local products. Petition your school board to make eco-friendly food choices a major focus of school lunch programs. Call your representatives and ask them to shut down factory farms that practice environmentally unsound agriculture. Consider using tools such as Greenpeace's Greenwire to start petitions.

4. Eat Less Meat

Set a goal to reduce your meat and cheese consumption by five meals per week and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Not eating meat, or at least not eating as much of it, is one of the best food choices you can make for the environment. The production of chicken, pork and beef generates as much greenhouse gas as all of the cars on the road today. Additionally, clear-cutting land to create pasture for cows has significantly contributed to deforestation. Make fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains the center of your diet. If you must eat meat, use it as a complement, rather than the centerpiece of your meal.

5. Educate Your Friends

Even many environmentally conscious people are unaware of how much their food choices affect the environment. Point your friends towards scientifically backed resources that demonstrate the harm being done to the environment by factory farming, processed foods and meat production. Tell them about ways they can have a positive impact by making changes to their diet.

6. Educate Your Community

Once you have your friends on board, find ways to spread your message to the community at large. Talk to your school board. Try to convince them to let you host an educational event for students or help organize environmentally-minded student groups. Speak to your local health-care providers and social workers. Talk to your local elected officials. Start a local activist group.

The world is running out of time to make the changes needed to avert a climate disaster. However, there are still things you can do to help save the planet. Changing your diet is just one of them.