How veganism can save our planet The meat industry has been undoubtedly influential in our lives. We start to eat meat in early childhood and face it as an incredible nutrient for our bodies. This industry clouded our citizens. Our citizens are eating dea (2024)

FAQs

How has veganism impacted the meat industry? ›

Animal feed crop farmers may have to switch to growing legumes and other plant proteins to support the growing plant-based meat market, which comes with geographic and climatic limitations. Contract farmers that build steel barns for chickens and pigs may have to convert them into hemp or mushroom-growing buildings.

A plant-based diet requires only one third of the land needed to support a meat and dairy diet. With rising global food and water insecurity due to a myriad of environmental and socio-economic problems, there's never been a better time to adopt a more sustainable way of living.

Health benefits, when done right

Promote weight loss. Reduce your risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Lower your chances of getting certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer. Manage diabetes by lowering A1C levels.

Billions of farm animals would no longer be destined for our dinner plates and if we couldn't return them to the wild, they might be slaughtered, abandoned or taken into sanctuaries.

Today, the UN says meat and dairy (farmed livestock) accounts for 11.2% of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. But, if we all went vegan, scientists believe the world's food-related emissions might drop by 68% within 15 years, limiting global warming.

Simply put, the more people eat meat, the fewer people can be fed. For example, over 10 pounds of plant protein are used to produce one pound of beef protein. If these grains were fed to humans instead of animals, more food would be available for the 925 million people in chronic hunger worldwide.

If everyone switched to a vegetarian diet, which includes eating dairy and eggs but not meat, emissions would be reduced by 44 percent. A world vegan diet offers the best environmental benefits, decreasing emissions by a whopping 55 percent. Health benefits of a vegetarian world would be staggering.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that if everyone went vegan, global farmland use could be reduced by 75%, the size of the US, China, Australia and the EU combined. If our protein needs were met with soy instead of animals, deforestation would fall by 94%.

Veganism aims to reduce animal suffering and advocate for a more compassionate world by avoiding products made from animals. As such, veganism can be both a food and lifestyle choice. A vegan diet is made up of plant-based food options that replace products like meat, eggs, and cheese.

Remember, a vegan diet is not inherently healthy- what we can take away is that incorporating a robust variety of plant-based foods into the diet while avoiding processed foods and processed meats is the key to optimizing health benefits- whether or not you choose to eat meat.

What are the pros and cons of veganism? ›

Going vegan is one of the best things you can do to help stop animal cruelty. By refusing to pay for animal products, you reduce the demand for them, which ensures fewer animals are bred to suffer and die on farms and in slaughterhouses.

If we all gave up meat, around eight million fewer people would die each year, as a result of lower levels of heart disease, strokes and cancer. But most crops have lower levels of micronutrients per calorie than meat – especially vitamins A, B12 and D, and some essential fatty acids.

Why Is Veganism Important? The industrialized production of animal products causes enormous harm to animals, the environment and humans. Vegans seek to mitigate this destruction by choosing not to purchase or consume these products. Our society isn't structured in a way that prioritizes animal or environmental welfare.

Vegan diets produce 75% less of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for warming the planet and significantly less water pollution and destruction of wildlife, according to a scientific report in the journal Nature Food this year.

At a high level, expenditure on meat products has been declining. Between 2001 and 2013 meat made up between 3.4% and 3.7% of a household's typical weekly spending. But by 2017 it had fallen to almost 3.2%. Given growing interest in veganism, the figure is likely to have dropped further since then.

People who follow a plant-based diet account for 75 percent less in greenhouse gas emissions than those who eat more than 3.5 ounces of meat a day, and a vegan diet also results in significantly less harm to land, water and biodiversity, according to new research from the University of Oxford.

In fact, research shows that the carbon footprint of a vegan diet can be as much as 60% smaller than a meat-based one, and 24% smaller than a vegetarian diet.

When dealing with carbon emissions alone, they are up to 120 times more carbon efficient than meat products. A recent 2021 study found that plant-based patties have a 77% smaller climate change burden than beef patties, with reduced land and water use, eutrophication, and acidification.