How Does Veganism Help the Environment?

From intelligentliving.co

By Jennifer Barns

Going vegan could be the “single largest approach” to lessen your environmental impact on the planet.

By cutting meat and dairy from their diet, an individual reduces up to 73% of their carbon footprint.

Whether you think veganism is a trend or a food revolution, the number of people who do it has gone through the roof. There are now more than 20 million vegans in the US alone, which is a massive increase of 600% in 4 years.

Today’s article will examine why going vegan can unite everyone to help the environment.

A vegan’s take on living things

Vegans adhere to the philosophy that all life forms should have the right to life and freedom.

They consider all animals to be conscious creatures who, like humans, want to avoid pain and suffering.

Because of this, ethical vegans condemn the slaughter of animals for their meat, fur, or skin.

This is entirely different from the meat industry ethics. Studies show that the food industry is responsible for ⅓ of global emissions, and the meat industry is to blame for about half of it!

As vegans, they believe animals should be treated with respect. They don’t want to be treated like commodities like milk or eggs, but as humans should be treated.

Therefore, vegans avoid consuming any foods of animal origin, such as meat, poultry, eggs, fish, milk and dairy products, honey, etc., contributing a considerable portion to winning the fight against climate change.

This century consumes far too much meat

From 1988 to 2018, meat production doubled; since the mid-1960s, it has gone up four times. And production is likely to keep going up. By 2050, people worldwide are expected to eat between 460 million and 570 million tons of meat. 570 million tons of meat would be twice as much as was consumed in 2008. Today, about 72,000,000,000 animals are slaughtered for human consumption yearly.

This structural problem puts a massive strain on Earth because meat production needs huge quantities of water, energy, and land than any other food source.

Meat and climate change

By 2050, they expect food-gas emissions to add up to 11.4 gigatons of CO2-equivalents (GtCO2-eq). Almost two-thirds of these emissions, or about 7.3 GtCO2-eq, come from meat.

Scientists have warned that animal production needs to reach its peak before 2030 if we want to stop the climate emergency. The problem is that people will likely keep eating more meat until at least 2050.

Veganism helps win the fight against climate change

People don’t eat all of the food that is grown around the world. 70% of grain produced is for animal feeding, and 83% of farmlands around the globe are for raising animals.

That’s about 700 million tons of food fed to animals that people can eat instead.

Plus, the destruction of forests, overfishing and pollution caused by the meat and fish industries make it harder for the Earth to grow food.

As vegans, they know that eating meat and dairy isn’t only cruel to the animals but also unethical to their health and the planet’s health. A vegan plate consists of foods that are sustainably better for the environment, which puts a massive dent in change.

More reasons on how vegans help the environment

1. Reduce air pollution: A vegan diet helps clean the air by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. According to the Veganism Impact Report, the world’s CO2 emissions from food would drop by 70% if everyone who eats meat became vegan.

2. Preserves Habitats: Estimates show that by 2050, Asian and African countries will need an extra 30–50% of land to keep up with growing meat production. This practice will destroy the homes of native species in the area for good. But if most people in the world swapped to a vegan diet, the demand for meat products would go down. This practice would help protect these valuable habitats and the species that live with us.

3. Protecting species: Throughout history, humans have hunted animals for food. Today meat production is way crueller than ever. Vegans choose not to support this barbaric practice. Cruelty-free clothing often costs the same as non-vegan products, allowing people to show they care about wildlife.

4. Stop deforestation: Animal agriculture takes up about 30 to 50 percent of the Earth’s surface for grazing and growing feed crops. If everyone in the world were to eat a vegan diet, the demand for grains and soy would fall. This way of living would lead to less deforestation and clearing forests for growing crops.

5. Conserve Water: Agricultural production accounts for 93% of the world’s water supply, with meat and dairy products being the worst culprit: this sector alone uses 25% of our freshwater! On the other side, research indicates that a vegan diet can save over 200,000 gallons of water annually (while not patronizing factory farms!).

6. Balance the ocean’s biodiversity: Overfishing has caused catastrophic instabilities in the ocean’s biodiversity. Overfishing has not only drastically reduced the world’s fish population, but it has also altered the traits of the surviving species, resulting in a deadly domino effect that threatens the intricate ocean food chain.

7. Use fewer resources: Animal products use a lot more water and land to make than plant-based foods. Beef is the most resource-intensive animal product to make. Growing plant-based foods uses five times less water than making animal-based foods.

Nowadays, most supermarkets carry plant-based products as an alternative to meat items. This is why many consumers opt to go vegan and cut out all animal products from their diets, such as dairy and eggs. Doing so helps maintain a healthy environment by reducing fossil fuels, conserving biodiversity, controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing water usage. We hope you picked up something useful about how a vegan lifestyle helps the fight against climate change and that you will join us in carrying out a difference. Be the change you wish to walk in the world! And remember, Every little bit counts! Thank you for reading.

https://www.intelligentliving.co/how-does-veganism-help-the-environment/