In addition to saving animals and the environment, plant-based diets have a profound positive impact on world hunger and health. A recent report found the food industry could feed significantly more people with plant-based crops than livestock. And in April, Harvard scientists concluded that at least one-third of premature deaths could be prevented by shifting to a plant-based diet.
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It turns out that animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change. Producing meat and dairy uses a massive amount of land and water. By going vegan for a month, you would not only save 30 animal lives, but also pounds of harmful carbon dioxide emissions, square feet of forest, and 33, gallons of water. According to Oxford University , going vegan is the single biggest way you can reduce your environmental impact on the planet.
Think about it - 1. What sounds better? The effect veganism has is more so a long term one. More so a bigger picture. More than one third of the world's "ecoregions" identified by conservation group WWF are said to be threatened by livestock and giant US group Conservation International reckons that 23 out of odd global "biodiversity hotspots" — the places considered most valuable for life — are now seriously affected by livestock production. The present oil pollution disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is not the only problem that the region faces.
Most summers between 13,, sq km of sea at the mouth of the Mississippi become a "dead zone", caused when vast quantities of excess nutrients from animal waste, factory farms, sewage, nitrogen compounds and fertiliser are swept down the mighty river.
This causes algal blooms which take up all the oxygen in the water to the point where little can live. Nearly dead zones ranging in size from one to over 70,sq km have now been identified, from the Scandinavian fjords to the South China Sea. Animal farming is not the only culprit, but it is one of the worst. Anyone who has lived close to a large factory farm knows the smells can be extreme.
Aside from greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, cows and pigs produce many other polluting gases. Nearly two thirds of the manmade ammonia — a major contributor to acid rain — is also generated by livestock.
In addition, concentrated factory farming of animals contributes to ozone pollution. Animal waste contains many pathogens including salmonella, E coli, cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can transfer to humans through water run-off or manure or touch. In addition, millions of pounds of antibiotics is added to animal feed a year to speed the growth of cattle. But this contributes to the rise of resistant bacteria, and so makes it harder to treat human illnesses. The western animal farming economy is based on oil, which is why there were food riots in 23 countries when the oil price peaked in Every link in the chain of events that brings meat to the table demands electricity, from the production of the fertiliser put on the land to grow the animal feed, to pumping the water they need from the rivers or deep underground, to the fuel needed to transport the meat in giant refrigerated ships and the supermarket shelves.
According to some studies, as much as one-third of all fossil fuels produced in the United States now go towards animal agriculture. But the quantities are still staggering: according to the Vegetarian Society, the average British carnivore eats over 11, animals in a lifetime: 1 goose, 1 rabbit, 4 cattle, 18 pigs, 23 sheep and lambs, 28 ducks, 39 turkeys, 1, chickens, 3, shellfish and 6, fish. For this, say the vegetarians, the meat eaters get increased chances of obesity, cancers, heart diseases and other illnesses as well as a hole in the pocket.
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