Right now, the world is facing a climate crisis, and people are desperate for something to do about it. We've got until 2030 to keep the climate from heating more than 2.7 degrees. Many people like to walk instead of drive, take less showers, and recycle, and while these are all good things, there's something that will have a much more powerful effect on the environment. You guessed it—going vegan.
A common joke is that vegans murder plants. But did you know that 70% of all grain in the United States goes to feed livestock, and that 83% of all farmland is used solely for animals? Deforestation is a large result of this, and if we stopped using so much farmland we could do better at protecting the natural world and raise diverse plants to foster a more biodiverse environment.
In addition to helping prevent deforestation, going vegan reduces a huge amount of carbon emissions. Plant-based proteins take 8 times less energy to make, because the amount of energy poured into keeping the animals alive, containing them, and then processing the meat is unbelievable. We are breeding the animals at such an extreme rate that the carbon emissions from them have a large impact on climate change. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, livestock make up 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from animal feed processing and production.
And beyond carbon emissions and deforestation, the meat and dairy industry consume massive amounts of water. It takes 100 to 200 times more water to produce a pound of beef than it does to raise a pound of plants. Sparing one kilogram of beef saves 15,000 liters of water, and leaving out roast chicken saves 4,325 liters of water.
A North Carolina pig factory's "waste lagoon" spilled millions of gallons of waste from its pigs, killing 10 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of wetlands. These waste lagoons that manure is funneled into can hold 40 million gallons of manure. A cow will excrete 40 kilograms of manure for every kilogram of beef it will result in.
It also saves food. 83% of farmland is set away just for raising animals, and 70% of the grain in the U.S. is used to feed them. About 700 million tonnes of food that we could be using to feed people goes instead to the livestock that results in less food. Because animals are taking all the plants and farmland, we don't have enough space to feed our growing population. If we could have that space, then we could combat world hunger to a much larger extent. In fact, if we ate the food instead of feeding it to the animals, we could provide 70% more food, feeding a total of 4 billion more people. Of course, to be realistic, it wouldn't completely end world hunger, as governments would have to step up to ensure the food goes to those who need it. But it would be a lot easier of a task with all the surplus food.
The current way we raise our meat is unsustainable, and if we don't change we're going to kill the planet. If you want to help the environment, the best thing you can do is go vegan. If you can't go vegan, at least cut out meat or dairy from your diet once a week. The effects of reducing the demand for meat and dairy are incredible.