Going Vegan can have various positive impacts, in this piece we will be focusing on the effects of Veganism on the environment. The damaging effects of our diets are not independently focused on the type of foods, but rather how these foods are produced.
A study conducted at the University of Oxford discovered that if we cut dairy and meat from our diet then we can reduce our carbon footprint from food by 73%. The reasoning behind this is not based on the consumption of these particular foods. The production of meat and dairy is responsible for 60% of greenhouse emissions produced from agriculture. If you were to stop consuming these products then demand and consequently production will be cut.
On the other hand, a single individual turning Vegan is unlikely to prevent the consumption of environmentally toxic products. Henceforth, we must assert our focus onto the wider population and the effects of majority efforts. If everyone turned Vegan, 75% of global farmland will be reduced. Agriculture, forestry and other land use contribute to 24% of the Earth’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, reducing this will have hugely beneficial implications. However, it is highly unlikely the whole population will switch to Veganism due to the excessively high demand for products such as meat and dairy, but how many people would it take to actually make a difference?
It is estimated that around 5% of the global population adopt some form of a plant based diet. Using the previous data - 95% of people adopting meat/dairy diets roughly correlates to 24% of land use. To be pragmatic, any amount of reduction in meat/dairy production will benefit the environment. However, as previously mentioned, it would be useful to estimate a figure of reduction which would have exceedingly important implications and perhaps act as a solution to the global warming crisis. After crunching the numbers, if 1 in 3 people went Vegan the effects on the environment would be extremely beneficial to our planet.
That concludes this piece regarding the effects of Veganism on the environment. The thought of cutting all meat and dairy from your diet may seem intimidating but really any small change you can make will be helping the planet. In future pieces we will be looking at how becoming Vegan affects our mental and physical health.
Thank you for reading!!
Comments