11 Reasons to Go Vegan for the Environment

When people talk about why they decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle, animal rights and personal health are often the major reasons behind the change. 

But what many people forget is that choosing vegan can have a positive environmental impact as well! 

So for those of you who are considering going vegan or who want a little extra information to share with friends when they ask you for the thousandth time why you went vegan, here are some positive environmental impacts that going vegan can have on the environment. 

The Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture

The conventional food system, heavily reliant on animal agriculture, places immense strain on our planet’s resources. Studies consistently highlight the detrimental effects of meat and dairy production on various aspects of the environment.

Resource Intensive

Producing meat demands vast amounts of land, water, and energy. For instance, the production of just two pounds of chicken requires approximately 1,100 gallons of water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency,. This staggering water consumption underscores the inefficiency of animal-based food production.

The sheer amount of land needed to grow feed for livestock, and then land for the livestock itself, is a huge factor in the need for such vast amounts of land. The total amount of land required for agricultural use would decline by 13% if humans consumed only enough food to meet their nutritional requirements.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that animal agriculture is responsible for approximately 15% to 18% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. This substantial contribution to global warming necessitates a shift toward more sustainable food choices.

The livestock sector is identified as one of the three major contributing factors associated with major environmental concerns at major scales, from local to global.

Inefficient Resource Utilization

The crops currently used to feed farmed animals could potentially feed an additional 4 billion people. This stark reality underscores the inefficiency of using valuable resources to produce meat, especially when global malnutrition remains a pressing issue.

Plant-based alternatives could provide up to two- to twenty-times more nutritionally similar food per unit of cropland than beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs. Specifically, the study published in PNAS suggested that plant-based replacements could produce around two-times more nutritionally-similar food than eggs, which are considered to be the least resource-intensive animal-based food category, and up to 20-times more nutritionally-similar food than beef, which is considered to be the most intensive animal-based food category. 

Ocean Degradation

The fishing industry inflicts severe damage on marine ecosystems. Trawling practices destroy ocean floor habitats, and countless marine mammals, including whales and dolphins, are unintentionally killed by fishing vessels.

Nearly 650,000 marine mammals are killed accidentally every single year by fishing vessels.

Habitat Destruction

The expansion of agricultural land for livestock feed production leads to the destruction of natural habitats, threatening biodiversity and delicate ecosystems.

The Centre for Biological Diversity found that 80 percent of agricultural land in the United States is used to raise animals and their feed. Natural vegetation is destroyed to make room for growing crops to feed farm animals, which destroys natural habitats, delicate ecosystems, and native species.

The Environmental Benefits of a Vegan Lifestyle

Adopting a vegan diet offers a multitude of environmental advantages, contributing to a healthier planet.

Reduced Land Use

Global farmland could be reduced by up to 75% if everyone embraced a vegan lifestyle. This would free up land equivalent to the combined size of the United States, the European Union, China, and Australia. Even if farmers opted for more low-impact livestock activities, a study published in Science suggested that the effects of low-impact animal products were generally greater than those of vegetable products.

A vegan diet may require up to five-times less land than a diet containing animal products. Although there are many reasons why animal agriculture generally requires more land than crop-based agriculture, the amount of land needed to grow feed for animals and then land for them to graze or be housed are two significant factors. 

Increased Food Availability

Replacing animal-based products with plant-based alternatives could feed up to 350 million more people. Plants generally require fewer resources per gram of protein or per calorie than livestock, allowing for more efficient food production.

The global food supply could be increased by up to 49% without the need for adding more croplands if humans followed a plant-based diet.

Water Conservation

Reducing animal-based protein consumption by 50% could decrease global green water consumption by 6% according to research published in Environmental Research Letters. According to the research in this study, the amount of blue and green water that was consumed would vary significantly from region to region, but most regions of the world did see a notable decrease in water consumption. This significant reduction in water usage highlights the water-saving potential of a vegan diet.

Lower Carbon Footprint

Plant-based foods have a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to animal-based foods. By choosing vegan options, we can minimize our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.

According to Joseph Poore, a researcher at the University of Oxford, “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use… It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.”

Wildlife Preservation

By reducing the demand for animal products, we can help protect natural habitats and preserve wildlife populations.

Join the Green Revolution

Embracing a vegan lifestyle is a powerful step toward creating a sustainable future. Whether you choose to go vegan for ethical or environmental reasons, there are plenty of delicious and nutritious plant-based options out there to explore. So why not give it a try and see how you can make a positive impact on our planet? Remember, every small action counts and collectively, we can make a big difference in creating a sustainable future for all.

While there are thousands of valid reasons to go vegan, the impact that a vegan diet and the unsustainability of our current food system should be in the forefront of anyone’s mind when considering going vegan. Although adopting a vegan lifestyle may seem difficult to some, the benefits that it can have for our planet far exceed any discomfort we may feel when giving up meat and dairy.