Environment & Conservation
It's nothing new that industrial animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of the global climate crisis. Amidst thousands of alarming reports and statistics, we find ourselves having to confront the fact that our traditional ways of eating need to be upgraded if they're to support us in lessening the impending environmental emergency. This is the main driving force for many boldly transitioning to plant-based eating, taking the critical next steps to adjust to new ways of eating for the care and preservation of remaining ecological resources in order to reduce - even further, relieve - the severity of climate change for our future selves and those of the next generations.
It would take 8 months of not showering to replace the amount of water it takes to produce a single pound of beef.
CARBON & GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, AND LAND USE
Choosing plant-based foods cuts one's carbon footprint to 12% of what it is choosing animal products.
Recently shared in The Economist, it was reported that a 50g chunk of red meat is associated with at least 20 times as much greenhouse-gas emissions and 100 times as much land use as 100g of whole plant food production: "Averaged across all the ecological indicators the authors used, red meat was about 35 times as damaging as a bowl of greens."
Shifting away from animal-based diets open up more than 75% of farmland, taking pressure off of the world's most endangered ecosystems and species, and relieving the water use and carbon emissions used in the production of industrial animal agriculture.
Many people correctly hear that Brazil is the number one producer of soy, and that soy farming is harmful to the environment and quickly plundering the Amazon rainforest. This is not due to a demand for healthy soy products for humans:
19.2% of soy farmed is produced for direct human food consumption (2/3 of which is unnecessarily turned into oil), while 77% of soy farming is used to feed animals - primarily chickens and pigs for whom it's NOT a part of their natural diet and only given to them for growth promotion due to its high protein content. Poultry production (raising chickens for human food) is the world's single largest consumer of soy (Factory Farm Coalition).
“Do you think it’s strange that we have enough food to feed over 70 billion land
animals every year, yet there are 800 million people currently living in a state of
starvation?”
Species Extinction -
We are in the midst of the largest mass extinction of species since the dinosaurs disappeared off the planet 65 million years ago.
Due to the 70 billion farmed animals and the 2.7 trillion fished marine animals, the animal food industry is responsible for invading native habitats for farmland and polluting our natural ecosystems, leading to the irreparable vanishing of species from the face of the Earth, including our own.
MEAT, DAIRY, EGG, AND FISH FARMING USE 83% OF THE WORLD'S FARMLAND, YET PROVIDE ONLY 18% OF THE WORLD'S CALORIES.
POLLUTANTS
Factory farms are one of the leading sources of water pollution, threatening the health and quality of life for those who live and work nearby. There were over 73 billion animals raised and killed in 2020 with numbers rising by the billions each year - up to 92 billion according to the most recent data. Raising these animals has the same, if not yet larger, effect on total global emissions as does the entire transportation sector combined - cars, trains, ships, airplanes, and trucks. Movements are being held worldwide to incorporate plant-based meals into the schools and homes of individuals to cut down on the demand for - and impact of - industrial animal farming.
According to 2021 data, 1/3 of global greenhouse gas emissions is due to our current food systems. This includes methane from cattle's digestive processes, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, CO2 from deforestation, and other emissions from manure, rice cultivation, burning of crop residues, and use of fuel on farms.
Shifting away from animal-based diets would save 1 million liters of water per person per year. Globally, this would free up a total area of land the size of Africa.
The United Nations has stated that the world needs to shift to plant-based diets in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
This Burger
VS.
This Burger
Switching from meat to a plant-based Beyond or Impossible Burger drops greenhouse gas emissions, land-use, and water footprints down by more than 90%. If you go straight to peas + soybeans, you'll get a 99% LOWER IMPACT.
Beef farming produces 31 times more CO₂ emissions per calorie than tofu production does and generates only 5% of the calories that go into producing it (The Economist).
Directly consuming soy by eating foods such as tofu and tempeh as part of a healthy and balanced plant-based diet can help to lessen the negative impacts of our food system, including its contribution to climate change.