Welcome back! In the first part of this series, we explored the profound environmental impact of animal agriculture, including its contributions to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs), biodiversity loss, and water consumption. Now, let’s delve into how adopting plant-based diets can directly address these pressing issues.
By understanding the impact of our daily habits, we can take meaningful steps towards a more sustainable future. Having conveyed the impact of animal agriculture, what role can vegan and plant-based diets play in addressing these issues?
One way to approach this question is to analyse how each of the key areas affected by animal agriculture could be resolved or alleviated by simply moving towards a plant-dominant diet.
So, let`s bring out the themes we have covered in the previous section and compare!
A study evaluating GHGEs, land use, and water footprint found that the vegan diet is the best for the environment, as it produces the lowest CO2eq per 2000 kcal consumed.
In a UK study, self-reported dietary habits showed that high meat consumers were responsible for 1.9 times more GHGEs than those following vegetarian diets, while average meat consumers were responsible for 1.5 times more. Compared to vegans, high meat and average meat consumers generated 2.5 times and 2 times more GHGEs, respectively.
A study indicated that by 2050, a plant-based diet could reduce food-related emissions by between 29 to 75 as opposed to an animal-heavy diet.
Agricultural expansion into wild areas is a primary driver of today`s wildlife mass extinction. New studies indicate that eliminating meat and dairy consumption would decrease global farmland usage by over 75%, an area the size of the US, China, the EU and Australia combined, while still meeting global food needs. Livestock farming occupies 70% of all agricultural land and one-third of arable land. Consequently, a vegan diet has the lowest land usage compared to other diets.
Moreover, a study comparing various animal proteins, including chicken, beef, and pork, shows that land requirements for animal-based protein are 6-17 times higher compared to soybeans. Another study indicates that producing beef protein for human consumption demands 42 times more land use and significantly more resources than staple plant foods like rice, beans and potatoes.
As animal protein intake increases, so does water consumption. As meat production uses more water than plant protein production, a plant-based diet offers the most significant potential for reducing global water usage. Precisely, studies show that water input for animal protein is about 26 times higher than for plant protein. Even with intensive irrigation, animal protein requires 4.4 times more water. For example, one kilogram of plant-based protein uses around 100 times less water than one kilogram of animal-based protein.
Beyond reducing food waste at different points in the supply chain, a study highlights that specific foods like beef, pork, and dairy contribute significantly to hidden losses that hinder food security. The data suggests that opting for plant-based diets, rather than relying on less efficient animal diets, can feed more people than merely eliminating traditional food losses. Remarkably, this is true even for the most efficient livestock options like eggs and poultry.
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Furthermore, as feeding crops to livestock and then consuming animal products is less efficient in terms of energy, protein, and land use than simply consuming the plants directly, livestock act as a redundant middle-man between the plant-to-nutrient conversion.
The agricultural sector is a leading cause of land use alterations and a major pollutant of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through excessive reactive nitrogen and phosphorus inputs. The primary contributors to total nitrogen footprint in the EU include pork, dairy and cereals. In a study examining 144 scenarios, 11 out of the 12 scenarios that achieve a 50% reduction in nitrogen loss to meet EU targets involve dietary changes. Moreover, research suggests that shifting to plant-based diets, which have lower nitrogen footprints, could help mitigate this issue.
Considering that plant-based diets are able to avoid all negative effects imposed on the ocean, we will not analyse this theme as it is irrelevant for comparison.
We’ve seen how plant-based diets can significantly mitigate environmental damage, but what about the tough questions and common concerns surrounding this shift? From sustainable meat to soy production, the next part will tackle these debates head-on.
