Due to the quickly changing climate of society today, people are becoming more and more aware of the impacts that their actions have on the environment. Individuals are trying to dramatically reduce use of plastics, pay more attention to recycling, use cruelty free products and utilise more eco-friendly ways of transport. But, what people aren't aware of is the way that we are producing food is actually the largest contributing factor to damaging the environment.
It is proven that meat is not a sustainable diet for the years to come. There are several alarming facts that need to be brought to societies attention so that we can ensure the survival of our future. These facts include:
It takes 75 times more energy to produce meat than it does to produce various types of vegetables (TheWorldCounts, 2020).
The meat industry also takes up an alarming amount of land mass, Nearly 60% of the world's land is used for beef production, yet beef accounts for less than 2% of the calories that are consumed throughout the world (Global Agriculture, 2018).
Livestock is the world’s largest user of land resources (Buzzworthy, 2020)
One hectare of rice or potato cropland can feed between 19 and 22 people in one year, whereas for beef or lamb one hectare can feed only 1 or 2 people. (TheWorldCounts, 2020).
50 % of Meat Eaters Would Rather Go Veg Than Kill an Animal Themselves for Food (Loria 2018).
2,400 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef. Eating one fewer pound of beef saves as much water as not showering for six months. (John Robbins)
Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day (Buzzworthy, 2020)
75 billion animals are killed each year (TheWorldCounts, 2020).
A small disclaimer, I am by no means vegan or vegetarian. But as i dive further and further into my research Im slowly discovering how the pros outweigh the cons. To ensure that this research is free of bias, I'd like to note that consuming meat does have some pro's such as high protein and iron levels, but for the human race to continue we are going to have to dramatically decrease our meat intake to combat issues such as climate change, poverty and disease.
