Environmental vegetarianism

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All types of meat but especially lamb and beef generate several times more greenhouse gas emissions in their production than plant-based foods.[1]

Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of

negative environmental impact of meat production. Livestock as a whole is estimated to be responsible for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.[2][a] As a result, significant reduction in meat consumption has been advocated by, among others, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their 2019 special report[3] and as part of the 2017 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.[4][5]

Other than

unsustainability.[6][7][8][9]

Environmental impact of animal products

Box plot showing average GHG emissions for different food types and ranges
Main article:
Environmental impact of meat production
See also: Food vs. feed

Four-fifths of agricultural emissions arise from the livestock sector.[10]

According to the 2006

land use changes, etc., and used GWP (global warming potential) of 23 for methane and 296 for nitrous oxide, to convert emissions of these gases to 100-year CO2 equivalents. The FAO report concluded that "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global".[11]
The report found that livestock's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions was greater than that of the global transportation sector.

A 2009 study by the Worldwatch Institute argued that the FAO's report had underestimated impacts related to methane, land use and respiration, placing livestock at 51% of total global emissions.[12]

According to a 2002 paper:

The industrial agriculture system consumes fossil fuel, water, and topsoil at unsustainable rates. It contributes to numerous forms of

meat consumption. To produce 1 pound of feedlot beef requires about 2,400 gallons of water and 7 pounds of grain (42). Considering that the average American consumes 97 pounds of beef (and 273 pounds of meat in all) each year, even modest reductions in meat consumption in such a culture would substantially reduce the burden on our natural resources.[13]

The environmental impacts of animal production vary with the method of production, although "[overall] impacts of the lowest-impact animal products typically exceed those of vegetable substitutes".[7]

Average greenhouse gas emissions per diet

Mean greenhouse gas emissions per 2,000 kcal by diet type[14]
Diet Mean dietary emissions

(In kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents)

All meat-eaters
5.93
High meat-eaters ( ≥ 100 g/day)
7.19
Medium meat-eaters (50–99 g/day)
5.63
Low meat-eaters ( < 50 g/day)
4.67
Fish-eaters
3.91
Vegetarians
3.81
Vegans
2.89

Methane

A 2017 study published in the journal Carbon Balance and Management found animal agriculture's global methane emissions are 11% higher than previous estimates, based on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[15]

Pesticide use

According to a 2022 report from

plant-based diets in order to hinder the growth of factory farming and protect endangered species of wildlife.[16]

Land use

The amount of globally needed agricultural land would be reduced by almost half if no beef or mutton would be eaten.[17]

A 2003 paper published in the

lacto-ovo vegetarian diets.[18] "The water required for a meat-eating diet is twice as much needed for a 2,000-litre-a-day vegetarian diet".[19]

According to

fossil energy suggests that the US food system, whether meat-based or plant-based, is not sustainable".[20] However, they also write: "The meat-based food system requires more energy, land, and water resources than the lactoovovegetarian diet. In this limited sense, the lactoovovegetarian diet is more sustainable than the average American meat-based diet."[20] One of these Cornell scientists "depicted grain-fed livestock farming as a costly and nonsustainable way to produce animal protein", but "distinguished grain-fed meat production from pasture-raised livestock, calling cattle-grazing a more reasonable use of marginal land".[21]

The use of ever increasing amounts of land for meat production and livestock rearing instead of plants and grains for human diets is, according to sociologist David Nibert, "a leading cause of malnutrition, hunger, and famine around the world."[22]

Land degradation

We must change our diet. The planet can't support billions of meat-eaters.

David Attenborough[23]

Another agricultural effect is on land degradation. Cattle are a known cause for soil erosion through trampling of the ground and overgrazing.[24] Much of the world's crops are used to feed animals.[25] With 30 percent of the Earth's land devoted to raising livestock,[26] a major cutback is needed to keep up with growing population. Demand for meat is expected to double by 2050;[27] in China, for example, where vegetable-based diets were once the norm, demand for meat will continue to be great in absolute terms, even though demand growth will slow.[28] As countries are developing, incomes are increasing, and consumption of animal products is associated with prosperity. This growing demand is unsustainable.[29]

The ability of soil to absorb water by infiltration is important for minimizing runoff and soil erosion. Researchers in Iowa reported that a soil under perennial pasture grasses grazed by livestock was able to absorb far more water than the same kind of soil under two annual crops: corn and soybeans.[30][31]

Biodiversity loss

Biomass of mammals on Earth[32][33]

  Livestock, mostly cattle and pigs (60%)
  Humans (36%)
  Wild mammals (4%)

The 2019

World Wildlife Fund attributed 60% of biodiversity loss to the land needed to rear tens of billions of farm animals.[38]

A May 2018 study stated that while wildlife has been decimated since the dawn of human civilization, with wild mammals plummeting by 83%, livestock populations reared by humans for consumption have increased.[39] Livestock make up 60% of the biomass of all mammals on Earth, followed by humans (36%) and wild mammals (4%).[39] As for birds, 70% are domesticated, such as poultry, whereas only 30% are wild.[39][40]

Water

Animal production has a large impact on water pollution and usage. According to the Water Education Foundation, it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef in California, whereas it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat.[41] Raising a large amount of livestock creates a massive amount of manure and urine, which can pollute natural resources by changing the pH of water, contaminates the air, and emits a major amount of gas that directly affects global warming. As most livestock are raised in small confined spaces to cut down on cost, this increases the problem of concentrated waste. Livestock in the United States produces 2.7 trillion pounds of manure each year, which is ten times more than what is produced by the entire U.S. population. There are issues with how animal waste is disposed, as some is used as fertilizer while some farmers create manure lagoons which store millions of gallons of animal waste which is extremely unsafe and detrimental to the environment.[41]

Relation to other arguments

Massive reductions in meat consumption in

industrial nations will ease the health care burden while improving public health; declining livestock herds will take pressure off rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural resource base to rejuvenate. As populations grow, lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, while at the same time making grain more affordable to the world's chronically hungry.[42]

Worldwatch Institute, an independent environmental research institute

Although motivations frequently overlap, environmental vegetarians and vegans can be contrasted with those who are primarily motivated by concerns about

ethical vegetarianism), health, or who avoid meat to save money or out of necessity (economic vegetarianism).[43][44] Some also believe vegetarianism will improve global food security, or curb starvation
.

Health

A study in Climate Change concluded "if ... average diets among UK adults conformed to

ischaemic heart disease.[10]

A small list of the benefits of a vegan/vegetarian diet on ones health

A 2018 report published in

PNAS asserted that farmers in the United States could sustain more than twice as many people than they do currently if they abandoned rearing farm animals for human consumption and instead focused on growing plants.[46]

For developed countries, a CAST report estimates an average of 2.6 pounds of grain feed per pound of beef carcass meat produced. For developing countries, the estimate is 0.3 pounds per pound. (Some very dissimilar figures are sometimes seen; the CAST report discusses common sources of error and discrepancies among such figures.)[47] In 2007, US per capita beef consumption was 62.2 pounds per year, and US per capita meat (red meat plus fish plus poultry) consumption totaled 200.7 pounds (boneless trimmed weight basis).[48]

Support

People in developed countries consume a substantially larger proportion of meat than those in developing countries.[49]

human population growth and rising affluence, which will increase greenhouse gas emissions and further reduce biodiversity.[52][53]

A 2018 report in Nature found that a significant reduction in meat consumption is necessary to mitigate climate change, especially as the population rises to a projected 10 billion in the coming decades.[54] According to a 2019 report in The Lancet, global meat consumption needs to be reduced by 50 percent to mitigate for climate change.[55]

In November 2017, 15,364 world scientists signed a Warning to Humanity calling for, among other things, drastically diminishing our per capita consumption of meat.[56]

A 2010 report from the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management stated:

Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth and increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products.[25][57]

The aforementioned Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services also suggested that a reduction in meat consumption would be required to help preserve biodiversity.[34]

According to a July 2019 report by the World Resources Institute the global population will increase to roughly 10 billion by the middle of the century, with demand for ruminant meat rising by 88%. The report posits that Americans and Europeans will need to reduce their beef consumption by 40% and 22% respectively in order to feed so many people and at the same time avert an ecological catastrophe.[58]

In November 2019, a warning on the "climate emergency" from over 11,000 scientists from over 100 countries said that "eating mostly plant-based foods while reducing the global consumption of animal products, especially ruminant livestock, can improve human health and significantly lower GHG emissions (including methane in the “Short-lived pollutants” step)." The warning also says it this will "free up croplands for growing much-needed human plant food instead of livestock feed, while releasing some grazing land to support natural climate solutions."[59][60]

A 2020 study by researchers from the University of Michigan and Tulane University, which was commissioned by the Center for Biological Diversity, asserts that if the U.S. cut its meat consumption by half, it could result in diet-related GHG emissions being reduced by 35%, a decline of 1.6 billion tons.[61]

A 2019 correction to a major 2018 study in Science of food's impact on the environment found that, after the negative emissions of land use change were accounted for, eliminating animal products from the food system would reduce total global greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors by 28%.[7][62]

A 2023 study published in

vegan diet vastly decreases the impact on the environment from food production, such as reducing emissions, water pollution and land use by 75%, reducing the destruction of wildlife by 66% and the usage of water by 54%.[63]

Criticism

Bill Mollison has argued in his Permaculture Design Course that vegetarianism exacerbates soil erosion. This is because removing a plant from a field removes all the nutrients it obtained from the soil while removing an animal leaves the field intact. On US farmland, much less soil erosion is associated with pastureland used for livestock grazing than with land used for the production of crops.[64] However, as mentioned above, all dietary change scenarios that assume decreased meat consumption are strictly less land-demanding. Robert Hart has also developed forest gardening, which has since been adopted as a common permaculture design element, as a sustainable plant-based food production system.[65] A balanced diet based on the food pyramid would present as an alternative to vegetarianism.

In 2015, researches from Carnegie Mellon University claimed that environmental vegetarianism appears more harmful than helpful to our environment. Environmental vegetarianism actually takes more environmental costs, environmentally and financially, which backfires. Paul Fischbeck, Michelle Tom, and Chris Hendrickson, researchers in civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, investigated the impact of America's obesity crisis on the environment by analyzing the food supply chain's resource usage. The study offers a nuanced exploration into the environmental impact of dietary choices, specifically contrasting the perceived benefits of vegetarian and USDA-recommended "healthier" diets against their ecological footprints. The research underscores that while reducing overall calorie intake can decrease the environmental burden by around 9%, opting for diets heavy in fruits, vegetables, dairy, and seafood significantly increases resource demands—leading to a 38% rise in energy consumption, a 10% increase in water use, and a 6% uptick in greenhouse gas emissions.[66] This counterintuitive result pivots on the intensive resources required to produce these "healthier" food options, challenging simplified narratives around diet and sustainability and pointing to the need for a comprehensive understanding of food's environmental costs.

In 2017, a study in PNAS claimed that U.S. GHG emissions would only decrease 2.6% (or 28% of agricultural GHG emissions) if animals were completely removed from U.S. agriculture.[67] However, the study's underlying assumptions were heavily criticized.[68][69][70] The authors defended their work in a follow-up 2018 letter.[71] Furthermore, the animals removed from agriculture would remain alive and emitting GHG.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This is in line with the FAO's earlier estimate of 18%, published in Livestock's Long Shadow in 2006. They caution that "the two figures cannot be accurately compared, as reference periods and sources differ."
  2. ^ This is in line with the FAO's more recent figure of 14.5 percent. They caution that "the two figures cannot be accurately compared, as reference periods and sources differ."[2]

References

  1. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.082
    .
  2. ^ a b "Key facts and findings". Food and Agriculture Organization. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. ^ Schiermeier, Quirin (8 August 2019). "Eat less meat: UN climate change report calls for change to human diet". Nature. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Climate change food calculator: What's your diet's carbon footprint?". 13 December 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  5. hdl:11336/71342
    .
  6. ^ Carrington, Damian (3 February 2021). "Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  7. ^
    PMID 29853680
    .
  8. ^ Bittman, Mark (27 January 2008). "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 November 2017 – via www.nytimes.com.
  9. ^ Carrington, Damian (10 October 2018). "Huge reduction in meat-eating 'essential' to avoid climate breakdown". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. ^
    S2CID 6318195
    .
  11. ^ a b Steinfeld, Henning; Gerber, Pierre; Wassenaar, Tom; Castel, Vincent; Rosales, Mauricio; de Haan, Cees (2006), Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options (PDF), Rome: FAO
  12. Independent.co.uk
    . 1 November 2009.
  13. PMID 12003747
    .
  14. PMID 25834298
    .
  15. PMID 28959823
    .
  16. ^ Boyle, Louise (22 February 2022). "US meat industry using 235m pounds of pesticides a year, threatening thousands of at-risk species, study finds". The Independent. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  17. ^ Carrington, Damian (31 May 2018). "Avoiding meat and dairy is 'single biggest way' to reduce your impact on Earth". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  18. PMID 12936963
    .
  19. ^ "Solution for the world's water woes: Rising populations and growing demand is making the world a thirsty planet; the solution lies in people reducing the size of their "water footprints" - Water Education Foundation". www.watereducation.org. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  20. ^
    PMID 12936963
    .
  21. ^ "U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat, Cornell ecologist advises animal scientists". Cornell Chronicle. 7 August 1997. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  22. ISBN 978-0739136980
    .
  23. ^ Dalton, Jane (26 August 2020). "Go vegetarian to save wildlife and the planet, Sir David Attenborough urges". The Independent. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  24. ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2009. Overgrazing. Encyclopedia of Earth. Sidney Draggan, topic ed.; Cutler J. Cleveland, ed., National council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC
  25. ^ a b Carus, Felicity (2 June 2010). "UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  26. ^ "Livestock Grazing- Combats or Spreads Desertification?". Archived from the original on 1 July 2007.
  27. ^ "Meat production continues to rise". Worldwatch Institute. 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  28. ^ "Rabobank: China's Animal Protein Outlook to 2020: Growth in Demand, Supply and Trade". Rabobank. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  29. ^ "Sustainability Pathways: Sustainability and livestock". www.fao.org. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  30. ^ Bharati et al. 2002. Agroforestry Systems 56: 249-257
  31. ^ "Tobacco | Land & Water | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | Land & Water | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  32. ^ Damian Carrington, "Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study", The Guardian, 21 May 2018 (page visited on 19 August 2018).
  33. PMID 30213888
    .
  34. ^ a b Watts, Jonathan (6 May 2019). "Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  35. Science
    . Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  36. PMID 26231772
    .
  37. ^ Woodyatt, Amy (26 May 2020). "Human activity threatens billions of years of evolutionary history, researchers warn". CNN. Retrieved 27 May 2020. Research showed that among the biggest threats to threatened species was eating meat, Gumbs said.
  38. ^ Smithers, Rebecca (5 October 2017). "Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  39. ^
    PMID 29784790
    .
  40. ^ Carrington, Damian (21 May 2018). "Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  41. ^ a b admin (4 April 2007). "The Environmental Impact of a Meat-Based Diet". Vegetarian Times. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  42. ^ United States Leads World Meat Stampede | Worldwatch Institute Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ Nuwer, Rachel. "What would happen if the world suddenly went vegetarian?". www.bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  44. ^ Katherine Manning. "Eat Better and Improve Your Health For Less Money". Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  45. S2CID 154322542
    .
  46. ^ Kaplan, Karen (26 March 2018). "By going vegan, America could feed an additional 390 million people, study suggests". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018. If U.S. farmers took all the land currently devoted to raising cattle, pigs and chickens and used it to grow plants instead, they could sustain more than twice as many people as they do now, according to a report published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  47. ^ Bradford, E. et al. 1999. Animal Agriculture and Global Food Supply. Council on Agricultural Science and Technology. 92 pp.
  48. ^ USDA. 2010. Agricultural Statistics 2010, Table 13-7
  49. ^ "FAOSTAT" (PDF). faostat.fao.org.
  50. ISBN 978-1137471116
    .
  51. ISBN 978-0199378128
    .
  52. ^ Devlin, Hannah (19 July 2018). "Rising global meat consumption 'will devastate environment'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  53. S2CID 49895246
    .
  54. ^ Achenbach, Joel (10 October 2018). "Earth's population is skyrocketing. How do you feed 10 billion people sustainably?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  55. ^ Gibbens, Sarah (16 January 2019). "Eating meat has 'dire' consequences for the planet, says report". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  56. hdl:11336/71342
    .
  57. ^ Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials (PDF), UNEP, 2010, p. 82, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2012, retrieved 17 July 2015
  58. ^ Christensen, Jen (17 July 2019). "To help save the planet, cut back to a hamburger and a half per week". CNN. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  59. hdl:1808/30278
    . Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  60. ^ Carrington, Damian (5 November 2019). "Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of 'untold suffering'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  61. ^ Germanos, Andrea (30 April 2020). "Slashing US Meat Consumption by Half Could Cut Diet-Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 35%: Study". Common Dreams. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  62. PMID 30792276
    .
  63. ^ Carrington, Damian (20 July 2023). "Vegan diet massively cuts environmental damage, study shows". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  64. ^ NRCS. 2009. Summary report 2007 national resources inventory. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 123 pp.
  65. ISBN 9781603580502
    .
  66. ^ University, Carnegie Mellon (14 December 2015). "Vegetarian and "Healthy" Diets Could Be More Harmful to the Environment - News - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  67. PMID 29133422
    .
  68. PMID 29440444
    .
  69. PMID 29440445
    .
  70. PMID 29581251
    .
  71. PMID 29440443
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Environmental_vegetarianism&oldid=1217693174"