10 Things That Would Happen if Everyone Became Vegetarian
10.
No more Livestock
The current global demand for all kinds of meats is increasing, bolstered by both the
planet’s increasing population and the economic development of more impoverished countries.
Here, the average meal is predominantly plant-based, but as these countries become more economically
stable, so do its citizens have more access to meat as a primary food source.
Already developed countries, on the other hand, seem to be slowly heading into the opposite
direction, with their meat consumption having the tendency to slide down.
At any given time around the world, there are roughly 1.4 billion cattle, 1.9 billion
sheep and goats, 980 million pigs, and 19.6 billion chickens.
In 2011, the world slaughtered almost 300 million cows, 947 million sheep and goats,
1.38 billion pigs, 2.8 billion ducks, 1.3 billion turkeys and geese, and a whopping
58 billion chickens.
In overall meat consumption per person, Australia, the United States and Israel lead in the polls,
with roughly 205, 200 and 190 pounds of meat respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum are Bangladesh and India, with roughly 7.2 pounds each.
One major reason for why the small amount of meat eaten in this part of the world are
Buddhism and Hinduism, which share the belief in rebirth and the importance of nonviolence.
These lead people to reject the slaughter and consumption of animals.
Hypothetically speaking, if everyone were to become vegetarian, many of these animals
would logically disappear.
9.
Replenishing the Ocean Fisheries
Up until the turn of the 20th century, the world’s fisheries remained more or less
unaffected by human consumption.
Even though people had been fishing the seas and oceans for a very long time, only with
the advent of modern technology, did humanity manage to make a serious an unprecedented
dent in the fish population.
In 2014 the total capture amassed to about 93.4 million tones, a leveling off from the
previous decade.
However, this reflects the complete fishery collapse in many parts of the world and the
impossibility for increased production; not that we reached any kind of equilibrium with
nature.
In total, we currently consume more than 160 million tons of fish per year, with the difference
being supplemented by aquaculture (fish farming).
Regardless of these fish farms, which have their own negative environmental effects,
it is estimated that by 2048 the oceans will be completely devoid of commercially viable
fish.
8.
Freeing up the Land
As most of us know by now, roughly 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by water.
So, out the total 197 million sq. miles of the Earth, only about 58 million (15 billion
hectares) make up the dry land we currently inhabit.
And out of that, 26% of ice-free terrestrial surface is made up of pastures and grasslands
used for grazing livestock; some 3.4 billion hectares in total (more than the whole of
Africa in fact).
Large parts of these pastures, however, are in regions too dry or too cold for crop use
and are sparsely inhabited.
In addition to over a quarter of the Earth’s total landmass being used for grazing, livestock
also require an additional 471 million hectares – a third of all arable land – for growing
feed.
80% of all corn and 95% of oat production in the US is feed.
If all people became vegetarian, it wouldn’t mean that all of this land will return to
its natural state, since we would have to supplement our meat-based diet with a plant-based
one.
But we have to take into account the fact that at the present-day we are supplying our
livestock with 77 million tons of human edible protein, and we are getting just 58 million
tons in return.
However animal proteins have a higher nutritive value to humans than the feed used for livestock.
7.
Returning Biodiversity
Surprisingly enough, livestock is a key factor in the loss of other animal species.
To date, “barnyard animals” make up 20% of all terrestrial animals and now occupy
vast areas once habitat to wildlife.
It’s fairly difficult to quantify all the effects livestock have on biodiversity.
Not all effects are bad either, since grazing livestock help to maintain naturally occurring
grasslands to their original state, and thus keeping the habitat, more or less intact.
But the overwhelming numbers of cattle and sheep can pose some serious health concerns
to the already existing wildlife.
In many cases, like the Great Plains, cattle have taken over the habitat formerly belonging
to bison and pronghorn antelope.
Ranchers worldwide have also drastically reduced the number of predators, often times leading
them to their total disappearance from the area.
Moreover, pasture expansion into forest areas, together with grassland degradation, pose
a serious threat to biodiversity.
As the meat sector becomes more and more industrialized, it separates the animals from the actual land
for large parts of the day, thus destabilizing the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle.
6.
Decreasing Air Pollution
When we talk about air pollution and greenhouse gasses, we usually refer to CO2 emissions.
This isn’t without cause, however, since the most predominant of these gases is in
fact CO2.
But unbeknownst to many is the fact that methane gas is up to 30 times more potent at trapping
heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
And livestock around the world are responsible for 37% of all methane in the air.
This makes up 18% of the entire global warming effect; more so than the entire transportation
sector worldwide.
Much of the methane and part of the CO2 is emitted from rumen fermentation and animal
waste.
The best and most efficient way for any average person to curb climate change, regardless
of any government policies, is in fact to stop eating meat, especially red meat, as
much as possible.
5.
Conserving Water
One of the biggest challenges we are about to face as a planet is fresh water scarcity.
The effects have already begun to show themselves, predominantly on the West coast of the US,
among other places.
California, like much of the rest of the world uses about 70% of its fresh water supply in
agriculture, 20% in industry, and the remaining 10% for domestic and everyday use.
However, out of all the water usage around the world, livestock directly accounts for
8%.
The irrigation of feed-crops and pastures represents 7% here, while the remainder 1%
makes up for product processing and drinking water.
These numbers, of course, are taken on a global scale, becoming more predominant in dryer
areas.
In Botswana for example, livestock drinking water accounts for 23% of all water use in
the country.
Another 15% of all water loss worldwide is attributed evapotranspiration of feed-crops.
To put it in more relatable terms, each pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water to
be produced, one pound of pork needs 720 gallons, and 480 gallons of water for a pound of chicken.
Compare this with 191 gallons for a pound of cereal, 107 gallons of water for fruit,
and 36 gallons for vegetables.
Of course, a pound of any meat packs in much more calories than their weight equivalent
in plant-based alternatives.
However, by comparing the ratio of water per calorie, beef is still 5 times more water
intensive than fruit, 7 times more than veggies and 20 times more so than cereal.
4.
Lowering our Food Security
Hypothetically renouncing all meat throughout the world, does have a few drawbacks.
Being an omnivorous species, humans were able to be much more versatile when it came to
their environment.
Eating meat and animal-based products, allowed humans to travel all across the globe and
inhabit most of it.
Without eating meat, humans would have never been able to reach and survive the arctic
regions of the world, and would have probably never crossed into the Americas via the Bering
land bridge so long ago.
Even today, in our technologically advanced society, many people rely solely on animals
for their very survival.
Livestock can also offer a buffer in national and international food supplies, which can
be drawn upon in case of food shortages.
The lack of rainfall, hailstorms, prolonged winters, or other unforeseen natural catastrophes
can cause many plant-based crops to produce lower yields, or even to fail completely.
If we are to ever become completely vegetarian, people living in colder or drier regions would
need either to abandon their homes for literal “greener pastures”, to import all of their
greens from somewhere else, especially during the winter months, or to make use of large
scale modern technology such as indoors vertical farming.
3.
Lowering the Risk of an Apocalyptic Disease
One of the biggest threats to humanity has always been disease.
In the first quarter of the 20th century, during WWI, an influenza outbreak - also known
as the Spanish Flu - was responsible for five times the number of deaths resulted from the
war itself; over 50 million people.
It was so contagious and it happened so fast that in less than a year more than 500 million
people (a quarter of the world’s population) was infected all across the planet.
Only a small isolated island somewhere in the Amazonian basin reported no infected.
The reasons here were similar to those above; domesticated animals.
With the discovery of antibiotics some time after, the deadly disease was more or less
kept in check since then.
But more recently however, due to the large quantities of antibiotics animals are given
to prevent such an outbreak, as well as our own improper use of them, new strains of influenza
have become resistant to the drug.
These are the swine and avian flues we hear about in the news from time to time.
If for whatever reason a new global pandemic were to arise, it will most likely be from
here; particularly because we’re again left defenseless against them.
In an attempt to get a possible heads up in the case of one such apocalyptic event (especially
now that we’re more connected than ever), scientists have been mapping areas with high
concentrations of livestock all across the globe.
They hope this will help them better predict from where the next outbreak is most likely
to occur.
Again, if we were to all become vegetarian, one such risk could be seriously lowered.
2.
The Livestock Industry is more than just about the Meat
As a whole, the livestock sector makes up about 1.4 of the world’s GDP.
It is also growing faster than the rest of the agriculture sector, which itself is declining
relative to the overall GDP.
In total, the livestock sector makes up 40% of all agriculture, and in more industrialized
countries it reaches as high as 50 or even 60%.
If everyone were to become vegetarian, these people would be out of a job.
But besides meat, livestock also contributes with dairy products and eggs.
But for argument’s sake, let’s consider these as not part of any vegetarian’s diet.
However, animal products also come in other forms as well, such as wool, leather, and
fats.
And while the first two are used in the textile, furniture and other businesses, animal fats
and similar byproducts have a wide range of unexpected uses.
These include things such as, detergents, shampoos and even condoms, as well as many,
many others.
Now, it wouldn’t make any ethical or economic sense to raise livestock just for the sake
of their leather or fats, so plant-based alternatives need to be considered.
This will mean that much of the land used for feed, as well as many pasturelands, will
need to be covered with these plants instead of returning to their natural state.
1.
Our Nutrition
We have to make one thing clear right from the start here.
Animal protein, due to the fact that it’s similar to our own, tends to deliver us all
the amino acids we need, whereas plant-based protein lack one or more of these.
One way to combat this is to have a wide range of grains, fruits and vegetables at our disposal,
so as to compensate each other.
In 2003, livestock based foods contributed to an average of 17% of energy and 33% of
protein to dietary intakes around the world.
These numbers, of course, vary wildly from country to country, as we’ve seen above.
This distribution of meat in our diets has left many people to suffer from different
ailments related to their nutrition.
According to a recent study, 2.1 billion people – roughly 30% of the world’s population,
are either obese or overweight, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, almost 800
million people do not have enough food to lead a healthy life.
People who suffer from malnutrition can benefit immensely from livestock-based foods.
This is because they often suffer from a lack of protein, vitamin or mineral deficiencies,
elements found in meats and dairy.
Children in particular have shown to benefit greatly from a moderate animal-based diet,
regardless if they’re malnourished or not.
Obese and overweight people, on the other hand, have their own series of diseases like
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers, linked to excess meat and dairy consumption.
This group of people would benefit immensely from a lowered intake of red meat and animal
fats in particular.
In order for people to become vegetarian, everyone should be able to have access to
a wide variety of plants, animal fats and nuts on a daily basis.