Whilst most people – including myself – decide to go vegan to reduce animal suffering, the environmental argument is another reason to ditch animal products.
Animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change.
According to the United Nations, rearing animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the cars, planes, trains, trucks and ships on Earth combined.
Animal farming is also a huge waste of water. It takes 1,000 litres of water to produce one beef burger, but just 167 litres to produce a tofu-based equivalent . You can also produce twice as much soya milk for the amount of water it takes to produce a litre of cows’ milk.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Intensive animal farming causes soil erosion and land degradation, and waste from intensive factory farms is one of the main causes of water pollution both in the UK and in other nations. In fact it is the biggest cause of water pollution in the UK.
In South America, the rainforest is being razed to the ground, primarily to make way for cattle ranching and growing crops to feed farmed animals. I am often told that vegans are destroying the Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
rainforest because of soya production. And whilst it is true that vast amount of rainforest, most notably the Amazon, are now being used to grow soya, more that 95% of it is used to produce feed for farmed animals.
Fishing trawlers, with nets the size of football pitches, rake the seabed, destroying entire ecosystems. Even world governments admit that our oceans are on the brink of environmental collapse, with commercial fishing fleets stripping them bare.
Some argue that fish farming is a sustainable alternative, but one in four wild-caught fish is used to Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
make fishmeal to feed to fish on farms. Furthermore, pollution caused by fish farming produces a barren landscape on the surrounding seabed, as nothing can survive.
So by ditching animal products, you are not only helping to reduce animal suffering, you are also helping to protect the planet.
