January 2007
Vegetarianism: The Best Way To Protect The Planet?
Issues of the environment and sustainability have never been more discussed nor more pertinent than now. However, with so many schemes and proposed lifestyle changes, not only is it difficult to keep track but also to follow these through. For example, carbon offsetting can only be a short term, non-sustainable solution. Concrete changes over which we have direct control of are the most important pieces in this sustainable jigsaw. And to the already well known poster-boys of environmentalism (recycling, energy conservation and use of public transport) one must add perhaps the most important: vegetarianism.
This is not a call for a form of vegetarian police or the prevention of people consuming meat. Indeed, the ethical aspects to do with animal welfare and vegetarianism are not addressed in this article as they are a different but not wholly unrelated aspect of the debate. Rather, this article is an inquiry into the benefits of a vegetarian diet and lifestyle that impact not only upon yourself, but the rest of the world in a positive, environmentally friendly way. An expression of self interest has never been so altruistic!
Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in fat and higher in fibre and vitamins than non-vegetarian diets, and the health benefits associated with such a diet, mentioned in the British Medical Journal include: lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, less obesity, lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia. Indeed, vegetarians are on average 5 IQ points more intelligent than their non vegetarian counterparts. Whether this is a reflection of more intelligent people becoming vegetarian or vegetarianism breeding intelligence is unclear, but it provides another excellent motivational aspect to become a vegetarian.
However, of equal importance is the fact that the vegetarian diet is not only healthy and environmentally friendly, but it is totally sustainable. This is especially relevant with the world population projected to increase to 8.8bn by 2030, when our ability to feed ourselves will be coming under serious threat.
Essentially though, the world is facing an overpopulation of animals. Global meat production rose fourfold between 1950 and 1994, faster than the human population. Production rates jumped from 18kg per person to a little over 35kg and the world farm animal population currently stands at 15bn. Significantly, it is the most affluent who are eating meat (and are able to) at the expense of poorer people, who are seeing grain supplies diverted to feed livestock (and increasingly to provide biofuel).
Thus as ever more land is required to produce grains for animals and cars, more land has to be cultivated – most commonly from deforested and grassland areas which rapidly become overgrazed or in some cases, desertified. This is exemplified by the deforestation of the Amazon, where 80.1 % of land which was previously forested in the Amazon is now occupied by pastures, with feed-crops covering a large part of the remainder. In fact, 10.5% of the world"s fertile land suffers from moderate to extreme degradation, with overgrazing and intensive farming practices being the principal causes.
For meat-protein production, land requirements are about 10 times greater than for plant-protein production. It takes 200 times more water to produce a pound of beef than a pound of wheat, with 40% of the world"s grain harvest being fed to animals. To feed all of the hungry people on our planet, we would need just half of this figure. This is because animals are such inefficient converters of plant and vegetable matter to edible flesh. Much of the food eaten is converted to manure, energy for movement, and the growth of body parts not used for human consumption. For example, for every kilogram of edible beef to come from cattle, 40kg of manure is produced. This excess waste ends up in rivers and ground water, leading to carcinogenic nitrate pollution.
Just as disconcerting as the pollution of the ground and water, as well as potential food security issues raised is the atmospheric impact of farm animals. Writing in Physics World, Physicist Alan Calvert has calculated that animals we eat emit 21% of all carbon emissions attributable to human activity, which is 7% more than the transport sector!
In this way, vegetarianism could potentially cut not just emissions and ground/water pollution, but also address issues of food security and global poverty. Naturally, it would be unrealistic in the foreseeable future to eliminate all animal consumption, and vegetarianism does not claim to be a magical elixir to cure all ills. Nonetheless, we are provided with a glimpse through the looking glass at solutions which enable us as ethical individuals to think globally but act locally.
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