With people like Greta Thumburg becoming a global star for talking up against polluting the environment and also extinction rebellion taking over streets to promote the same cause. Environmentalism has also seen increased coverage in the news. People are willing to take drastic action to help the earth, use plastic straws to save fish, shower less to save water and buying electric cars to reduce emissions, but is this all enough? Does it also involve humans strongest addiction? As the independent reports from a Oxford study, “Veganism is the ‘single biggest way’ to reduce our environmental impact”.
In 2013, a team of researchers including Dr Joseph Poore (Zoology) at the University of Oxford set out to produce the most comprehensive study looking at the difference between every type of farming and the environment. They conducted the study over 5 years and looked at all the most popular farming practices in today’s society. What they found was that cutting meat and dairy products from your diet can reduce someone’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73 percent. They also found that if everyone was to go vegan, global farmland use could be reduced by 75 percent, “an area equivalent to the size of the US, China, Australia and the EU combined. This of course then links back to the rising coverage about global warming and climate change because actually going plant based is the most environment friendly action to take.

“The new study, published in the journal Science, is one of the most comprehensive analyses to date, looking into the detrimental effects farming can have on the environment and included data on nearly 40,000 farms in 119 countries.”

This of course means that, if people reduced their meat intake, not only would it result in a huge drop in greenhouse gas emissions but would also free up wild land lost to animal agriculture. They also found that meat and dairy production causes 60 percent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions while the animal products themselves only provide 18 percent of calories and 37 percent of protein levels around the world.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car, Avoiding consumption of animal products delivers far better environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable meat and dairy. Even the lowest impact animal products are typically creating more emissions and using more land than vegetable protiens, and often even the least sustainable soy milk is still better for the planet than most sustainable cows milk” - Joseph Poore

Dr Poore himself also stopped eating meat during 1 year into the study after finding the considerable amount of evidence proving that a plant-based diet is a lot less destructive on the planet. Animal Agriculture has also been proven to contribute more to global warming than all of the transport industries combined.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/veganism-environmental-impact-planet-reduced-plant-based-diet-humans-study-a8378631.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ25O_BD5OM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8miQs3mPGu8
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-10-12-balanced-plant-based-diets-improve-our-health-and-health-planet
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-06-01-new-estimates-environmental-cost-food
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987
https://pfaf.org/user/cmspage.aspx?pageid=87
https://www.ecowatch.com/farmers-plant-transition-2645785977.html
https://www.ecowatch.com/farmers-plant-transition-2645785977.html
A lot of crops actually being grown for animals
We never advise to reduce animal cruelty, it's always to stop the abuse instead.
We never advise to reduce animal cruelty, it's always to stop the abuse instead.
https://faunalytics.org/farming-animals-vs-farming-plants-comparison/
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/livestock-feed-and-habitat-destruction/