Writing Assignment help on : Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism or popularly known as Veganism celebrate the World vegan Day on 1st November and it is for the ‘Vegans’ or the people who abstain from eating meat, cheese, eggs, honey , gelatine or whey (Suddath, 2008). Rather they do not eat anything which comes from or includes animals in it, nor do they wear or use any clothing, accessory or object which is being made from any animal, so no wool, no ivory-keyed pianos, no pearls and no leather. According to American Dietic Association the Vegetarian Diet is the one which does not include meat ( including fowl) or seafood or the products which contain these foods (POsition of AMerican Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets, 2009).Veganism is an extreme form of Vegetarianism although the term was coined in the year 1944 but the concept of avoiding flesh has been tracked back to the ancient Indian as well as East Mediterranean societies (Suddath, 2008). But the question is can become a vegetarian save the planet? In this essay we are going to analyse why one should go vegetarian? And what impact will it have on our environment and how going Vegan can save our planet?
If we take a quick look at the statistics which depict the environmental impact of meat production, it would provide ample amount of food for thought. There are some staggering statistics being provided by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). For example it has been found by FAO that 1.1 billion sheep and almost 1.4 billion cattle altogether on the planet contribute towards producing 37 percent of total methane which is generated through human activity. Methane is an organic gas which is much more effective in trapping the greenhouse gases as compared to carbon dioxide, thus contributing extensively towards raising the greenhouse effect on Earth (Tuffrey, 2012). The agricultural land which is one third of total land surface of the Earth is being used for raising and rearing farm animals across the globe. With these alarming figures showing that eating meat is not a really sustainable and wise decision isn’t going vegetarian going to help in saving our planet?
The prime motive behind going vegan or choosing a vegetarian diet has always been ‘Animal Welfare’ because according to the Vegetarian Society more than two million animals are being killed every day for eating in UK. What we choose to eat has great impact on the environment and concern towards the environment has been another major factor for the people turning vegetarian (Suddath, 2008). Even a research done by R K Pachauri , the chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that one hectare of land which produces fruits, cereals and vegetables is capable of feeding around 30 people while on the other hand the same area of one hectare for producing meat can only feed just five to ten people . So isn’t it wise decision to turn vegetarian and feed 30 people from one hectare land rather just feeding one third population with meat?
Turning vegetarian will definitely help in saving the planet and there are many valid reasons which support to become a vegetarian. One reason which is very important is that if we trim our meat consumption by 30% it would help and be advantageous for us and the rest of the planet as suggested by research reports of Reuters. Researchers in Australia and Great Britain have been able to discover some measures like reduction of fossil-fuel dependence in case of farming techniques are not enough to meet the targets assigned for emission reduction as reported by Reuters. But if these steps of carbon dioxide reductions are combined with around 30% cutback of livestock which are breeding in the major meat-producing countries along with a similar kind of reduction in consumption of meat, it will definitely lead to substantial amounts of health benefits for population at large and reduction in CO2 Emissions too at the same time (Black, 2009). This would really help in saving our planet. Another study which was published in The Lancet Medical Journal suggested that in Great Britain alone just 30% lesser intake of less saturated fats by adults will help in reducing the number of premature deaths which are caused due to heart attacks in young age by 17% . Around 18% of emissions of greenhouse gases are attributed to the production of meat and meat-products as found in a study done by UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization. Since the demand for the meat is increasing day by day the livestock production is going to rise by 85% by the year 2030 from the year 2000 as reported by Reuters (Black, 2009). So it can be well imagined that if the livestock production will increase consequently the gases like methane generation will also increase which will contribute at larger level to greenhouse effect. Thus to save our planet going vegetarian would definitely would be a good option.
Along with carbon footprint reduction becoming vegan also helps in saving water and energy and reducing pollution in environment. There have been several warnings from the head of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel which works exclusively on climate change that eating less meat is very vital step which contributes towards combating climatic changes. They believe that cows are more damaging than cars because meat is very carbon intensive commodity. Moreover livestock production requires energy in huge, amounts (Bluejay, 1998). We put more energy into the animals as per unit food as compared to the any plant crop. The reason being the cattle’s consume 16 time more grains as they produce meat, therefore we require 16 times more energy to grow those crops to feed the livestock which is simple wastage of energy on livestock. Then the livestock themselves use this energy to process it beyond the energy which they use for their own food. Then meat needs refrigeration, during transportation too which is not needed for beans and grains.
After the extra energy consumption comes the consumption of water issue meat production needs huge amounts of water for example to produce a pound of beef it takes 99.6% more water than to produce a pound of potatoes. A more practical example is to save water if you give up showering you would be saving lesser water than the amount of water needed to produce a pound of beef. It takes 5200 gallons of water for taking shower whole year round while to produce a pound of beef we need 5,214 gallons of water (Bluejay, 1998).
Raising animals for food needs more land than growing crops because it has been seen that animals eat a lot more food than they provide. The contrast can be well imagined from the figure that it takes 16 pounds of grains in order to produce one pound of beef, which takes 94% more pesticides and 94 % more land too (Robbins and Ornish, 2001). Thus livestock can be called as the food factories in reverse. The number of chickens killed in the U.S. every year is more than the total population across the globe which comes to 7.6 billion chickens versus 6 billion people. Approximately 13 million hectares of land in U.S. is used for growing vegetables, fruits, beans etc. while 302 million lands is used for rearing livestock (Segelken, 1997). In addition to this in arid lands it accounts for 7.6 million square miles and most of the land is primarily used as rangelands, similarly another 5.5 million square miles of land which has adequate amount of rainfall to support vegetation is being used as pastures (Saxena, 2011).
However according to the views of ex-vegan Lierre Keith going vegan is not the right way to save planet (Keith, 2012). The reason being she feels that agriculture is the most destructive thing which mankind can do to destroy this planet. According to her the vegetarian diet is not enough to provide long-term maintenance and work for repair of human body. So she supports the fact that going vegan is not going to save the planet. Eating meat is part of the biological cycle which sustains the planet and by not killing them there would be ecological imbalance (Mackenzie, 2011). Agriculture on which the vegans survive by eating the agricultural products has been devastating as it destroyed the green forests of Iraq and the heavy dust storm in China which are causing asthma in kids in Denver are the best examples which can be quoted for the havocs of agriculture. This really puts a question mark on whether vegetarianism is going to save or destroy the planet (Mercola, 2011).
So it is really possible to save the planet through your plate by adopting simple ways of becoming vegetarian like easting more pulses , choosing seasonal fruits and vegetables for your diet because by eating locally grown produce you will be not only supporting The British Food Industry indirectly but also reduce your food footprints by 57% as suggested by vegetarian Society figures (Suddath, 2008). Taking the lead from Sir Paul McCartney and supporting his Meat Free Mondays Campaign you can also contribute towards saving planet. Lesser meat consumption will reduce wastage of water for rearing livestock, less land will be used for raising the livestock and less greenhouse gases will be emitted this will definitely be a huge step towards saving our planet by going vegetarian. Global changes in the diet like making a shift towards vegetarianism from eating meat will help a lot (Doyle, 2012). The reason being, growing crops to feed the animals like pigs, cows, or sheep needs more land as well as water as discussed above and also emits more greenhouse gases too, than producing the crops for human consumption. So why not go green and make our plates and lives greener to save our planet by going ‘Vegan’ (Robbins, 2001).
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