Let’s talk Environment

The environmental aspect of the animal agriculture is indisputable. Of course, there are always discussions about specific topics or numbers. As the statistical numbers can change over time and are depending on the scientific approach this makes total sense. But in the end, it is clear that the animal agriculture is responsible for a huge part of the environmental pollution. If this is some percentage more or less does not really matter as it has still a huge impact and together with the other two topics (health and ethics) veganism has a positive impact on several aspects of our life.

Greenhouse gas emissions

The animal agriculture is causing more greenhouse gas emissions than the global transportation (car, airplane, ships etc.). There are several factors which lead to these emissions. One is that ruminant animals (especially cows) produce a lot of methane gas which is more than 20-fold more harmful to the environment than regular CO2. Secondly, you need a lot of resources (water and food) to feed these animals. If you think about the fact that 30-50 billion land animals are living on this earth for the sole purpose of food production this seems no wonder.

Waste of space

We also waste a lot of our space. And no we don’t talk about the space for the animal itself but about the food we need to produce to feed to these animals. This includes a lot of soy and grain production which is one of the main reasons for the deforestation of the rain forest. And we are talking about the soy production for the animals which has to be as cheap as possible. Side fact: The soy we eat in tofu or soymilk is mostly produced locally and organic. Through the deforestation, we reduce additionally our chance to clean the air, as the vegetation in rainforests has a great impact on the reduction of CO2 in our atmosphere.

Water-intensive

In addition, the animal agriculture is very water intensive. Most of this water is used for the cultivation of the animal’s food. As drinking water is in most parts of the world already a valuable resource it seems unreasonable to waste it.

Overfertilization

And we haven’t even talked about the overfertilization of our lands. By having so many animals on our planet (bred into existence, because this number wouldn’t exist naturally) we have way too much dung. This is also destroying the ecosystem of the agricultural fields and a huge portion gets into our groundwater which leads to more pollution of the water and again to less clean drinking water and to polluted oceans at the end. This and other factors lead to less alga and therefore even more CO2 in our atmosphere.

So everything is interconnected and with our rising demand for animal products, we get into a dead loop which gets worse. By talking about animal agriculture I am not just pointing towards meat but also to the egg and dairy industry. The “milk cow” is producing as much methane gas as the “meat cow” and also needs food, water and is producing dung (and it is not just about the cow).

Energy loss

The energy and minerals we get through eating meat and dairy is a percentage of the energy we filtered as food through this animal. Of course, there is land where you cannot grow vegetables, seeds, etc, but this is a small part of the current animal agricultural land. If we would use the space of the animal agriculture to plant vegetables, beans, seeds, fruits, rice, etc. we would have more than enough food on our planet and still enough space to let nature grow. And all this with way less environmental pollution (and harm to living beings).

And of course, there are a lot of other important topics like food waste, plastic waste, nuclear waste, transportation emissions, monocultures etc. But just because you try to do better at one of these topics doesn’t mean that you cannot go vegan too. And veganism is one of the easiest ways to directly impact the environment because everyone can do it by themselves on a daily basis. And also consider the other positive effects (health and ethics).

By simply making other choices in the supermarket you can have a direct impact on the harm caused to other living beings. If you have any concerns regarding veganism have a look at my other articles and if you still have open questions or if you are struggling at a specific point, just leave me a comment or contact me directly.

Don’t close your eyes and ask yourself what stops you to make a difference? I am convinced you won’t regret it.

Cheers,