Why do vegan? There are many reasons, but the vegan environmental diet achieves the best results in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems.

Many ecologists, reasonably, want to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy products, but why not avoid it in its entirety? It has been shown that reducing the use of animal products to zero is the best way to minimize the impact of Earth on the planet.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Climate change is undoubtedly the main environmental problem of our times. If you want to make your pittina about it, veganism is the best diet in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The vegan diet ensures that 60% of greenhouse gas emissions from food are cut in Britain, compared to the usual omnivorous diet. This was demonstrated by Oxford researchers in a study entitled “Climatic Change”. The study shows that the vegan diet exceeds the rest, including a low-meat and vegetarian diet.

More recently, another Oxford study has shown that the transition to a vegan diet is “the best way” to help the environment.

There are structural reasons for this. The vegan diet rejects the products of animals and cattle farming brings with it certain inefficiencies. In order to produce animal products, they must be fed into meat, milk or egg, with a very low efficiency rate. Of the 100 calories given to the animal, 12 are obtained; the remaining 88 are burned by the animals in their movements, senses, breaths and biological processes, as demonstrated by Cassidy and other researchers. That's why it's much more effective to raise plants and eat them directly than to rule livestock. In addition, stables produce many methanes and other residues.

There are those who say that forage animals do not eat cereals, avoiding the problem of loss of calories, and that grazing livestock is climate friendly. But Tara Garnet, from the Food Climate Research Network, has investigated this issue of soil carbon retention by livestock farming. The study shows that it is not true: the methane produced was by far more than a carbon retained in the subsoil. One of the reasons is that the herb has a lot of fiber and when sanding it produces a lot of that greenhouse gas.

These data clearly prioritize the choice of veganism, especially since the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the world is only 12 years old to solve the climate crisis. Seeing the passivity of governments and knowing that two-degree warming is no longer a danger, veganism seems a good option.

Land

Livestock farming must use twice the land needed for plant-based agriculture. In fact, the sector that uses the most land in the world is the livestock sector, according to the UN. The pressure on the food system with the proliferation of the population is increasing, so the use of our land is becoming more and more important.

In addition, we're going to need large expanses of land to widen the forests, the lungs of the earth. Data from the International Energy Agency and the OECD indicate that, even if global gas emissions started to drop rapidly to zero by 2060, we would still need eight million square kilometers for new jungles and negative emission technologies. I mean, two like India's land crust.

We must therefore make a transition to get out of livestock farming and reduce the pressure on land to the fullest extent possible. This is what we have to achieve, on the one hand, with today's deforestation and, on the other, with the beginning of the expansion of the forest area.

Water

Livestock, in addition to being the most used land, is the most needed water. It is also a major cause of contamination of drinking water. It can also solve water scarcity and water pollution through plant-based activities.

Soil

Some think that soil quality can be the weak point of veganism. But animals hit the ground, adding the risks of not filtering water and causing flooding. And although it is often said that mountain areas are difficult to implement in them azada agriculture, however, water leakage and flood risks may be more serious in them.

The transfer of livestock based proteins and the use of more sustainable legumes can help. These crops can fix nitrogen in the soil by removing it from the air and storing it in the roots to promote soil health. On the other hand, the loss of soil health is a constant symptom of the pressure exerted each year to produce large crops. The diffusion in diets based on legumes and plants will minimize the pressure on the soil, as the direct consumption of these crops is more effective.

Biodiversity

The extraction of forests for food production or fodder is suffering unnecessary loss of biodiversity. Indeed, livestock farming is the main cause of extinctions. This brings us back to the point of inefficiency, which would be solved with a plant-based scheme.

And eat some chicken from time to time?

What damage does eating a piece of white meat have to the environment from time to time? What do they say about the idea of reducing meat? Why is a plant-based diet a correct option?

Firstly, it should be stressed that the reduction in the consumption of animal products is a positive step. No one changes their whole lives overnight, all their efforts are applauded. But the ecologist should go further.

To say that chickens do less harm to the environment than calves is not much to say. Chicken continues to produce more waste of resources than any plant-based product, it emits more greenhouse gas. At large intervals, in addition. Chicken seems to multiply the carbon trail of many plant foods that are their alternative.

Why is it important? As governments are not doing enough, we will need an immediate, profound and continued cut in greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, global emissions continue to rise. In this context, individual actions are even more important. Sometimes it's impossible to help with pollution, but when possible, the best way to preserve the environment is to choose a climate-friendly diet.

Besides the shortage of meat, veganism has more influences that do it better: it is a way of living, with a clear definition and an easy to understand claim. It's ingenious to approach an environmental movement that has more and more social influence, markets and attractions in the media.

What if everybody did it?

Many readers can worry about what a vegan world would look like: how the land would be fertilized, etc. But there's a bit between becoming vegan today and believing that the best future would be for everyone to be vegan. The question “What do I have to do” is in the context of what others are doing in the world. If meat consumption is increasing and the Earth heats up the planet, the key is to minimize its consumption, and this should lead to veganism. Concern about the possible lack of manure in a vegan world is attenuated when asked: How can I help this planet more? More and more people believe that the answer lies in veganism and we invite you to join the movement.