Plant-based Eating: A More Compassionate Choice for Animals, the Planet, and You
As January and the push for a plant-based month through the Veganuary campaign winds down, we wanted to remind you that anytime is a great time to incorporate plant-based eating into your diet. Whether your concern is for a reduction in animal cruelty and suffering, adverse environmental impacts caused by a meat and dairy diet, or improving your health, a plant-based diet has you covered!
Saving Animals One Meal At A Time
There is much we could say about the miserable lives of farmed animals raised to be slaughtered or otherwise grossly exploited and then killed (dairy, eggs) for the food system, particularly as 99% of these individuals are confined to live their days in a factory farm environment. Animals spending their short lives in cramped, filthy, stressful, and often disease-ridden environments are never given the opportunity to frolic in green pastures, snuggle with friends, and express their unique personalities the way Barn’s residents do. In raw data, the numbers are staggering and unfathomable to comprehend the scale at which this mass suffering is occurring.
Approximately 10 billion land animals are slaughtered each year in the United States alone meaning roughly 27 million are killed daily; on a global scale, this number jumps up to 92.2 billion land animals killed every year.
On a yearly per species basis, 9 billion chickens, 214 million turkeys (46 million of which are killed for Thanksgiving alone), 36 million cows, 124 million pigs, 23 million ducks, and 7 million sheep are killed for the United States food system
7,000 animals will be eaten by the average U.S. citizen who consumes meat their whole life, breaking down to 11 cows, 27 pigs, 2,400 chickens, 80 turkeys, 30 sheep, and 4,500 fish (Estimate from 2015)
As gruesome as these stats are, they do not even include animals who die from the horrible conditions they are kept in pre-slaughter or during transport. By opting for more vegan options, you directly decrease the number of animals being raised to live unnaturally short and heartbreaking lives.
And it’s not just the animals who suffer from this system but also the environment and our own health.
Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture At-A-Glance
Air
Animal agriculture is responsible for about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. If we just look at raising livestock (meat and dairy producers), this contributes more greenhouse gasses than all of the transportation sector combined. Methane gas, produced in the atmosphere in its largest quantities by cows, is 80 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
What we eat makes a huge difference in our carbon footprint with a study from Oxford University identifying going vegan as the biggest way we can make an impact.
Water
Greenhouse gas emissions not only affect our atmosphere’s temperature but also raise ocean temperatures leading to acidification of the water making it difficult to impossible for marine life and reef systems to survive.
Animal waste “lagoons”, fertilizers, and pesticides produced from animal agriculture send dangerous amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into waterways creating millions of square miles of dead zones where oxygen is so depleted that mass marine life die-offs occur as a result.
About 50% of water consumption in the United States is used to raise livestock, and the majority of this goes towards growing crops to feed these animals. It takes 1,800 to 4,000 gallons of water to make just one pound of beef. On a per gram of protein basis, beef uses six times the amount of water than legumes. A switch to a vegan diet reduces an individual’s water footprint by 55%.
Land
Land used for animal agriculture is the leading cause of the loss of biodiversity and species endangerment or extinction. About half of the land that’s free of ice or deserts is used to raise animals or grow crops to feed animals being raised for slaughter. 80% of deforestation is due to cattle ranching, and this deforestation makes up about 10% of carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite all this land usage, animal agriculture accounts for just 18% of calories and 37% of protein consumed globally. In fact, 70-90% of the world’s soy production goes towards feeding animals raised for food versus 7% consumed by humans.
Animal agriculture degrades the soil through cattle grazing and monocropping for feed production, leaving the stripped soil unsuitable for plants to grow. Short-term maximization of harvest leads to long-term soil destruction. Polyculture of plant-based foods recovers soil degradation.
Health Benefits of a Vegan Diet
Reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and many cancers
Less antibiotic resistance. Most antibiotics are currently used on animals raised in the food system, leading to a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
A healthy vegan diet leads to immune system support, reduction in inflammation, maintaining a healthy weight, and improved gut health through increased dietary fiber consumption.
Less meat production facilities where zoonotic diseases are more likely to be created through mutation and pathogen spreading results in a decreased risk of pandemics.
Tips & Resources
Switching over to a more plant-based diet doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, and it doesn’t have to be all at once. Every time you choose a plant-based meal and alternative products, you save animals, reduce environmental harm, and benefit your health.
Some simple switches include diversifying your proteins with options like lentils, beans, tofu/tempeh, and seitan instead of meat; increasing your consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains like rice, oats, and quinoa; and swapping plant-based alternatives into recipes you already love.
Need recipe inspiration? There is an endless amount of delicious vegan recipe inspiration in bookstores and online, including Barn Sanctuary’s very own meal planner.
Learn more from over a dozen documentaries such as ‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment,’ which is currently streaming on Netflix.
References:
“How Many Animals Are Killed for Food Every Day?”, Sentient Media, sentientmedia.org
“More animals than ever before—92.2 billion—are used and killed each year for food”, The Humane Society of the United States, humanesociety.org
“Plant-based Eating: Good for animals, the environment and you”, The Humane Society of the United States, humanesociety.org
“A Vegan Diet: Eating for the Environment”, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, pcrm.org
“14 Reasons Why Going Vegan Is The Best Thing We Can Do For The Planet”, The Humane League, thehumaneleague.org
“How Does Plant-Forward (Plant-Based) Eating Benefit Your Health?”, American Heart Association, heart.org
“Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets”, The Permanente Journal, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
“5 Benefits of a Plant-based Diet”, The University of Texas MD Anderso Center, mdanderson.org