The meat, dairy, and egg industries contribute immensely to climate change and other environmental concerns. Check out these issues and learn how going vegan can help save the world:
1. Poop and Pee
Going vegan helps prevent the pollution of our waterways. Animals on U.S. farms produce 10 times more poop than the country’s entire human population. All the excrement has to go somewhere, and it often ends up in pond-like areas called “lagoons” that flood into rivers and lakes—more than 35,000 miles of river water in 22 states is now polluted—or the feces is used as fertilizer, which also contributes to water pollution. As the waste decomposes, it pollutes our air, and fecal matter even ends up in food that’s made from animals or animal products—so when you eat pork chops, you’re eating poop, too!
2. Burps and Farts
Animals used for food release huge amounts of methane when they burp and fart. Methane is 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. By going vegan, you’ll be helping to prevent methane from ending up in the atmosphere, which is a major cause of climate change.
Don’t let the farts scare you though!
Just go vegan instead. 🙂
3. Nitrous Oxide
According to the United Nations, the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for 65 percent of the world’s nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Going vegan reduces your nitrogen footprint.
4. Rain Forests
Save the rain forests by going vegan. An enormous amount of rain forest has been cleared to grow the soy that’s used to feed farmed animals. If we simply ate soy and other plant foods ourselves, instead of feeding them to farmed animals, we wouldn’t need to raise nearly as many crops—and we could stop decimating the rain forest.
5. Water
It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat requires only 25 gallons of water. We don’t want to run out of fresh water!
#FauxMeatsAndAlmondMilkFTW!
6. World Hunger
All the land in the world that’s used for livestock farming could be used to help conquer world hunger—meaning that if we ditched animal agriculture and instead used the land to plant crops, we’d have enough food to feed everyone. Isn’t it messed up how a portion of the world’s population is starving and the rest gorges on animal products? Going vegan removes you from this crazy imbalance.
7. Energy
Producing 1 calorie of animal protein requires 11 times more fossil fuels than it does to make 1 calorie of plant protein. The production of meat and other animal products requires an enormous amount of energy—so by going vegan, you’ll be helping to stop climate change.
Doesn’t it feel good to reduce your (negative) impact on the planet? 😉
Go on, get down wit yo bad self.
The Bottom Line
You can easily reduce your carbon footprint and help save the environment by avoiding animal products, so eat those veggies instead!
(This rhino knows what’s up!)
Remember that we’re all activists. We all have the opportunity to make a difference every day through the choices that we make. If enough people adopt more conscious habits, we can still save our planet. Every individual matters!
