Is Your Diet Costing the Earth? The Environmental Case for Veganism

By Beth Smith

Those who claim to care about the well-being of human beings and the preservation of our environment should become vegetarians for that reason alone. They would thereby increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, and cease contributing to the clearing of forests.…

When nonvegetarians say that “human problems come first” I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.

Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, 1990

Introduction:

Climate change is rightly perceived by activists as the most pressing threat facing humanity and our planet today. The transport industry, aviation in particular, has been picked out as the worst climate criminal. Flying, of course, has a devastating impact. However, there is one area of our lives that impacts the environment more than transport in terms of greenhouse gas emissions1, but has been under-reported in the mainstream press; what we eat. At the centre of the issue is the fact that an omnivorous diet is extremely inefficient in its use of food, land and water. Faced by climate chaos and hunger, long-term human security must be placed above dietary preferences.

A + B > B

Increasing the number of stages in the food production process by eating animal products, rather than plant matter first hand, creates waste. According to Joni Seager et. al in ‘The State of the Environment Atlas’,

“In cycling our grain through livestock, we wasted 90% of its protein and 96% of its calories. An acre of cereal can produce five times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production; and legumes (beans, lentils, peas) can produce ten times as much. Thus the greater the human consumption of animal products, the fewer people can be fed.”

An omnivorous diet wastes resources that the world just does not have. Faced with a growing population, we must use our resources as efficiently as possible so as to avoid famine, conflict over scarce resources, and climate chaos.

Land

According to a UN Food and Agricultural Organisation 2005 report ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World’2, a varied vegan diet only needs a fifth of the land of a typical European omnivorous diet. The animal industry has a devastating impact on the land. Expansion of livestock production is a key factor in deforestation. In a process known as ‘hamburgerisation’ cattle graze on cleared land, moving to yet more land once they have destroyed the fertility of the soil. World Resources Institute assessments suggest that 20-30 per cent of the world’s forest areas have already been converted to agriculture3. To feed animals in order to eat animal products will not satisfy humanity’s food needs.

Water

Animal production uses huge quantities of water to grow crops for their feed, for them to drink, and during the processing of their carcasses. A study financed by the California Beef Council found that the production of one kilogram of beef uses 3700 litres of water, the equivalent of 40 baths or 300 toilet flushes. A different study from Cornell University put the water usage for one kilogram of beef at 100,000 litres. For comparison a kilogram of maize uses 77 litres, wheat 119, and barley 2174. With more than one billion people already unable to access enough safe water to meet their needs5, and this number likely to rise, we must prioritise a sustainable diet over a meat-based one.

For those wanting more information:

Recipe ideas:

Breakfast – cereal and soy milk, toast.

Lunch – sandwich ideas – hummus, falafel, salad, vegan cheese, pickles and chutneys, vegetable pates.

Dinner – pastas, curries, stir frys, meat substitutes, risottos. Try fajitas with aubergine instead of chicken, or a stir fry with marinated tofu instead of the chicken.

Replacements – you can get replacements for all sorts of foods – milk, yoghurt, icecream, pesto, cheese, mayonnaise, meat substitutes, marshmallows, chocolate and more!

Vegan cake

275g (11oz) self-raising flour

200g (8oz) sugar

1 tsp baking powder

100ml (4 fl oz) vegetable oil (though using vegan margarine makes it lighter)

Roughly 350ml (14 fl oz) water – add slowly

Splash soy milk

Flavour – try cinnamon and cocoa powder

• Mix all ingredients together

• Pour into two round sandwich tins and cook for roughly 25 minutes at 200oC/ 400oF until cooked through

For the icing – icing sugar mixed with water for glace icing or mixed with vegan margarine for butter icing

Websites:

www.vegansociety.com – read their ‘Eating the Earth’ pamphlet!

www.vegweb.com – huge recipe database

http://findveganrecipes.blogspot.com/ – a search engine that searches for just vegan recipes

www.veganlondon.co.uk – where to eat in London

www.happycow.net/index/html – vegetarian and vegan places to eat around the world

www.veganvillage.co.uk – info on vegan websites, recipe sites, groups, shopping, charity, cafes etc

At Warwick:

Email the Animal Rights and Vegetarian Society for more details – e.a.smith.2@warwick.ac.uk or su564@sunion.warwick.ac.uk

1 See the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report – ‘Livestock’s long shadow’, 2006

2 http://www.fao.org/

3 Eating the Earth, Vegan Society pamphlet, www.vegansociety.com

4 Beckett and Oltjen, Estimation of the Water Requirement for Beef Production in the United States

5 International Food Policy Research Institute, Global Water Outlook to 2025