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Regular readers of Planet Green are undoubtedly aware that we're frequently recommending adopting a vegetarian diet as one of the most important steps you can take to reduce your ecological footprint. Even just seriously cutting back on meat consumption (as in being a weekday vegetarian) can make a huge difference.
The headline stat we've been using is that adopting a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet will cut your carbon footprint by nearly a ton per year; and a weekday vegetarian diet is (ta da!) between two-thirds and three-quarters of a ton. A vegan diet results in about a two ton reduction, by the way.
Well, if you want some more reasons why being vegetarian is such a significant part of making your life greener, here they are:
1. The Deforestation & Land-Use Connection
Raising beef cattle is now the single-largest cause of deforestation in the Amazon, responsible for about 80% of new land cleared since reliable satellite records began being kept in the early 1980s. In fact the total land cleared for cattle pastures now is as large as the nation of Iceland.,/p>
Perhaps not surprising, considering that Brazil's the largest exporter of beef in the world, but a gigantic environmental problem nevertheless. That forest was far better left intact sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and being a veritable hot bed of biodiversity than being cleared to raise cattle.
But what about people? What about the income from raising cattle? A valid concern, but economic analysis shows that while there may be short term benefits to communities that clear land in the rainforest, ultimately it just results in a boom-bust cycle that leaves people and the environment bankrupt.
2. Meat Eating Raises the Cost of Climate Change Mitigation
Obviously, not everywhere in the world is chopping down carbon-storing rainforest to raise meat, but the level of resource consumption and land-use for meat is significant worldwide. And this has serious economic impacts when it comes to climate change mitigation.
In fact, a study coming out of the Netherlands earlier this year shows that the costs of mitigating climate change would be reduced by about 70% if a large portion of people adopted a vegetarian diet.
Even if people just returned to eating meat at historic levels—think back 50-60 years or so, or ask a relative about it—the costs of averting the worst of climate change could be reduced by half.
3. Eating More Fruits, Veggies & Grains = Lowering Your Water Consumption
Part of the major future impact of climate change is changing availability of water. While this will vary by region (as does water availability today), some of the most populated areas of the world will be worst hit—and that includes many areas in the United States where our food comes from.
But if you eat lower on the food chain, upping your intake of fruits, veggies and grains and decreasing consumption of animal products (that includes dairy and cheese) you ultimately decrease your water footprint.
It simply takes more water to grow the crops to feed to animals, to provide water for them, and to process their bodies into meat or milk into cheese, than it does to grow vegetables—even compared to crops which require lots of irrigation.
Here's more on the comparative water footprint of fruits and vegetables versus meat and dairy.
4. Being Vegetarian Saves You Money at the Store
If those reasons aren't enough to tip you (or someone you're trying to convince) over to the veggie path, here's the bottom line: A vegetarian diet is on average cheaper than a carnivorous one.
First, there is the cost of food itself. The whole grain staples (and protein sources) of a vegetarian diet are simply less expensive than their animal-based counterparts. You'll be increasing your consumption of fruits and vegetables, but even if you're buying the highest quality organic produce this probably won't tip the balance past what you'd spend consuming what's become a normal amount of meat in the United States.
By some estimates this will lower your food bill by about 20% from what you'd spend with all that meat.
5. Long-term Health Benefits Save Us All Money
Second, there is the collective health benefits associated with a vegetarian diet and paying more attention to nutrition more broadly.
Insurers point out that rates of chronic diseases are increasing, not to mention increasing rates of obesity, at unsustainable levels and that there is a clear connection between plant-based diets and reducing health problems.
Whether you want to look at is money you'll personally save on decreased doctor visits and insurance co-pays, or that we'll all save because our healthcare system doesn't have so many chronic health problems to deal with, a plant-based diet benefits the individual and society.
6. Eat Your Veggies & Lose Weight
Appealing to the vanity in all of us, there is some compelling evidence that a vegetarian diet can help you lose weight, or maintain that svelte body you already have.
Medical studies have shown that, because the average vegetarian eats about 500 calories a day less for the same nutritional benefit as does their carnivorous neighbor, vegetarians are less likely to be overweight and a plant-based diet can help you lose weight even if you don't change the amount of exercise you get.
More on Vegetarianism:
Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
7 Cheap and Easy Vegetarian Meals
Reduce the Meat in Your Diet: Become a Weekday Vegetarian
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
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