By MADDIE KIRKMAN
Staff Writer
If you care about the environment, then going vegan is the best option for you! A vegan diet excludes animals and animal products which often require more resources to produce than plant-based foods. Switching to a vegan diet is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Studies have shown that going vegan could possibly reduce your carbon footprint by over 70%. Beef and meat have a much larger carbon footprint than vegan and vegetarian foods. A vegan diet cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions compared to an omnivorous diet. Meat requires more water than plant-based foods. If less meat was produced, water could be used to supply households and cities instead of animal agriculture. Meat products make up only 18% of global calorie consumption but use over 80% of farmland. Beef is also the biggest cause of tropical deforestation. A decrease in demand for meat could improve land use, especially in tropical rainforests. A vegan diet can also have other environmental benefits, such as a decrease in global acidification, an increase in freshwater use, and a decrease in air pollution. A gradual, global decrease in meat consumption would lead to a more sustainable world. It would cut down on agricultural emissions and allow important resources such as water to be allocated for other uses.
Not everyone could adapt to a vegan lifestyle due to a lack of accessibility to healthy food and fresh produce, cultural beliefs and practices, limited resources, and dietary needs. It is very important to be sensitive to different lifestyles. You don’t have to go vegan to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Small changes like having Meatless Mondays could make a difference as well. What is more important is understanding where your food comes from and how it is being produced.