If Everyone on Earth Suddenly Became Vegan, What Would Happen

The result of some research shows that if we eliminate meat from our diet, we may be able to maintain our health and our planet to some extent, but this issue will definitely harm millions of people.

Humans turn to vegetarianism for many reasons. Some do it to reduce the suffering of animals and others become vegetarians because they want to live a healthier lifestyle. At the same time, others favor sustainability or wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

No matter how much they deny meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans; Vegetarians insist on only one thing: eliminating meat from the diet has many benefits. Vegetarians believe that the more this attitude change is, the more its impact will be on a global scale. But the fact is that if all humans become vegetarians, many and serious problems will arise for millions, if not billions of people.

The sudden effects of removing meat from the diet on the environment

Andrew Jarvis from Columbia Global Center's tropical agriculture department says: "This issue is a story of two different worlds. In developed countries, a vegetarian diet may bring all kinds of environmental and health benefits, but in developing countries, on the contrary, it can create negative effects, especially in terms of poverty and scarcity.

Jarvis and his colleagues in their research center have addressed the issue of what could happen if meat suddenly disappeared from the diet of the entire planet. The first thing they looked at was climate change. Statistics show that food production is responsible for one-quarter to one-third of man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and most of this problem is related to the animal husbandry industry. But in general, how our food choices affect climate change is poorly understood. In the United States, for example, the average family of four produces more than two cars of greenhouse gas, and that's because of meat consumption, but it's a fact that you usually hear cars as the culprit in discussions about global warming. To name the delicious pieces of steak.

Tim Benton, a food security expert from the University of Leeds, says: "Most people don't know anything about the impact of food on climate change. But if we consume less meat now, many things will go better for our children and grandchildren in the future." Marco Springmann, a researcher at the Oxford Martin School of Food Futures, has attempted to better explain this qualitatively. He and his colleagues have succeeded in creating computer models that can predict exactly what will happen if all humans switch to a vegetarian diet by the year 2050. The result of their research shows that if red meat is completely eliminated, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions will decrease by 60%, and if everyone follows a vegan diet, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions will decrease by about 70%. "When we look at what could be equivalent to this amount of greenhouse gas reduction, we conclude that there may not be an equivalent," Springman says. But if everyone eats a vegetarian diet, then you can only keep the proportion of greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat production constant, while the whole scenario is not as realistic as it should be, but the greenhouse gas emissions associated are important anyway. It will show concretely with food in the future."

Food, especially cattle and livestock, account for most of the problem, because the root of greenhouse gas emissions by them can be summed up in two cases: land use change and biodiversity destruction. Out of the total of approximately 5 billion hectares of agricultural land in the entire planet, 68% of it is used by domestic animals and cattle.

Now the question is whether we can or do we really want to restore at least 80% of the pastures that have grass or forest cover by changing our diet and thus play an effective role in absorbing carbon and of course improving climate change? Converting former grasslands to native habitats could potentially be a huge boon to biodiversity, allowing large herbivores such as buffalo, driven from their natural habitats by cattle, to return. Even predators such as wolves and leopards, which are often killed for attacking livestock, will benefit from this. The remaining 10 to 20 percent of the pastures that have been used can be used for the growth of grain grains in order to provide the necessary food for humans. But will all this be good for us? Jarvis says: "The thing is, it's not as easy as taking cows and other livestock out of pastures and expecting to return to the same state as the original forests and grasslands."

Jobs related to meat eating

One problem with following a vegetarian diet is that you also have to think about people who work in the livestock industry. Peter Alexander, a social ecological systems modeling researcher at the University of Edinburgh, says: "I live in Scotland, which means that the highlands are highly anthropogenic and were formed by sheep grazing. "If we drive all these sheep off our pastures, the environment will undoubtedly look different, and this in itself has the potential to negatively impact biodiversity, apart from many other issues." One of the most important problems of this type of diet is that it can lead to drastic social changes, especially for rural communities, that is, those who are directly related to this industry.

Ben Phalan is one of the researchers who researches the balance between food demand and biodiversity at the University of Cambridge. He says about this problem: "Currently, there are more than 3.5 billion domestic ruminants on the planet, and tens of billions of chickens are raised every year for food production and then killed. "All these figures show the fact that we are talking about huge amounts of economic losses." The problem is that even the best plans cannot offer an alternative livelihood system for everyone in all corners of the world. About one-third of the earth's land is covered by meadows in arid and semi-arid regions, which can only support animal husbandry. According to Dr. Falan, without livestock, living in some environments is practically impossible for people. If nomads like the Mongols and Berbers want to give up this system, apart from many issues, they will also lose their cultural identity.

Moreover, even those whose whole life is not dependent on livestock will be affected by this. In fact, meat has an important history, tradition and cultural identity. There are many groups around the world that give meat dishes to guests as a wedding gift or even a dinner party. Dr. Falan continues: "The cultural impact of the complete elimination of meat is very high, and it is for this reason that efforts to eliminate this food item in practice have encountered problems and are impossible."

Health effects

The effect of this diet on health is still complex. Springman's computer model shows that if all humans become vegetarians by 2050, global mortality will decrease between 6 and 10 percent, and this is due to a decrease in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke, and some types of cancer. . But one thing remains, animal products have more nutrients per calorie, so even if you want to go vegetarian, you need to make sure you can get important alternatives. This issue is important because we should not forget that approximately 2 billion people in the whole world are struggling with the problem of improper nutrition. The problem is that if the whole world goes towards a vegetarian diet, then a serious health crisis will threaten people, especially in developing countries, because then the question arises that the micronutrients, which are iron, cobalt, chromium , copper, iodine, manganese, selenium, zinc and molybdenum, exactly where are they supposed to be supplied from?

Experts have interesting interpretations about vegetarianism, for example, Dr. Jarvis says: "In principle, the change in diet is something that is given less attention, while the main problem is neither vegetarianism nor meat-eating, we can even reduce the consumption of meat. To witness concrete effects not only on health but even on the environment." And this is what Dr. Springman emphasizes: "Certain changes to the food system encourage us to make more environmentally friendly and healthy food decisions. In fact, if the price of meat becomes more expensive and the price of vegetables and fruits decreases, we will unconsciously gravitate towards the optimal diet.