Industrialized animal agriculture is the largest singular driver of climate change, responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector, and is also the culprit behind mass deforestation, water, and air pollution. Considering most people consume about double the amount of protein they need, two-thirds of which comes from animal sources, our everyday eating habits are taking a massive toll on the planet. What’s more, despite all of the resources used and pollution created, one in eight people still suffer from food scarcity.
Robin White of the Virginia Institute of Technology and Mary Beth Hall of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Centre created statistical models showing what would happen if farmed animals were removed and the effects it would have on greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
a nation of 320 million people who only ate a plant-based diet would REDUCE greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by about 28 percent. And that’s not all, total food production would actually INCREASE by about 23 percent, making grains and legumes widely available since land used to grow animal feed would instead be used to grow food for people. To put that in context, around 47 percent of soy and 60 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is fed to livestock – if all of those resources were allocated to people, we could make a serious dent in domestic hunger statistics.
Robin White of the Virginia Institute of Technology and Mary Beth Hall of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Centre created statistical models showing what would happen if farmed animals were removed and the effects it would have on greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
a nation of 320 million people who only ate a plant-based diet would REDUCE greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by about 28 percent. And that’s not all, total food production would actually INCREASE by about 23 percent, making grains and legumes widely available since land used to grow animal feed would instead be used to grow food for people. To put that in context, around 47 percent of soy and 60 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is fed to livestock – if all of those resources were allocated to people, we could make a serious dent in domestic hunger statistics.
"With carefully balanced rations, you can meet all of your nutrient requirements with a vegetarian diet," White told Science. "But the types of foods that seem to do that, we don't currently produce in sufficient quantities to make it a sustainable diet for the entire population." An animal-free agricultural system wouldn't provide enough calcium to the US population, nor sufficient amounts of vitamins A and B12, or arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic fatty acids.
"Despite the production of a greater quantity of food in the plants-only system, the actual diets produced from the foods result in a greater number of deficient nutrients and an excess of energy," the authors write. "Overall, the removal of animals resulted in diets that are nonviable in the long or short term to support the nutritional needs of the US population without nutrient supplementation."
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