Compelling evidence supports the idea that such a diet has the potential to optimize human health while also being the only viable approach to sustainably feeding 6.7 billion human beings. Beyond all these practical benefits, a plant-based diet is free of the inherent injustices associated with using and killing animals against their wills.

The plant-based diet also has the potential to reduce the injustices caused by the use of vast tracts of land to grow feedstock for animals, which 1) often makes it more difficult for those in less wealthy countries to get access to the farmland needed to feed themselves, 2) contributes to deforestation as more and more land is cleared, 3) dramatically lowers the amount of habitat available for wild animals, and 4) damages biodiversity.

Livestock & Climate Change, a report produced by two researchers with the World Bank and published by WorldWatch Institute, has documented that over 51% of all global warming impact is being caused by animal agriculture. The implications are staggering, as it means that individual people eating a meat-based diet, by adopting a plant-based diet, have the ability to cut a major percentage of their carbon footprint. If enough people were to do that, climate crisis could conceivably be solved, without the need for exotic new technologies, coordinated government action and complex international treaties.


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