Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?

I know all the stats and about how a meat-eater uses more of the land than a plant-eater, but does this atually help with environmental problems? In short, does becoming a vegetarian solely for environmental reasons actually worth the effort.?Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?I think long term studies would have to be done.



I think vegetarianism is a personal choice, at least it is to me. I don't try to convince others unless I am specifically asked my opinion. So I would not be claiming that it makes a difference to the environment. I don't see convincing the entire world to be vegetarian any time in the near future, considering that we cannot even achieve peace for an entire day.Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?
Let me put it like this: There is no such thing as a meat-eating environmentalist.Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?Every little bit helps. The use of large industrial monoculture that is common in industrialised agriculture, typically for feed crops such as corn and soy is more damaging to ecosystems than more sustainable farming practices such as organic farming, permaculture, arable, pastoral, and rain-fed agriculture.



Environmental vegetarians call for a reduction of first world consumption of meat, especially in the US. According to the United Nations Population Fund "Each U.S. citizen consumes an average of 260 lbs. of meat per year, the world's highest rate. That is about 1.5 times the industrial world average, three times the East Asian average, and 40 times the average in Bangladesh."In addition, "the ecological footprint of an average person in a high-income country is about six times bigger than that of someone in a low-income country, and many more times bigger than in the least-developed countries."Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?
it would help some. i care about the environment and eat meat none-the-less. if you can pull it off, more power to you!



if you look at human evolution, we always ate mostly plants and grains and only occasionally had meat. it is still like this in poorer countries. now that we have all this money as a society, we "grow" cows like the native americans grew maize. the energy in getting a cow from a calf to your dinner plate is enormous compared to simply eating some beans.Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?You should choose diet based on your own personal preferences, health issues and beliefs. You only get one chance to treat your body like the temple God created.
worth the effort? - I think if you are really committed to being a evrionmentalist, yes you should be a vegetarian. Do research, you will learn that there are many great benefits a veg*n lifestyle. Example:



Good health

Kindness to animals

helping to limit starvation. -



Starvation in many countries is due to meat. Instead of feeding the grains to animal, we should be feeding them to the 165, 000000. people that die of hunger.



Its like we feed the grians to the animals that produce meat.



4.8 pounds of grian is used to produce 1 pound of meat.



We need to feed that 4.8 pounds to babies that are dying because they do not have food!



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-fres鈥?/a>

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0120鈥?/a>

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalw鈥?/a>Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?
yeah, think about all the sewage those animals create. That's one reason why the rivers and lakes are so polluted.
The professor of my Environmental Studies course was vegetarian for environmental reasons alone. Being vegetarian dramatically reduces the amount of land, water, and oil resources consumed and the amount of pollution caused. The environmental organization Greenpeace describes going vegetarian as "a powerful action you can take to help protect the environment." So yes, I do think that the environmental benefits are worth the effort of going veg.



More info on the environmental aspects of vegetarianism:

http://goveg.com/environment-wycd-footpr鈥?/a>Does having a vegetarian diet actually make a difference to the environment?
First of all,(re: 2 posters in this thread who now seem to have disappeared) ignore anyone who argues for eating meat by saying things like: "we were given canine teeth" and "it's been proven we need to eat meat" We do NOT have proper canine teeth, we have a couple of teeth that are slightly pointy and slightly longer but nowhere near what a dog's or cat's teeth look like and it's widely accepted that we can get more than enough protein from the vast amount of other protein-rich foods available.



It is true that a vast proportion of the world's problems, environmental, social and financial, would instantly be solved if EVERYONE stopped eating meat. While there are still millions of people who regularly gorge on animal parts these problems will remain.



However, every day more people are turning vegetarian so although it may take some time, one day I believe (or hope at least) that all human beings will be largely vegetarian and the world will see the benefits in all terms including environmental.
Yes. Producing meat causes more damage to the environment than plant foods.



GREEN HOUSE EFFECT - Sheep and cattle produce methane via their "gas". Methane gas is 21 times more potent to the environment than carbon dioxide. Add to this the emissions from tranporting and refrigerating the poor animals and their bodies. Choosing to give up meat is the BIGGEST STEP you can take to teduce your impact on the evironment.



Meat uses more ENERGY, just as driving a car does, slaughterhouses and transporting the animals uses up a lot of energy - more so than producing flour/bakey/ cereal products (nearly twice as much).



It uses more WATER - meat production uses twice as much as rice, for a bit less calories. It also causes much pollution and waste of water - abbotiors and pig effluent.



Land usage - eg. in Australia 800 000 hectares of land is used to produce grain for feeding the animals that are going to be slaughtered.



Fish - there is a by-catch of fish that are killed for all the fish that are brought in to eat. Approx 40-50% by-catch, or birds and marine mammals and fish that are killed on the side not to be eaten, for all the ones bought in to eat. Some by-catch includes dolphins, particularly tuna fishing.
No it does not make a difference since the number of vegetarian is so minimal as to have any impact at all. And it is quite ignorant and arrogant to assume that meat eaters cannot be evironmentalists. The late Steve Irwin was an omnivore. So is Sir Attenbourough, Jack Hanna et al. These people have done more as individuals what thousands of preaching vegetarians claim to be doing for the environment but are actually not.

In the UN report in Feburay of 2007 (as opposed to the same report claimed by vegetarians but made in Feb, 2006), consumption of fossil fuels is identified as the biggest danger to the environment. If you consider that many vegetarians are automibile users, then any "difference" supposedly made by vegetarianism is negated many times over. Then you also have the conversion of natural habitat to crop farms. Remember that before there were farms, there were animals living in those lands and many of those animals are extinct or endangered because of loss of habitat. Not in the Brazilain amazon rainforest but closer to home, in the US itself. Not crop farms for animal feed but farms for human consumption.



The environmental issue is a subject for all people to address. It is ridiculous and arrogant of a certain group of indivisuals( and a very minority group at that) to claim sole credit for solving the problem. Especially when they probably contrubiute as much to the problem as the other group people they would rather choose to blame. Especially when their claim of providing the solution is nothing more than childish "makes-me-feel-good-about-myself" wishful thingking at best. Just because some vegetarians are deluded into thinking they are helping solve the problem ( as what PETA and other such websites would like them to believe), it doesn't mean they really are.
It makes a difference in MY environment. Ever notice how you frequent the same places and walk down the same streets and see the same people every day? We actually live in a very small world - when we factor in where we as individuals actually go.



In my environment, it makes a difference. In the whole scheme of things, I don't know. I do know that it's often said that going vegetarian makes more of a difference than anything else - like buying hybrid cars or recycling. Al Gore was questioned about why is isn't vegetarian, after the release of his documentary, and he chose not to respond.



It takes 10 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef.
Its been prov-en that you need the meats protein in your diet and the calcium from dairy but just be careful on what meat you buy always buy from a butcher shop and always cut off as much fat as possible Trust me a few vegetarians get malnourished from the low protein diet and they may be tired alot, I've tried it and its not that great. just take care of yourself.

-purdy
No