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What Would Happen If the World Went Vegetarian?

15 Dec 2022

Written by Anna Rose JobyYear 9, School Year 2022/23

What Would Happen If the World Went Vegetarian?
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People enjoy eating meat. The global average consumption is 34 kg/person/year. However, not everyone eats meat, as about 5% of the world's population is vegetarian.

According to NAMI estimates, the meat industry contributes $894 billion to the US economy. There are millions of people employed in the meat and poultry industry worldwide; so a sudden shift to vegetarianism would result in a massive job loss. At the same time, it would create jobs in a variety of fields. Moving to a meat-free diet would significantly impact the global economy, as, by 2050, the meat industry will have a value of $1.6 trillion.

Many cultural and religious traditions related to meat would have to be modified or no longer exist because of a vegetarian lifestyle. Every year, many of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha as part of the Islamic calendar. This tradition involves slaughtering a goat or sheep and distributing its meat to poor and needy families. A long-standing tradition in the United States is to have a turkey on the table for Thanksgiving dinner, but what would be the featured food on our plates in a meat-free environment? Tofurkey?

Most people do not consider the effect of food on climate change, but if we stopped eating meat, we would be doing our planet a favor by significantly reducing gas emissions. Our environment would be much better off in a vegetarian world, paving the way for a healthier and cleaner planet for future generations.

Water usage is another crucial environmental cost of meat production, with livestock consuming more of our water than anything else and being one of the leading causes of polluted water. A kilo of beef requires 15,000 liters of water before reaching your dinner plate, whereas a roast chicken requires 4,325 liters. Millions of people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water, so less livestock to feed means there would be more water available.

Global vegetarianism could free up this land currently used by livestock; and use it for feeding the world's growing population, growing more plants, etc. Cattle grazing takes up 2.7 billion hectares of land, with 20-30% of the world's ice-free land dedicated solely to farming pigs, chickens, and cattle. On top of that, growing crop for livestock uses another 100 million hectares.

Every year, 56 billion animals are farmed and slaughtered for human consumption, with many kept alive by a steady diet of drugs to help them survive the stressful and unsanitary farming conditions. Factory-farmed animals are disease-ridden and can serve as a breeding ground for new virus strains and superbugs. Expelling these factory farms could reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and diseases like Mad Cow Disease entering our environment.

There certainly are striking pros and cons if the world was to go vegetarian overnight. I think we all might have to go vegetarian if the state of the Earth deteriorates, as vegetarianism affects the planet positively in terms of its environment. However, going from a meat-lover to a vegetarian would be challenging.

So, what do you think? What would happen if the world went vegetarian?