Most people still refuse to make a simple change that would affect the fate of the whole world.

The World Week for the Abolition of Meat is over, so this is the perfect time to ask what would happen if we, people in the developed world with a lot of alternative ways to fill our stomachs, chose a burger with a ear and not with meat (don't worry). , cows would not rule the world).

The hungry of this world would no longer be hungry

Sure, your beef or pork may be from local farms, but what about animal feed? All cereals and soybeans are not only devoured by vegetarians and vegans, but also by cattle. Livestock consume the shocking 97 percent world soybean crops.

Global vegetarianism would release 2,7 billions of hectares of land currently used for cattle grazing along with 100 millions of hectares of land now used for growing crops.

To eliminate the most extreme cases of world hunger, 40 million tons of food would be needed, but almost twenty times this weight is fed to farmed animals every year. In a world where an estimated 850 million people have nothing to eat, it is a criminal waste. We would rather feed whole animals on farms for burgers than give it directly to humans. At the same time, about six pounds of grain are needed to produce a single pound of pork. Even if only one child was starving, it would be a shameful way to waste.

Our growing population should have more land available

Bulldozers around the world are crushing large strips of land to make room for other farms to house chickens, cows and other animals, along with the vast amount of crops needed to feed them. But when you eat plant food directly, instead of using it as animal feed, you need a lot less soil. We're watching, a charity that funds sustainable plant food projects, estimates that the 60 - acre farm will feed 24 people with soybeans, 10 people with wheat and 2,7 people with corn, but only two with cattle. Dutch scientists predict that global vegetarianism would free up 100 billion hectares of land currently used for grazing, along with 2030 million hectares of land now used for fodder crops. The population of the United Kingdom is expected to exceed 70 million by XNUMX, so we need all the land available so that we do not suffer from a lack of space and food in the future.

Billions of animals would have avoided life full of misery

Animals are kept in cramped conditions in many industrial farms - they never take care of their offspring, they go on a hunt for food, they simply do not do what is natural and important to them. Most do not even feel the warm rays of the sun on their backs and breathe in the fresh air before loading them onto trucks heading for the slaughterhouse. There is no better way to help animals and prevent their suffering than to decide to stop eating them.

It would reduce the threat of immunity to antibiotics

Factory-bred animals are riddled with disease because they are crammed by thousands in dirty barns, which are the seedbeds of various types of dangerous bacteria and viruses. In industrial farms, pigs, chickens and other animals are given chemicals that keep them alive in these unhygienic and stressful conditions. However, this increases the chances of drug-resistant superbacteria developing here. A senior official from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called intensive industrial livestock farming "opportunities for emerging diseases“. The US government agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that "a lot of antibiotics for animals are unnecessary and inappropriate and are more of a threat to everyone."

Of course, over-prescribing to humans plays a major role in shaping antibiotic immunity, but eliminating them on industrial farms where many resistant bacteria occur would certainly increase the likelihood of antibiotics acting in the treatment of serious diseases.

Health care would be less urgent

Obesity literally kills British citizens. The NHS has already warned that if obesity statistics in Britain do not fall, health services will ruin it. Meat, dairy products and eggs (containing cholesterol and saturated fats) are the main culprits of obesity, which is involved in the immediate causes of death, such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and various types of cancer.

Yes, there are overweight vegetarians and vegans, as well as slimming carnivores, but compared to their carnivorous counterparts, vegans are only one-tenth prone to obesity. Once you exchange high-fat meat foods for healthy fruits, vegetables and grains, it will be much harder to accumulate excess pounds. In addition, a plant-based diet can prevent or even reverse many health problems. Veganism will not make the world a perfect place, but it will help make it kinder, greener and healthier.