A vegetarian diet may be the only way we can save our planet

The unsustainable demand for mass-produced meat is the leading contributor to our worlds catastrophic loss of precious species and only serves the selfish interests of a select few wealthy nations.

Source: Pexabay

History will remember the defining problem of the 21st century – whether or not we actually solve it – to be adapting our civilisation to survive the changes brought on by anthropogenic climate change. But an equal and perhaps under-addressed story is how we might preserve the natural environment around us whilst doing so. (Grace, 2023)

So what does this have to do with vegetarianism?

Five years ago, I switched to a vegetarian diet after learning about the livestock industry's impact on deforestation. Since then, I've faced criticism for my choice, including misconceptions that deforestation is necessary for a vegetarian diet and that changing global eating habits is impractical. However, the data shows that it requires significantly more land to farm animals than plants and by changing the diets of only a small portion of wealthy nations, we can make a significant positive impact.

The Living Planet Index (LPI), is an indicator of the world's biological diversity that measures population trends of vertebrate species across various habitats, including terrestrial, freshwater, and marine. The LPI began recording in 1970 and was 1 in that year, but has decreased below 0.3 today, indicating that we've lost 70% of biodiversity since 1970 (WWF, 2022).

The LPI has decreased in direct correlation to the worlds forest area. This should be no surprise, forests contain 80% of the wolds amphibian species, 75% of the worlds bird species and 68% of the worlds mammal species (UN, 2020). When we destroy our forests, we destroy wild animal habitats and therefore decrease biodiversity.

So, Why are we losing so much forest?

Most diets rely on agriculture, and therefore rely on farming land, making agriculture the top driver of deforestation (GreenPeace, 2023).

However, we don’t need to starve to solve our deforestation issue, we don’t even need to eat less. Agriculture is only so land intensive because people eat meat.

Plants are the primary source of calories and protein for the world's population. However, it is a handful of affluent nations that significantly drive the livestock industry, which in turn drives deforestation.