Towards the end of last year, the global population broached 8 billion people. For context, that is more people than the cumulative sum of humans estimated to have existed between 1 C.E. to 1950 C.E. And we are still growing, although the rate of growth has significantly changed over the last 20 to 50 years.
When I was a youth in the early 2000s, I remember hearing in school and the media that the population is growing way too fast and that soon the world would be vastly overpopulated. Fire and brimstone were to rain down upon our world because we multiplied exponentially, spreading our parasitic species to the untouched portions of the world.
What a terrible way to think about things.
The good news is, the overpopulation rhetoric (developed by Thomas Malthus at the end of the 18th century), is predicated upon unsubstantiated predictions that have not come true, nor are they likely to come true. Julian Simon, also known as the Doomslayer, disproves many of the pessimistic claims in the Wired article I have linked. Concern about overpopulation has also dwindled following the drastic decrease in birth rates over the last century. Our population is growing, but experts are estimating that we will reach a population peak of around 10 billion people within the next century. Hans Rosling, an expert in the field, explains this phenomenon as well as many other interesting population facts in his brilliant presentation, Don’t Panic.
But how do we feed 10 billion people? How do we make sure that Earth will be in livable condition by the time we reach 10 billion people?
Both of these questions are far too complex for me to answer in one blog post, but there is one thing that any person alive can do (especially those of us fortunate to live in wealthy countries like the United States) that can make a significant contribution to both problems.
Cut back on animal products.
I know that veganism is in this post’s title, and it can sound like an intimidating or too Californian of an idea for many people, but what I am suggesting is just cutting back. We do not need to cut out these products entirely, I love butter and eggs just as much as anyone else. But restricting our consumption of animal products and reducing the demand for them can do so much more than people realize.
From water conservation to carbon dioxide emissions to plant species diversity to feeding the world. Reducing demand for meat products helps to alleviate all of these issues, and likely more.
Since the United States (U.S.) is the largest global exporter of animal products, I live in the United States, and most of the people reading this post live in the United States, I will restrict my scope of information to focus specifically on the U.S.
As of the most recently published U.S. farmland consensus in 2017, 44 percent of the 900.2 million acres of farmland is dedicated entirely to raising cattle. 30 percent is used for grains and oilseeds, a large portion of which is used to feed said cattle. 10 percent is used for raising other animals, leaving 16 percent of farmland to be used for growing all of the other necessary plants we use. 3 percent of farmland provides all of the food that you get in the produce section of your local grocery store. 3 percent!
Reducing the demand for animal products by just enough to reduce the associated land use need by 3 percent and reallocating that land for growing produce plants would DOUBLE the amount of produce available for our consumption. Imagine if we could get 10 percent of farmland for growing produce vegetables. Supermarkets across the nation would need to replace the aisles of processed foods with another produce section to account for the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables.
A common rebuttal to the idea of restricting the consumption of meat products, that I hear at least, is that we as humans would not be able to get enough protein to be healthy without the consumption of meat. Which is completely false. Not only is meat, especially beef, actually a very inefficient vessel for protein consumption, there is sound scientific evidence to support the notion that we can get just as much nutrient benefit, if not more from comprising our diet of more vegetables and plant-based proteins.
From an environmental standpoint, meat products, again especially beef, are the worst food sources in terms of greenhouse gas emissions as well as water usage. While we have made significant advances in combating both of these issues, there is still a very long way to go, and reducing meat product consumption is something every person can do to contribute.
Another point of contention that comes up with this topic is the reluctance to give up eating so much meat because it is pleasurable. I mean that 12 oz sirloin just tastes so good, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, this devotion to meat, and the fact that it is used as reasoning in a debate environment, epitomizes why the climate crisis is such a challenge. People have to make sacrifices in order to make a difference. And as I mentioned earlier, we do not need to completely give up on consuming animal products. There are plenty of great minds working on more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to produce these products.
But there really is no pragmatic substitute to just reducing the consumption of these products.
Try replacing one meat product with a plant-based substitute each week. Take a vegetarian cooking class. Try new foods and new ways to cook produce. Experiment with it.
Sacrifices do not always have to be painful. Stay optimistic about our future. About the world’s future.
Just maybe pass on the second night of burgers this week.
For further reading on related topics, I would recommend reading this BBC article about agricultural technology innovations, or this DownEast article about a Maine resident who has devoted his life to maintaining crop biodiversity.
