Vegetarianism is on the increase with a myriad of factors behind people’s decisions to boycott the meat industry.
As reported by the i100 up to up to seven million people are vegetarian or vegan in the UK.
For some it is an ethical choice based on a desire to prevent cruelty to animals, some do so purely to shed a few pounds, but what would happen if humanity as a whole stopped meat consumption?
The guys at AsapSCIENCE have produced a new video to breakdown the potential consequences.
Check it out:
Well that is a lot to think about.
Climate
Given that cows are thought to be responsible for more CO2 emissions than all the cars on the planet, it is possible a significant dent would be made in the battle against climate change.
That being said something would have to be done with all the cows first, and if they aren’t serving the meat industry most breeds of livestock would become a thing of the past.
Water
If mankind switched to vegetarianism we’d have a heck of a lot more water at our disposal too.
AsapSCIENCE estimate that 70 per cent of the fresh water we consume is dedicated to agriculture.
It takes 15,000 litres of water per kilogram of beef, 6,000 litres per kilogram of pork, and 4,000 litres per kilogram of chicken.
In contrast cereal crops only require 1,600 litres per kilogram, 900 litres for fruit, and just 300 litres for garden vegetables.
Even with the relative calorie intake considered, beef requires seven times the amount of water vegetables need to provide the same amount of energy.
Humanity
It wouldn’t all be good news though.
Roughly one billion people would need to find alternative employment as they currently rely on the raising of animals for their livelihood.
We’d also lose a massive amount of animal by-products such as leather and fats.
So it is not quite as simple as it may sound in principle.
