Compelling evidence supports the idea that such a diet has the potential to optimize human health while also being the only viable approach to sustainably feeding 6.7 billion human beings. Beyond all these practical benefits, a plant-based diet is free of the inherent injustices associated with using and killing animals against their wills.

The plant-based diet also has the potential to reduce the injustices caused by the use of vast tracts of land to grow feedstock for animals, which 1) often makes it more difficult for those in less wealthy countries to get access to the farmland needed to feed themselves, 2) contributes to deforestation as more and more land is cleared, 3) dramatically lowers the amount of habitat available for wild animals, and 4) damages biodiversity.

Livestock & Climate Change, a report produced by two researchers with the World Bank and published by WorldWatch Institute, has documented that over 51% of all global warming impact is being caused by animal agriculture. The implications are staggering, as it means that individual people eating a meat-based diet, by adopting a plant-based diet, have the ability to cut a major percentage of their carbon footprint. If enough people were to do that, climate crisis could conceivably be solved, without the need for exotic new technologies, coordinated government action and complex international treaties.


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Frequently Asked Questions
Aren't "humane" animal products more sustainable?

Isn't there a middle ground? What about "humane" meat?

Given that we domesticated these animals, doesn’t that give us the right to use them?

What about indigenous people who kill and eat animals, but do so in a way that respects the animal's spirit?

My religious tradition doesn't forbid killing and eating animals, so that makes it ok, doesn’t it?

Other animals eat animals, why shouldn't we? Isn’t it our natural place on the food chain?

If everyone stops eating meat, what would happen to all the animals? How about our economy?

What is the difference between vegan and vegetarian?

Glossary
Abolition
Animal advocacy
Animal husbandry
Animal protection
Animal rights
Animal welfare
Animal-using industries
Commodification
Conscientious objection
Cruelty-free
Happy meat
Humane myth
Humane slaughter
Non-participation
Open rescue
Plant-based diet
Speciesism
Sustainable
Vegan
Vegetarian