My Vegematarian Journey
Again Why?
For the Planet
There is no question that for the most part, the move to a vegetarian diet is one of the most sustainable changes we can make in our day-to-day life. Studies show that the removal of just meat consumption can lead to a 27% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. At times meat and cheese consumption can make up to 40% of your total greenhouse gas emissions, which when you take the time to think about that, that percentage is huge! So for me, as an environmental studies major, it would obviously be a no-brainer to shift my diet away from the consumption of animals and all dairy products, for plant-based alternatives. But I would be fooled because that isn't necessarily the move that I would need to do if I am trying to live a more sustainable life. A French study, in particular, saw that the shift of just the amount of meat you consume on a day-to-day basis can show dramatic drops in GHG emissions without needing to necessarily restrict your total intake of meat. In fact, this study showed that low meat consumers, fish consumers, and vegetarians roughly emit nearly the same amount of grams of CO2 per 2000 calories which is insane considering the number of support vegetarians get for their message to change one's diet for the planet. All of this information that I have been spilling out is from an article from Marlene Perignon and her colleagues, Improving diet sustainability through evolution of food choices: review of epidemiological studies on the environmental impacts of diets. In her study, she and her team looked over 10 different European studies that looked at the emission reductions of different diets and even the nutritional resiliency of each diet. They found most of what I think many of us, omnivores already know about the foreboding vegetarian diet. Like how vegetarian diets usually lead to some higher intakes of iron that aren't as bioavailable as the iron found in meat, or how saturated fat consumption is often reduced in vegetarian diets. But what they also saw in this article, is that restrictive diets aren't necessarily what you need to follow to be the best for the environment, but I will discuss that in my reflection on the vegetarian diet I was in for the past month and a half. I implore you to read this article because it has opened my mind as to what the vegetarian diet can do for the environment and its many downsides.
It isn't just GHG emissions vegetarians save, Perigon and her team also saw that there were also land-use reductions present when deciding to follow this restrictive diet. A study they looked over showed that in terms of diet-related land use meat contributed to 39% of that land use, and by replacing meat and dairy options with plant-based options that estimated land use would be reduced by half. Another study they paid attention to saw that in a test population of 40,011 Dutch adults, their total meat intake accounted for 3.6% of their total food intake weight, 11% of their daily energy consumption, but this small amount showed that it amounted to ~30% of both their GHG emissions and dietary land use. Which, that alone is jaw-dropping.
Perignon, M., Vieux, F., Soler, L. G., Masset, G., & Darmon, N. (2016). Improving diet sustainability through evolution of food choices: review of epidemiological studies on the environmental impacts of diets. Nutrition Reviews, 75(1), 2-17. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/10.1093/nutrit/nuw043
In another Study done by Jayson Lusk and Bailey Norwood, Some economic benefits and costs of vegetarianism, they found that with the decrease of meat consumption comes a decrease in demand. And Since the livestock industry is so heavily dependent on these staple crops like corn they found that a 1% decrease in meat consumption, a 2% decrease in corn prices would result. Demand will decrease, resulting in cheaper produce and a reduction in land use as demand for crops like corn would reduce. So it isn't just an estimation, land use would actually be once most people start to make that change towards the veggie lifestyle.
Lusk, J. L., & Norwood, F. B. (2009). Some economic benefits and costs of vegetarianism. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 38(2), 109-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.55529
Good For Your Wallet and Your Health
Apart from the actual reductions in GHG emissions that can result from eating less meat. Eating less meat is also beneficial to your body's health and your own bank!
In a study by Jayson Lusk and Bailey Norwood, Some economic benefits and costs of vegetarianism, they found that in terms of farmer production, crops like soybean and peanuts can provide more protein, and energy per dollar when compared to cattle, hogs, and chickens. Which, to me as a meat-eater is genuinely surprising because we have been instilled that eating meat is the only way to properly consume appropriate amounts of protein in our day-to-day life. They also found that even though these staple crops, (corn, wheat, soybeans, and peanuts), have over 90% of their costs in retail added post-farm, it is still the cheaper alternative if you want to consume protein. But if that's the case then why aren't many people moving away from this meat-oriented lifestyle? The authors argue that it's because of the preference for certain tastes that seem to keep a hold on people. Throughout history, meat has been a symbol of power and it was always consumed by our ancestors so naturally our bodies have adapted to the consumption of meat (most of us). But with the hyper-consumerist mindset of America, meat has become a necessity in our day to day diets so the move from it can prove to be difficult, they found that the preference for the taste of meat is strong enough for people to pay more for meat diets because they enjoy it so much. Which is something that I will discuss in my reflection.
Lusk, J. L., & Norwood, F. B. (2009). Some economic benefits and costs of vegetarianism. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 38(2), 109-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.55529
But what about health? The reduction of red and processed meats has shown to lower mortality and chronic disease risks. Western diets in particular like in the US, have high levels of red meat consumption and refined and processed foods that are detrimental to one's health. A study found that in just replacing 35g of red and processed meat per day with vegetables, fruits, fish or fibrous starches resulted in a decrease in mortality risk (a drop of 9-14% in mortality risk). But replacing the meat with nutritious vegetarian foods is key, to reducing these mortality risks.
Perignon, M., Vieux, F., Soler, L. G., Masset, G., & Darmon, N. (2016). Improving diet sustainability through evolution of food choices: review of epidemiological studies on the environmental impacts of diets. Nutrition Reviews, 75(1), 2-17. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/10.1093/nutrit/nuw043
A vegetarian lifestyle significantly can reduce the chances of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. In a Study by Duygu Bozkaya, he found that in terms of the health care system if everyone shifted towards a vegetarian diet the health care system would save over 33 billion dollars because of the reduction of diabetic cases in America. So not only does it save money in your pockets, and help you develop a healthier body, but it can also save the country billions of dollars in health care costs with the said reductions of diseases like diabetes.
Bozkaya, D. (2018). PDB37 - Projected savings in direct and indirect costs due to reduced diabetes prevalence with vegetarian diets. Value in Health, 21(1), S73. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/10.1016/j.jval.2018.04.489