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University of Southern California

Why going vegan for Earth Month can have a huge impact

Morgan Buckley
University of Southern California
Earth Day

With Earth Month in full swing, many people are trying to reduce their environmental footprints by changing their day-to-day routines, like taking shorter showers or using public transportation.

But what if we reconsidered our diets? Data suggests that by going vegan, we could change the world.

The average person consumes 7,000 animals in their lifetime, but according to the UN Environmental Program, the industry that supports that consumption is not sustainable.

Here are the real, environmental benefits of a lifestyle free from animal byproducts, like meat and dairy.

1. Greenhouse gasses and climate change

It might be hard to connect meat and carbon emissions; but it turns out eating meat increases your carbon footprint more than driving your car.

The farming of meat and dairy accounts for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, according to a 2014 report by Chatham House, a London-based independent environmental policy institution. That’s more than the emissions from the world’s planes, trains, cars and busses combined.

These emissions are the product of the rising global demand for meat and are produced by methane releases, meat production and transportation, among other things.

2. Land use and eutrophication

Eating thousands of animals in a lifetime takes up space.

Agriculture takes up 39% of the world’s suitable land, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. A 2014 environmental study conducted by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, shows livestock production takes up more than half of this land.

In these areas, land overuse and misuse is a huge problem. Many patches of land are being overworked by monoculture — or the cultivation of a single crop in a given area -- and subsequently rendered useless.

Animal waste also contributes to what is called eutrophication, which is when nitrogen and other toxic chemicals are released into soil. What’s more, fertilizers and pesticides used to grow animal feed -- like corn and wheat -- can be especially damaging to land ecosystems.

3. Water conservation and acidification

According to the United Nations Environmental Program, agricultural production uses 70% of available freshwater on earth.

That water is used in many ways: to feed the animals, water the grass and corn and clean the products.

Oceans are also affected by human consumption of meat and dairy. National Geographic reported in 2016 that greenhouse gas emissions warm the ocean gradually. But fish are also affected. Paired with over-fishing, ocean warming can break up vital ecosystems and can lead to chemical imbalances through a process is called acidification.

4. Waste prevention and toxicity

Humans waste over 630,000 tons of meat per year, according to 2014 research by Friends of the Earth, an independent global environmental group. That’s a lot of animals.

And waste is created even before meat is cooked or dairy products are consumed. The sheer amount of plastic used to package these products is staggering. According to the EPA, 30% of our solid waste comes from plastic packaging.

But there’s another type of waste that is often overlooked: the waste produced by the animals themselves. According to the EPA, the amount of waste produced by a cow in one day is the equivalent to that of 20-40 people. Kind of gross, right? To make it worse, if that waste is improperly treated, manure waste can runoff and contaminate drinking water sources.

And with the population on Earth expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, according to the UN Environmental Program, the pressure on the agricultural industry to produce meat and dairy will also increase.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says the agricultural industry would have to increase and expand globally by 70% to keep up with the forecasted demand of 2050.

More people puts a strain on industries like agriculture: the more people there are, the more people will need to eat. And as the population grows, people will need to find more ways to be sustainable with shared resources like meat and dairy.

So, as you think about ways to cut back on your carbon footprint or your waste, your diet can serve as a starting point. Even going vegan for a day makes a difference in cutting waste and greenhouses gases, and protecting the environment.

Morgan Buckley is a University of Southern California student and a USA TODAY College correspondent.

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This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.

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