Environment

Animal agriculture is highly inefficient. The animal agriculture industry is one of the biggest causes of deforestation, water pollution, air pollution, energy consumption, land use, and water use in the world. Common sense makes this obvious, as the animals eaten by humans need to be fed plants, so far more agricultural resources are used. Countless studies reaffirm this.

Farming animals to be eaten requires food and water for the farmed animals, and land to grow that food. 70% of grain grown in the United States is fed to farmed animals, and it is estimated that 700 million tons of food that humans could eat is instead used by the animal agriculture industry.

A 2013 study at the University of Minnesota concluded that if all crops were eaten by humans instead of used by the animal agriculture industry, we would have enough food to feed an additional 4 billion people, far more than the 900 million who go hungry. 82% of starving children live in areas where crops are used for animal agriculture to produce meat, milk, and eggs that are then eaten by people in the West.

Deforestation: Animal agriculture is the biggest cause of deforestation in the world, being responsible for around 91% of Amazon rainforest deforestation. According to the Smithsonian Institution, every single minute, seven football fields' worth of land in the Amazon is bulldozed.

Water pollution: Animal agriculture is the biggest cause of water pollution in the world. It results in lakes, streams, and rivers being polluted with runoff, and commercial fishing is responsible for the majority of plastic pollution in the oceans.

Air pollution: An animal-based diet contributes far more to greenhouse gases than a vegan diet. A 2019 report by The Lancet found that a switch to plant-based diets could reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emission by up to 80%, and a 2021 report concluded that animal agriculture is responsible for 87% of greenhouse gas emissions. The animal agriculture industry causes more air pollution than all forms of transportation (including cars, planes, and boats) combined, with various organizations estimating that animal agriculture may be responsible for anywhere from 14.5% to as much as 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy consumption: Animal products require more than 8 times as much fossil fuel energy to produce as equivilent plant-based protein sources.

Land use: Animal agriculture uses 83% of global farmland despite producing only 18% of calories. Even "sustainable" animal agriculture is highly unsustainable. For example, one study published in Science found that "low-impact" meat production uses 36 times more land than pea production.

Water use: The animal agriculture industry uses nearly 1/3 of all available drinking water while over 780 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. A 2018 study found that a meat-based hamburger requires 200 times as much water to produce as a plant-based hamburger. It takes 15,500 litres of water to get one kilogram of cow meat, whereas it only takes 180 litres or 250 litres to produce 1 kilogram of tomatoes or potatoes, respectively.