Could earth sustain a world full of vegetarians and vegans?
Question by MissKazoo: Could earth sustain a world full of vegetarians and vegans?
Although it will never happen, could the earth sustain a world full of us? Animals require TONS of food that has to be grown & the end result is a loaf of meat. High densities of animals destroy land that could have been used for agriculture. If humans ate the 8 pounds of grain it took to make the 2 pounds of beef, we would be living a more sustainable life, correct?
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11 Responses to Could earth sustain a world full of vegetarians and vegans?
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Yes, but there might be a problem with over population, of animals
Zachary
May 12, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Correct.
amhappy1
May 12, 2013 at 7:19 pm
Of course! Before the ‘fall of man’ (a.ka. when Adam and Eve sinned), that is the intention with which the world was created. A world full of animals and vegetarian humans. The problem is that people put way too much faith in themselves and ignore the fact that God provides for his creation. That is where lies like overpopulation come from – pride & false independence.
Gurl .
May 12, 2013 at 7:38 pm
Yes. It takes a lot more land, energy, and resources to grow crops for animals that are raised for their flesh, dairy, and eggs. All the crops and water that are used to feed them could be used to feed people in third world countries instead, effectively ending world hunger.
And we wouldn’t have an overpopulation of animals, because we would stop breeding so many. Those animals are only bred for humans. Animals in the wild control their own populations through nature.
Karina
May 12, 2013 at 8:00 pm
Yes, the meat meat industry is a major cause of global warming. The energy needed to produce 4 hamburgers equals a half a year’s worth of showers. People who say animal population would increase are a little ignorant because it’s the people who impregnat millions of animals everyday. So animal populations would decrease, but animals such as deer, elk, and moose would increase since they are not farmed animals. And it would take a while for the whole world to go vegan, but it is become more common in huge amounts every year.
Daniel
May 12, 2013 at 8:27 pm
I think it could since before humans got here it was controlled somehow
Matthew
May 12, 2013 at 8:45 pm
No. Because (1) animals don’t destroy land that could be use for agriculture, at least not in the US. Exactly the opposite. Cattle graze land that is NOT suitable for farming until they go to the feedlot. And all major feedlots are in areas that are too arid for raising crops. (2) While meat producing animals do eat some grains, much of it is not suitable for human consumption and it is usually mixed with byproducts of human food production. What do you think happened to the cob and husk from all that canned corn in your supermarket? Or the skin from the potatoes that end up as chips in the supermarket? Or the tops of carrots, etc? They’re fed to livestock. So if there was no livestock feeding industry, all that would have to go to the land fill. Not a good thing, IMO. So you fail.
Daisy
May 12, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Yes, but you fail to factor in the animals that will still be living with us that won’t be killed. They can’t all survive on roughage when the weather is incredibly bad and with all of the land being used for human crop growth there will be no lower quality crops grown for animals and less room…Also, not eating meat or drinking milk would mean that most people would view certain animals as useless and they will be culled off and destroyed with no use for the flesh. The world can’t sustain millions of people AND animals eating the same diet and there wouldn’t be enough land for the animals.
Also, how would we feed companion animals? somebody would still have to raise meat for those and not many people would be willing to do it themselves. Dogs, cats and other carnivores CANNOT live on a vegetarian diet!
I’m not being mean or anti-veg, I’m just pointing out the realities. There isn’t enough space on the world to feed both animal and human populaltions – animal populations will boom if we were ever to stop eating them, at least in the start of it all.
Just raising another point, third world countries would still go hungry/ill. It would be better to let them raise meat for their own consumption rather than give them a load of vegetables full of empty calories, unless you can propose an idea to give them all of the protien and nutrients they need. Yes, living in countries like this is easier because we have supermarkets and access to the nuts and oils we can use to get vital nutrients and minerals but they don’t.
supersnuffy (:
May 12, 2013 at 9:03 pm
All of the world could not become vegans. The only way most vegans can do so is because of money and fully stocked grocery stores. Many people don’t have money and don’t live any where near stores. Many people have to eat what they can just to survive. People in the world starving now is not due to a lack of food, but to a lack of getting food to them. There are many reasons for this. Some are corrupt governments blocking the aid or keeping it for themselves. Money, its takes money to buy and ship food to these poor countries. There are people right here in the United States that are starving. Its not due to a lack of food, there is plenty of food here. I don’t know why people keep saying if we stopped planting food for animals and instead planted food for humans world hunger would be solved? There ALREADY is enough food for everyone. As I stated, the problem is distribution. And most of the land in the U.S that we use to plant food for animals would not be suitable for human grade food.
Deer Hunter
May 12, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Arguably, it isn’t as black or white as that. One could easily counter-argue that the use of pesticides etc would damage the soil (or cause run-off of nutrients) that in turn would cause soil degradetion & low quality food.
Or the population growth of humans would still cause problems in the near future
Just 2 very simple examples of such, but in the utopian theory yes it would be a more ideal way of using land for human consumptio.
John Jooley
May 12, 2013 at 9:23 pm
yes
Sammy
May 12, 2013 at 9:42 pm