In pop culture, vegetarians are not a very popular bunch. They are viewed as pretentious, preachy, and in the case of men somehow less masculine than meat-eaters. Many people assume that not eating meat means that vegetarians view themselves as better than everyone else. However, there are other reasons people go veggie that are unrelated to flaunting their moral superiority. While many people are vegetarian on moral or religious grounds, there are plenty of common-sense arguments that support reducing meat consumption.
Here I'll give what I find to be the most convincing reasons to eat less meat, or to stop eating meat altogether.
1. Conserving Resources
Raising animals to eat uses a lot of resources, including fuel, land, and water. Meat production in the U.S. uses 33% more fossil fuels to produce a calorie of beef than a calorie of potatoes, and half of the energy that goes towards U.S. agriculture is used for meat. Given the limited and dwindling supply of fossil fuels on earth, an industry that uses such a large supply of fuel is unsustainable in the long term.
Water is another resource that could be saved by not raising livestock for food. In drought-stricken California, growing alfalfa for beef consumption uses a tremendous amount of water each year. Over half the fresh water the U.S. consumes each year goes towards irrigating feed for livestock; water that could more efficiently be used for growing plants for human consumption.
Going vegetarian also conserves land. In many parts of the world, trees are cut down to turn forest into farmland. This is problematic, since trees consume carbon dioxide, helping curb greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Since raising livestock actually produces more carbon dioxide and methane (see point 2), while not producing food very efficiently (point 3), this is a terrible waste of limited land mass.
2. Pollution
The production of livestock is a significant contributor to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the phenomenon that causes climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has found that livestock produce 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to carbon emissions from the meat industry, cows produce methane, the second most prevalent greenhouse gas, as a part of their digestive process and in their manure.
Livestock is also a source of nitrate pollution in the water supply. Nitrate contamination has been linked to infant deaths, certain cancers and birth defects. Agriculture, especially cows, is a major source of this pollution in California groundwater. The harmful microorganisms found in livestock manure can also seep into the water supply, causing infection.
3. Feeding More People
Logically, if less land, water, and fuel are used for producing meat, that leaves more for producing less resource-intensive food like vegetables. This increases the ability to feed more people worldwide.
Eating meat is very inefficient from the perspective of trophic efficiency, or the efficiency with which energy is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next. Plants are primary producers, meaning they produce their own energy directly from the sun. Therefore, getting energy directly from primary producers conserves more energy than eating higher up the food chain, since energy is lost in the transfer from organism to organism. This means that growing corn or grain to feed to animals actually results in a loss of useable energy. According to estimates, grain fed to cattle in the U.S. could feed 10 times more people if people ate that grain instead of beef.
The average American eats 270.7 pounds of meat a year; it would be impossible for everyone in the world to eat like us. With the earth's population at 7.125 billion and increasing exponentially, finding sustainable food sources is a pressing issue.
4. The Meat Industry's Problems
The meat industry is a strong force in American politics, and the meat lobby often wields its power to prevent regulation that ensures safer food for consumers. The way that animals are raised in large factory farms is unhealthy for consumers, animals and workers. When animals are kept in close conditions, the chance of sickness increases, leading some farms to overuse drugs like antibiotics. The use of antibiotics leads to drug-resistant bacteria, both on farms and in the water supply. Humans can become infected with drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA from contact with the animals or meat, although there doesn't seem to be complete scientific consensus on the relationship between antibiotic use in animals and infection in humans. In short, the way the meat industry functions can be very dangerous to people eating meat.
I don't think everyone can or should become a strict vegetarian. However, making a conscious effort to consume less meat on a regular basis makes a lot of sense—it conserves valuable resources, reduces pollution and health risks, and helps feed more people worldwide. All of these reasons make for a compelling case to swap out a few meals a week for meatless alternatives—and you don't even have to be self-righteous about it.
