This Is Vegan Propaganda (& Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You)

by Ed Winters

Within the next 30 years, our population is expected to increase to 10 billion.121 However, global trends show that food consumption isn’t increasing proportionally to the growing population but rather regardless of the increase in population. This means that overall food demand is predicted to be 50 per cent higher by 2050, with animal-based foods being 70 per cent higher and specifically ruminant meat being 88 per cent higher.122 An additional 593 million hectares of land will be needed to meet this demand, which is nearly the equivalent size of two Indias.123 This will mean more deforestation and land conversion, more habitat loss and species extinction, more freshwater use, more soil erosion and more greenhouse gas emissions. Simply put, we can’t afford to keep animal product consumption at the levels it is at currently, let alone increase consumption by 70 per cent. Something clearly has to change. Shifting to a plant-based diet is one of the most significant decisions that we can make as individuals to reduce our impact on the planet, and moving to a plant-based food system that also focuses on reducing food waste needs to be an essential part of sustainability goals.