Green Daily

Many may identify avoiding meat consumption with keeping one's body healthy. But while dietitians often bicker over whether such an idea holds true, no one can deny the practice leaves a lighter touch on the environment. And vegans are barely tip-toeing on our land. In addition to avoiding "flesh" foods as vegetarians do, they also refrain from consuming dairy and eggs, and do not use any products made from fur, leather, wool, and down or cosmetics with chemical products tested on animals.

According to Vegan Action, animal agriculture takes a devastating toll on the earth because feed for farm animals requires land, water, fertilizer, and other resources that could otherwise have been used directly for producing human food. A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report linked animal agriculture to a number of other environmental problems, including contamination of aquatic ecosystems, soil, and drinking water by manure, pesticides, and fertilizers; acid rain from ammonia emissions; greenhouse gas production; and depletion of aquifers for irrigation.

But the report also concludes that "it is not livestock per se, but the way in which livestock are used by growing human populations that governs their impact on the environment. ... Livestock and the environment can achieve a balance while at the same time fulfilling humanity's food needs and contributing to sustainable economic growth." The report makes a compelling argument not for vegetarianism or even veganism, but awareness and action on the part of the consumer to advocate sustainable practices and literally put your money where your meat-eating mouth is by supporting local, organic, grass-fed livestock.

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