Eating Our Way To Extinction, Part 4 of 6

“The animals are dying, for they have no place to live.” “Some have predicted that by 2045, the species loss will be so great that we won’t recover. The Earth will suffer ecological collapse. And the biggest thing you and I can do is change our diet.” Some scientists have begun to call this current crisis a “biological annihilation.”

According to a study published in the journal “Science,” if the entire world were to switch to an exclusively plant-based diet, we would free up over 75% of the world’s arable land, and many of the forests previously cut down for livestock farming could be restored. Ecosia, an online search engine similar to Google, is one such initiative that uses the revenue made from advertising to pay local communities to replant trees.

Livestock are the largest source of methane that we can control. Steep cuts in methane emissions can slow global warming by 15 to 25 years, making it the most effective means we have to slow warming in the critical years ahead. Of the estimated 70 billion land animals reared for human consumption each year around the world, nearly 90% are chickens. Organic meat has been claimed to have less environmental and climate impact. However, a study carried out by researchers at Oxford University found that, in fact, organic or conventionally produced meat has little significant difference in greenhouse emissions.

“Animal-to-human diseases that arise because of the way we’re now treating animals – whether it’s these live animal markets in East Asia, whether it’s the bushmeat trade.” Over 75% of antibiotics produced around the world are now being given to livestock. Our World in Data By 2050, more people will die from antibiotic resistance than from cancer