Is being a vegan really good for our planet? There are many reasons people choose to be vegans, animal cruelty being on the top of the list. I agree that animal cruelty is a heinous act but are we talking about pets or food? Don’t get me wrong, I do not support the inhumane way that some industries have treated cows, chicken, turkeys, sheep, pigs, etc. However, if these industries keep to their commitment of humane treatment in animal slaughtering, they are actually doing the world a service. Try to imagine Earth and the animal populations if being an omnivore was illegal. The animals would be left to the natural food chain of the animal kingdom and that could potentially lead to disaster for the human race. What is a natural predator for a cow? Wolves perhaps? How about pigs? I know that wild pigs can be destructive and don’t really have any natural predators other than maybe alligators in the south. In the U.S. alone we would lose lots of farmable land to the growth of animals that we no longer eat. How are we suppose to feed ourselves if there isn’t enough land to farm? Another thing is that there is a lot of articles like this one from Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/11/26/big-methane-burp-cows-refineries-spew-gas/ which talks about how much methane produced from cows is adding to global warming. Leaving cows to breed freely and not be consumed by humans is a worse externality on our society than eating them. By being a meat eater, I am creating a positive externality on our planet by keeping animals from over breeding, crowding out humans, destroying fertile land, and generally destroying the environment.
You should take Mike Nelson’s environmental economics class, he poses a similar issue to this about deforestation. Many are against deforestation and the like, claiming we are destroying our environment and natural land. The problem with this is that if we were to stop allowing new (not recycled) paper to be produced, we would also stop maintaining our “farmed” forest land and also stop planting new forests; therefore leaving less trees to produce oxygen and general appeal for our environment. High demand of paper means more trees being planted and more trees in our environment, which is good for those who are worried about deforestation.