Whenever I heard of someone going vegan, I always thought their reasoning was to combat animal cruelty or to simply be healthier. Naively, I never considered the environmental and ecological impact going vegan could have. While going vegan certainly is a way to ethically respond to the horrendous treatment of livestock and other farm animals used for food, there are other ways to properly raise and farm animals. Many cows are fed with foods that humans cannot eat themselves, because it is so unsanitary, but this actually slows down the growth process of the cows. Activists have argued that cattle should be on a grain-fed diet, but with 800 million people going hungry, shouldn’t that grain be used to feed humans? The solution to this problem is to redirect how we feed certain farm animals in order to be more productive, while being less cruel. But, if we are going to feed pigs waste, we must find a way to sterilize the waste. Without sterilization, this could lead to the spread of diseases.
In the article, “Why I’m eating my words on veganism – again”, it is mentioned that plenty of meat can be produced from feed that humans cannot eat, by sustaining pigs on waste and grazing cattle and sheep where crops can’t grow”. This is where the answer lies. We must shift our focus towards feeding farm animals food we cannot eat, but in a sanitary way. By doing so, we could be decreasing the unnecessary consumption from livestock of countless tons of grains. These grains could then go towards feeding the millions of people that are without food.
We as a society also need to consume less meat in general. By consuming less meat, we would reduce our ecological footprint and reduce emissions. Americans consume an absurd amount of meat and each person is encouraged to pay more attention to how much meat they consume on a weekly basis. This does not mean we should cut out meat entirely, but by reducing our total intake we will tremendously reduce each of our ecological footprints and better our environment.