Environmental vegetarianism

Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism or veganism based on the indications that animal-based industries are environmentally destructive or unsustainable. The primary environmental concerns with animal products are pollution—including greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)—deforestation, and the use of resources such as fossil fuels, water, and land.

Four-fifths of agricultural emissions arise from the livestock sector.

Estimates on greenhouse gas emissions attributable to animal products range from 18% to 51% of total global emissions.

A study in Climate Change concluded "if ... average diets among UK adults conformed to WHO recommendations, their associated GHG emissions would be reduced by 17 %. Further GHG emission reductions of around 40% could be achieved by making realistic modifications to diets so that they contain fewer animal products and processed snacks and more fruit, vegetables and cereals."

According to the 2006 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report , animal agriculture contributes on a "massive scale" to global warming, air pollution, land degradation, energy use, deforestation, and biodiversity decline. The FAO report estimates that the (including poultry) sector (which provides draft animal power, leather, wool, milk, eggs, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, etc., in addition to meat) contributes about 18 percent of global GHG emissions expressed as 100-year CO₂ equivalents. This estimate was based on life-cycle analysis, including feed production, land use changes, etc., and used GWP (global warming potential) of 23 for methane and 296 for nitrous oxide, to convert emissions of these gases to 100-year CO₂ equivalents. The FAO report concluded that "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."

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