Vegan Diets Could Save 8.1 Million Lives and Cut Carbon Emissions
While governments, corporations, and policymakers have the technology and ability to implement policies that reduce harm to the environment, many have chosen not to.
The good news is, you don’t have to leave the fate of the planet entirely in their hands. Researchers say that what you decide to eat for your next meal can save lives and reduce carbon emissions.
A mass transition to vegan diets could save about 8.1 million lives by 2050 and reduce greenhouse gases by two-thirds.
“What we eat greatly influences our personal health and the global environment,” said Dr. Marco Springmann of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food.
Springmann’s study, “Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change,” simulated the health, environmental, and financial effects of adopting different eating habits.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, calculated outcomes for four different dietary scenarios for the year 2050:
- an expected diet scenario using existing projections
- a diet consistent with global dietary guidelines, requiring a minimum intake of fruits and vegetables and limiting red meat, sugar, and calories
- a vegetarian diet
- a vegan diet
Vegan regimens were estimated to save the most lives, while vegetarian diets avoid 7.3 million deaths by 2050. The adoption of international nutritional recommendations prevented 5.1 million deaths.
“Imbalanced diets, such as diets low in fruits and vegetables, and high in red and processed meat, are responsible for the greatest health burden globally and in most regions,” Springmann said.
On top of decreasing mortality rates, changing what and how we consume could also save the U.S. up to $1,000 billion per year in healthcare costs and lost working days.
Trading chicken for tofu also puts a huge dent in food-derived greenhouse gases — which account for a quarter of total emissions.
If the world went vegan, it would reduce global warming pollutants by an impressive 70%. Throw dairy back into the mix and you’d still see a reduction of 63% under a vegetarian lifestyle. The global diet showed weaker results but still lowered gases by 29%.
These decreases are expected to put up to $750 billion back into the economy.
While even widespread dietary changes alone may not be enough to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to keep global temperature rise below 2°C, they still represent a significant and necessary step forward.
“Adopting healthier and more environmentally sustainable diets can be a large step in the right direction,” Springmann said. “The size of the projected benefits should encourage individuals, industry, and policymakers to act decisively to make sure that what we eat preserves our environment and our health.”