Biodiversity refers to the complex interplay between all forms of life; plant, animal, fungal, bacterial and the ecosystems that uphold them. Biodiversity is what makes life both possible and interesting. Unfortunately, modern ways of living and its emphasis on mining, logging and other ecologically destructive practices have wreaked havoc on global biodiversity, with no end in sight.
The impact of the choices we make can have far-reaching consequences. Choosing a vegan diet can help reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by 75%, water use by 54%, and limit the destruction of wildlife by 66%. Studies show that a plant-based diet and lifestyle can help drastically reduce ecological damage.
Let’s take a closer look at how a vegan lifestyle can help improve biodiversity.
Key Takeaways
Land and Habitat Conservation
Opting for plant-based foods can help preserve vital habitats. Plant-based food drastically decreases the need for resources, which ultimately destroys habitat and causes deforestation. Raising animals for food is resource-intensive, requiring large areas of land for grazing or growing feed crops as well as water. The desire for animals raised for meat, dairy and other products is responsible for an ever-increasing amount of landscape degradation.
This includes numerous types of ecosystems including, but not limited to forests, wetlands, and grasslands, resulting in the loss of whatever living beings are present in the ecosystem, even driving many to extinction.
A well-known and oft-cited case is the most biodiverse place on earth, the Amazon rainforest, which is referred to as the ‘lungs of the earth.’ The Amazon is subject to repeated and unceasing clearing to make way for cattle grazing or the production of soybeans, which are used to feed animals worldwide. This untold destruction is not only responsible for the death of countless life forms in the present but also hinders that of the future, clearly making it of concern to adherents of a vegan lifestyle.
Plant-Based Sustainable Alternatives
Following a plant-based diet can help mitigate the damage and loss of ecosystems by failing to support some of the main reasons causing their destruction. Millions of square kilometres of land could be freed up if enough people switched to a plant-based diet worldwide, allowing nature to recover and thrive.
Following plant-based alternatives could reduce soil erosion and desertification caused by industrial monocultures (where large areas of land are cleared to plant one crop species.) This way, the strain put on the natural world by humanity's unbridled desires can be limited and natural processes allow to regain a foothold in the ecosystem.
As mentioned in the previous blog, the land and water resources used to produce animal products for human consumption is an inefficient use of resources. Instead, the large amounts of water and grains used to feed animals could be used to nourish humans.
This would greatly cut down the amount of biodiversity loss, such as land clearing, erosion and pollution, and give a greater energy input-to-output ratio.
Plant-based diets can feed more people using less land and resources, providing crucial protection for ecosystems, and all lifeforms that comprise and survive through them.
Water Pollution
Animal agriculture uses substantial amounts of water that inevitably end up polluting waterways with animal waste, and chemical agricultural run-off, including nitrogen and phosphorous, causing eutrophication and algal blooms. This destroys water-borne life. Choosing a plant-based diet can drastically reduce the environmental harm done by farming animals and allow the ecosystem to regenerate over time through the reduction of water-borne pollutants.
The Relationship Between Growing Food and Biodiversity
The food we grow is dependent on the health of the ecosystem. 75% of flowering plants and 35% of food crops are dependent on pollinators. Healthy food systems are also dependent on creating and maintaining healthy soil as well as providing habitat for wildlife.
Unfortunately, current, prevalent systems don’t keep this in mind. Reversing biodiversity loss is essential for the future functioning of the food system by ensuring the flourishing of pollinators and other vital insects that maintain the ecosystem and our food systems in balance.
Food should only be grown on land that is already used for agriculture, instead of clear-cutting more land for agricultural purposes. Food that is grown is better served to people instead of to livestock to safeguard the biodiversity of our planet for future generations. With a population expected to grow by 2 billion in the next 25 years, we need to concentrate on refining our agricultural methods drastically.
Carbon Emissions and Sinks
By consuming more plant-based foods relative to those derived from animals our need for agricultural land will decrease leaving more land to capture atmospheric carbon and store it underground.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Biodiversity is the bedrock of what it is to exist. Modern life has placed the human being above all other life forms and seems to believe it has the right to do as it pleases, without consequence. This misunderstanding of human being’s place in the ecosystem is responsible for the unprecedented ecocide humanity has been responsible for in recent history. A shift towards a more plant-based lifestyle and less of a domineering mentality is a potent way of recalibrating this broken relationship and allowing biodiversity to flourish once again.
