Seems like an odd question but it is a valid one and information technology speaks to wider questions dealing with the environmental effects of choosing to consume meat. The estimates I've seen vary wildly and it's very difficult to respond merely we'll requite information technology a go! Then … how many trees do you lot relieve by not eating meat? Permit's get the Sherlock Holmes lid on!

How Many Trees Practise You Salvage Past Not Eating Meat?

Living in the Western world you would relieve approximately 3.75 trees per person, per twelvemonth by not eating meat. This is a conservative calculation so information technology's likely more just information technology may seem like a very low number and much less than some other websites are claiming!

Aerial shot of forest canopy

Read on to meet how I arrived at this effigy. I've tried to be measured and rational …

The meat and dairy industries continue to deforest and pollute our fragile planet. Only final week, news emerged of a wide ranging report which conclusively showed some major players in this barbaric trade were responsible for more than pollution than Europe's major economies! [1]

Simply how does this pan out when we look at the effect on our trees? Firstly, nosotros need some figures on the number of copse lost to agriculture over a certain time menses.

New techniques have enabled the states to more than accurately gauge the number of trees on the planet.

Using a combination of ground based surveys and satellite imagery, the estimated number of trees on our Female parent Earth is roughly three trillion [2] … that's a lot of trees!

This number is quite a flake more than than previous estimates of around 400 billion.

The aforementioned report estimates the human race fells fifteen billion trees every year! This covers all usage from agriculture to structure to toilet paper.

So, now we take an idea of the number of trees nosotros lose annually, let's drill down …

Why Do Nosotros Cutting Downwardly Then Many Trees Worldwide?

Well, the 2 largest drivers of deforestation [3] are … wait for it …

  • Beefiness Production
  • Soy Product

Cows eating animal feed through a metal fence

Seeing as 75 – 90% of soy product is used for animal feed, with a loftier proportion being used for the production of meat [four], we can safely say the consumption of meat is responsible for a large percentage of worldwide deforestation, mainly in the tropics.

Calculating how many trees that equates to every year is not straightforward though..

Ane way to go far at an estimate would be to look at the Amazon rainforest, where nosotros take the about data. Then extrapolate those numbers to include the residuum of the world where beef and soy product are heaviest

Before we get into that I'd but similar to also mention that only 7% of the soybean harvest is used for directly man consumption [4].

Then those anti-vegans who try to suggest nosotros're hypocrites for using soya dairy-free alternatives are way off the mark. The next time someone claims vegans are responsible for mass deforestation, you lot tin put them correct … it'southward absolute nonsense!

Beef: The Number 1 Driver Of Tropical Deforestation

Brazil is rapidly gaining ground on the US as the globe'due south largest producer of beef.

By the time 2021 is out, Brazil volition have produced 10.4 1000000 metric tons compared to the 12.six predicted for the US [5].

Infographic: The Biggest Producers of Beef in the World | Statista You will find more than infographics at Statista

Brazil's beef production has mushroomed over the last decade and particularly over the last 5 years. Brazil also has the most densely populated rainforest.

This combination has seen Brazil second only to Africa in the top listing for the largest expanse of rainforest net loss globally, as of 2020 [half dozen].

Over the last decade, Brazil holds that undesirable honour with the largest average net loss by a meaning margin. But it's looking like Africa is the one to watch on this front during the adjacent decade!

Almanac Deforestation Numbers In Amazonia; 2021

Cheers to some very clever and dedicated scientists, researchers and satellite imaging experts nosotros now have more authentic information than e'er on tree density numbers in Amazonia.

Shot of the rainforest with mist rising

The average figure comes out at approximately 600 trees per hectare.

When we consider over 1.five million hectares per yr, on average, were lost from Brazilian rainforests over the terminal ten years we're starting to look at some very large numbers of private trees lost.

900,000,000, approximately … yeah that's over nine hundred million trees, on boilerplate, lost every yr in Brazil alone!

In the decade prior to this it was well over twice that effigy!

Shocking statistics, I'm sure you'll concord.

Admittedly, non all of this figure volition exist due to the product of meat only it is the overwhelming majority. Many estimates are at ninety% or more!

So let's be bourgeois and round downwards to arrive at a figure of 800 million copse lost to beefiness production in Brazil every year.

Depressingly plenty, this number is on the rise once more after Brazil managed to bring downwards their charge per unit of tree loss significantly in the last decade.

I Third Of Biodiversity Loss Is Due To Fauna Agriculture

So says the Nutrient and Agriculture Organisation of the United nations. If we use the 15 billion figure of trees lost every twelvemonth as a starting point then nosotros tin gauge 5 billion of these are due to beast agriculture.

This seems consistent with the effigy we arrived at for Brazil and almost of this tree loss volition exist due to meat production (beef and soya).

So this very rough estimate suggests if we all stopped eating meat overnight, nosotros'd salve around 5 billion copse every year.

Statista estimates that 86% of the global population eats meat. That'due south 6.seven billion people, depressingly enough.

This works out at about three-quarters of a tree per person saved every year by not eating meat. This is an average.

In Western countries every bit much as 10 times more meat is consumed than in developing countries.

And so nosotros can probably safely multiply our average figure past five to arrive at a very rough effigy of three.75 trees saved per person in the Due west by excluding meat from the diet.

This is a very different number to some of the other estimates out in that location, particularly the three,432 number being bandied about by some that should know amend, in all honesty.

Simulated facts practice goose egg to further our vegan cause. Information technology just allows others to ridicule our lifestyle.

Only 3.75 Trees Per Person Saved Every Year Past Quitting The Meat?

This number seems modest. But you have to remember virtually of the beef produced in North America (the largest producer) originates from country which is already free of trees.

Image of an ancient tree with flowing roots

Nosotros're mainly talking nearly the tropical regions of South America, Africa and Republic of indonesia where forests are being lost at an alarming rate to make way for beef and soy production.

If we accept the 7.9 billion global population and multiply it by 11% (approximate proportion of vegetarians and vegans on the planet) [seven], we arrive at around 0.9 billion people who don't eat meat.

Using our average figure of 0.75 trees saved per person we're looking at 675,000,000 trees saved every year, on average, by not eating meat. Seems a bit more of a respectable number.

Compared to the 5 billion trees lost annually due to all animate being agriculture (meat and dairy), it's maybe a lilliputian low simply I'd rather err on the side of caution than make wild claims such equally those you'll find prominently displayed in Google's results.

We need to exist realistic in order to be taken seriously.

So I hope this (blatantly unscientific) article has helped to clear up some of the misconceptions surrounding deforestation due to the consumption of meat.

It'south a supremely difficult question to answer and at that place are so many variables that tiny errors tin can exist magnified out of all proportion resulting in numbers such as the iii,432 per person mentioned earlier … apparently wildly inaccurate!

Merely know that by giving up the meat you are doing all sorts of good for the environment, your health and the very future of our existence on this cute planet!

If you found this commodity engaging please consider sharing it with your friends who might savor a practiced read 🙂 Spread the vegan give-and-take! Please also leave your comments beneath. I'd love to know what you call back.

Thank you for reading and have an beast friendly twenty-four hours!

Rohan.

Sources:

[one] – Surge Activism: Andrew Gough, September 8, 2021 – 20 meat and dairy companies emit more than carbon than Federal republic of germany, Britain or France, says Friends of the Earth. https://www.surgeactivism.org/articles/20-meat-and-dairy-companies-emit-more-carbon-than-deutschland-britain-or-france-says-friends-of-the-earth

[2] – Ehrenberg, R. Global wood survey finds trillions of copse. Nature (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.18287

[3] – WWF In Depth: What are the biggest drivers of tropical deforestation? They may not be what you recollect. (2018) https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/summer-2018/articles/what-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-tropical-deforestation

[4] – Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2021) – "Forests and Deforestation". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/soy [Online Resource] [5] – Statista – Beefiness market in the U.Southward. Katharina Buchholz: The Biggest Producers of Beef in the Earth https://www.statista.com/chart/19127/biggest-producers-of-beef/

[six] – FAO. 2020. Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020: Main written report. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en

[seven] – Vegconomist – September twenty, 2021. Study Shows a third of World Population Follow a Nutrition Based on Reduction or Elimination of Meat. https://vegconomist.com/studies-and-numbers/study-shows-a-3rd-of-world-population-follow-a-nutrition-based-on-reduction-or-elimination-of-meat/

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