As environmental scientist I’m confronted with the effects humans have on the environment every day. At a given moment I read about the effects of livestock and agriculture. I began to delve in and got shocked. In various scientific literature you can find that the consumption of animals products cause 18% of global greenhouse gases, a large part of deforestation (70% in the Amazon), desertification, rapidly declining fish stocks, water scarcity, increasing risk of resistant diseases through antibiotics, terrestrial and aquatic nitrogen pollution, loss of biodiversity, animal cruelty, et cetera. In addition to these environmental problems I read that humans can live perfectly well without eating any animal products. There is even evidence that high intake of animal product cause several health problems known particularly in the west. And then I asked myself: why I should be part of this damaging system if I can have a perfectly happy life with a plant based diet?
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