The late Senator Robert Kennedy
often stated:
"Some see things as they are and ask why,
I dream of things that have never been and ask
why not?"
Yes, why not? Why not a vegetarian
world? Or, even better, since we are dreaming,
why not a vegan world? When one considers all
the negatives related to the current widespread
production and consumption of animal products,
it is hard to believe that so few people have
seen the importance of shifting to such a world.
What would a vegan world be like?
It would be a world with far
healthier people. There are numerous studies
showing that plant-based diets can sharply reduce
the risk factors for heart disease, various
types of cancer, strokes, and other chronic
degenerative diseases. Dr. Dean Ornish and others
have shown that a well planned vegetarian diet,
along with other positive lifestyle changes,
can reverse severe heart-related problems. Currently
about 1.3 million Americans die annually from
diseases linked to the consumption of animal
products. This number would be sharply reduced
when people eat a wide variety of foods from
what the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine (PCRM) calls the “New Four Food
Groups”: fruits, vegetables, whole grains,
and legumes.
It would be a far more humane
world. We could eliminate the current abuse
of the 10 billion animals in the United States
and 50 billion animals worldwide raised annually
for slaughter. Animals would no longer be bred
and genetically programmed to produce far more
flesh, milk, and eggs than is natural for them.
The many horrors of factory farming, including
force feeding of geese, debeaking of hens, and
branding, dehorning, and castrating of cattle,
would be eliminated. We would no longer need
to feel shame when considering Gandhi’s
statement: “The greatness of a nation
and its moral progress can be judged by how
its animals are treated.”
It would be an environmentally
sustainable world. Since we would no longer
be raising 50 billion farmed animals for slaughter
under factory farmed conditions, there would
be a sharp reduction in the current significant
contributions that modern intensive livestock
agriculture makes to global climate change;
rapid species extinction; soil erosion and depletion;
destruction of tropical rain forests, coral
reefs, and other valuable habitats; desertification;
and many more environmental threats. Without
the need to feed so many animals, we could let
land lay fallow on a rotating basis, and thus
restore its fertility. There would be far less
need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers
in the production of feed crops for animals.
Of course, changes would also have to be made
in our production, transportation, and other
systems to improve the environment as much as
possible, but the shift to vegetarianism would
be a major step.
It would be a world where hunger
and thirst would be sharply reduced, if not
eliminated. When we no longer feed 70 percent
of the grain grown in the US and 40 percent
of the grain grown worldwide to animals destined
for slaughter, using vast amounts of agricultural
resources to do so, we would have the potential
to save the lives of many of the estimated 20
million people who currently die of hunger and
its effects. When we shift away from current
animal-centered diets that require up to 14
times the amount of water that vegan diets do,
we can help reverse current trends that have
been leading to an increasingly thirsty world.
Also, since current typical diets require large
amounts of energy, a shift to vegan diets, and
other positive changes, would give us additional
time to develop more sustainable forms of energy.
It would be a far more peaceful
world. Some may question this, but please consider
that the slogans of the vegetarian and peace
movements are the same: “All we are saying
is give PEAS a chance.” More seriously,
the Jewish sages, noting that the Hebrew words
for bread (lechem) and war (milchamah) come
from the same root, indicated that when there
are shortages of grain and other resources,
people are more likely to go to war. History
has proven the truth of this statement many
times. Hence, a vegetarian world, where far
less water, land, energy, and other resources
are required for our diets would reduce the
potential for war and other conflicts.
Obtaining a vegan world may sound
utopian today as so much meat is consumed in
the developed world and as newly affluent people
in several countries, including Japan, China,
and India, shift toward animal-centered diets.
However, borrowing the title of a Buckminster
Fuller book, we may have a choice between “Utopia
and Oblivion.” Our current dietary and
other practices threaten major catastrophies
for humanity from global warming, losses of
biodiversity, water and food shortages, just
to name a few problems. So, as difficult as
it seems, it is essential that we alert people
to the necessity of adopting vegan diets.
As a song from the popular musical
“South Pacific” indicates, “If
you do not have a dream, how yuh gonna have
a dream come true.”
So it is essential that we keep the dream of
a vegan world alive.
And, as the Zionist leader Theodore Herzl stated
“ If you will it, it is not a dream.”
So, we must do more than dream. We must work
diligently to make that dream come true. The
fate of our precious, but imperiled, planet
depends on it.
