Farm animals would take over the world
If everybody went vegan
As one of the stranger excuses offered, I must admit I find myself holding my head in my hands when it's all-too-frequently given as a reason to continue torturing and killing animals. If we are to take anything positive from this view I suppose it at least shines a light on the astronomical number of animals we raise and kill for food on this planet. There are around seventy billion land animals being raised globally at any given time and when you compare that to just seven billion humans (which many consider a vast overpopulation in itself) it's not hard to see why the food and land requirements, waste management and transportation of so many animals is the leading cause of most of the environmental problems currently threatening our very existence.
An overpopulation of farm animals is something that would simply never happen due to the model of supply and demand used in all business. It is humans who artificially control the breeding process of farm animals and we only bring into existence the numbers needed to cover consumer demand. The world will not go vegan overnight but rather as a gradual process and as this begins to happen less animals will be bred into existence each year, so no excess would ever be present. Eventually, as people quit animal products altogether, no animals would be bred to be killed at all and so the roaming hoards of cows, pigs and chickens people seem so worried about would never actually exist.
We can see this process in action, as 400 million less animals were bred and killed last year (compared to 2007) thanks to a decrease in the demand for meat. It is this trend that would continue down to zero as demand continued to decrease, save for the animals living out their days in peace on farm sanctuaries around the world.
An overpopulation of farm animals is something that would simply never happen due to the model of supply and demand used in all business. It is humans who artificially control the breeding process of farm animals and we only bring into existence the numbers needed to cover consumer demand. The world will not go vegan overnight but rather as a gradual process and as this begins to happen less animals will be bred into existence each year, so no excess would ever be present. Eventually, as people quit animal products altogether, no animals would be bred to be killed at all and so the roaming hoards of cows, pigs and chickens people seem so worried about would never actually exist.
We can see this process in action, as 400 million less animals were bred and killed last year (compared to 2007) thanks to a decrease in the demand for meat. It is this trend that would continue down to zero as demand continued to decrease, save for the animals living out their days in peace on farm sanctuaries around the world.
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
