Written by Brianna King, Staff Writer
According to Global Data, the percentage of consumers in the United States identifying as vegan in 2014 was at 1 percent. Now, in 2019, 8 percent of consumers identify as vegan, which is an 800 percent increase.
These rates are not only growing in the U.S., but plant-based diets are becoming more and more popular globally.
There is a myriad of reasons consumers have made the switch to a vegan diet and lifestyle. Climate change is a hot topic for the upcoming 2020 election and is something we hear about every day on the news. Some people ask, “How can I help?”
The environmentally conscious will take shorter showers, use public transportation, or recycle, but all of this is just a drop in the bucket compared to quitting meat. If everyone in the world went vegan, our emissions would be reduced by two-thirds and countries would save $1.5 trillion in climate damages, according to an Oxford University study.
Oxford’s research as well as the Journal of Science suggest reducing one’s meat and dairy consumption is the single best way for an individual to reduce their environmental impact on the Earth. In most households, children are raised eating meat; it’s normal, and it’s abnormal not to. Billions of people around the world eat meat. They like it, it is their routine, and it’s killing our planet.
Vegans aren’t saying it has to be all or nothing. If every family in the United Kingdom committed to eating vegan for one day a week, it would have the environmental impact of taking 16 million cars off the road. That is equivalent to 73,600,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year. Sounds great right? In theory, yes, but with the general idea that a plant-based diet is dif cult and restrictive, many are deterred from even trying it.
Many people are uninformed or even misinformed on what a vegan diet consists of, but that did not stop sales of plant-based alternatives to animal products—including meat, dairy products and eggs—from growing 17 percent in 2019. The market for foods like these totaled over $3.7 billion. Two of the front runners for vegan “meat” options are the brands ImpossibleTM Foods and Beyond MeatTM. They are highly regarded as the best meat-free “meat” options.
Vegan and vegetarian options are not only becoming more popular in grocery stores. An increasing number of restaurants, even fast food chains, are rolling out new products or plant-based versions of their classics. Places like Burger King and KFC both have meat alternatives like the ImpossibleTM Whopper and KFC’s boneless Beyond MeatTM wings.
Although a majority of the sales from products like these are to vegan or vegetarian consumers, an increasing number of meat eaters are trying out or choosing the plant- based options.
“If I’m out to eat and the restaurant I’m at offers an ImpossibleTM Burger, then I’ll opt for one instead of my usual beef burger,” said Emily Feichtner, a high school senior.
With the help of restaurants and grocery stores making eating plant-based meals even more accessible, we have the resources to greatly reduce our overall animal product consumption and, in turn, do our part to help reverse climate change.
By going vegan for a month, one can save 33 animals, the use of 33,000 gallons of water, the destruction of 900 square feet of forest, 600 pounds of CO2 gas, and 1,200 pounds of grain. In the end, whether you want to eat vegan or not, our planet is dying and we have to change that.
Reducing meat consumption is not something we should do, it is becoming something we must do.