Blogishness, Self Improvement / Healthy Living

Is The World Becoming More or Less Vegan/Vegetarian Friendly?

I recently read two interesting articles about vegan/vegetarianism.  The first appeared in the UK’s Guardian, and it regarded scientific projections that the whole world will have to be vegetarian by 2050.

There will not be enough water available on  current croplands to  produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050  if we follow  current trends and changes towards diets common in western  nations,” the report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm  International Water Institute (SIWI) said.

“The report, called Feeding a thirsty world:  Challenges and opportunities for a water and food secure world, is being  released at the start of the annual world water  conference in  Stockholm.

There, 2,500 politicians, UN bodies,  non-governmental groups and researchers from 120 countries are meeting to  address global water supply problems.

The report says dramatic cuts in our meat  consumption are the only answer.

‘There will be just enough water if the  proportion of animal-based foods  is limited to 5% of total calories and  considerable regional water  deficits can be met by a reliable system of food  trade,’ it states.”

However, I also recently read a report that bananas are no longer going to be vegan? 

“As Science Daily reports, scientists have come up with a new spray they say will prevent bananas from ripening into brown mush for almost two extra weeks. The downside? The spray is made from chitosan, which is derived from the shells of shrimp and crabs.”

The articles are both very interesting and should be read in their entirety but it does raise an interesting issue.  Do you think the world is becoming more or less vegan/vegetarian?  Put your thoughts in the comments.

 

10 thoughts on “Is The World Becoming More or Less Vegan/Vegetarian Friendly?”

  1. I think we should all hope that its becoming more vegan and vegetarian but that’s not always the case. From twenty years ago there are more vegan and vegetarian options at restaurants and grocery stores but with companies like monsanto and the food industry things don’t look like theyre getting too much better.

  2. At the dining facilities on base they’ve been having more and more vegan and vegetarian options, and although I think that has to do more with people’s religious beliefs in the military rather than ethical concerns, there still is a lot of vegan and vegetarian options on military bases and growing.

    The Army is always about keeping the troops healthy so if the world keeps telling us to lay off the meat and eat more vegetables the the Army will, albeit slowly, comply.

    Once the Army goes vegetarian you know everyone else will too! There’s a reason that one of our mottos is “Follow us.” Imagine if the Army became a leader amongst vegan and vegetarian causes?

    1. I CAN imagine the army leading the way and I think it would be a wonderful thing.

      If things keep up the way they are then like the article Michael referenced, there won’t be any country left to protect in a hundred years.

      As a soldier their goal is to protect the country and the people but what if its the food that’s harming the country and its people? What then?

  3. Who cares? The article makes it seem like the world’s gonna end in a hundred years anyway because of population so why not enjoy a nice steak while we still can. If you tell people that they’ve only got 50 year left to eat steak then that’s all they’re going to want to eat for the next fifty years. I know thats all I want to do.

    1. Even in fifty years if everyone had to be vegetarian the rich would still be eating meat, it would just become a speciality the way cavier is now. Which would be good because then it would be the poor who are healthy and the rich who are unhealthy.

  4. I think the world is definitely becoming more friendly towards vegans and vegetarians but I see that as a good thing and a bad thing. As someone mentioned above about Monsanto. It used to be just the meat industry that pandered and had powerful lobbiests and unhealthy business practices but now that vegan and vegetarian friendly foods have become big business corruption has swept right in there as well.

    Look at what Monsanto is doing with its genetically modified corn and how it has effected the local farming industry.

    Its a good thing that the US is becoming more vegan and vegetarian friendly but it’s not happening in the right way.

    1. Good point! I think the world is fortunately becoming more vegan/vegetarian friendly. This can be see not only in more and more restaurants that offer vegan/vegetarian friendly dishes but restaurants that offer ONLY vegan and vegetarian dishes are popping up all over the place; twenty years ago the only places with a majority of vegan/vegetarian restaurants were Indian places, but now there’s plenty around–and although we still have to travel 45min to get to some of the good vegan/vegetarian only restaurants, it’s still good to know that they’re there.

      Look at fast food though, too. McDonalds now offers a VEGGIE BURGER! And Subway, in some of its restaurants, have new vegan friendly subs with avocado, etc. So definitely definitely more friendly.

      But Brent Brent is right, too. The big thing about food often isn’t the food itself, it’s the industry. If someone things by them going vegan it’s going to change the world, then they’re wrong, it wont. Becoming vegan is putting a bandaid on a larger issue. Its the industry that needs to change as much as the people.

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