Nowhere are our changing
times more evident than in the choices people are making about what they eat.
Not long ago the term vegetarian brought to mind underweight
alternate life-stylers surviving on lentils, lettuce, love and little else. So
it might be surprising to learn that today over 2 million Australians and 6% of
the US population are vegetarian, while globally a massive one in three people now
eat little to no meat.
This growing trend means that every 5 minutes
someone in the world is switching to a vegetarian diet or cutting back
on their meat intake. In Australia, Tasmania boasts the most
vegetarians at 12.7% per capita, while Ray Morgan Research finds NSW has the
greatest growth in the movement, with a 30% increase in vegetarianism from 2012 to
2016.
Interviews show that the majority of vegetarians switch
to a meatless diet for health reasons, supported by research from Oxford
University that shows that if no one is eating meat by 2050, then 8.1
million human lives would be spared each year from obesity, heart attack,
stroke, diabetes and cancer, with an equivalent saving in health care costs of US$1
trillion annually.
Most others make the ethical choice for animals and the environment.
This is also supported by studies showing that raising livestock for humans to
eat takes up 26% of the world’s ice-free land; 33% of croplands to feed them; about
1,800 gallons of water to produce a single pound of
beef depending on circumstances; emits around 2 billion metric tons of CO2 a year; is
responsible for 2.8 billion further metric tons of CO2 emission by forest
clearing for more grazing land, and in the end takes far more food to keep the animals than they
return as meat.
Meanwhile, to dispel that myth of lentils and lettuce, a brief
browse online delivers an array of mouthwatering vegetarian and vegan recipes
that any cook would itch to try, all made easy by listed ingredients being readily
available on major supermarket shelves
Hats off too this year to Aldi, who even managed to
supply vegan Easter eggs.
- Patricia
Edwards
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on June 4, 2018.
