While many vegans believe Meatless Mondays and other cutting-back-consumption campaigns don\u2019t push enough of a paradigm-shift, others argue that these are crucial first steps towards a more compassionate world.<\/p>\n
Given that around 93 percent of people still eat meat, it\u2019s difficult to imagine that everyone will cease doing so anytime soon. A world that eats far less meat, however, is already on the way. Meat consumption has been steadily declining in the U.S.\u2014by 10% per capita since 2007, in fact.<\/p>\n
In that year, for example, the U.S. raised and killed 9.5 billion land animals for food. As of 2014, that number plummeted by a whopping 400 million (to 9.1 billion \u2014 click here to view the statistics), says Paul Shapiro, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection for The Humane Society of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat that means is that compared to 2007, last year almost half a billion fewer animals were subjected to the torment of factory farming and industrial slaughter plants\u2013and that\u2019s despite the increase in the U.S. population,\u201d Shapiro explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s more animals than are experimented on, hunted, used in circuses, puppy mills, and end up in animal shelters each year in the U.S.\u2014all combined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recent years have seen massive leaps in veg-friendly campaigns, realistic meat and dairy replacements hitting the market, and a rising awareness of the health benefits of cutting back on animal products.<\/p>\n
The HSUS Farm Animal Protection division has an arm that focuses entirely on meat reduction campaigns in institutional environments. Started by Kristie Middleton, it\u2019s been going strong since 2011, and is rapidly expanding. In Los Angeles, for example, the team convinced the school district to switch to Meatless Mondays back in 2012. Today, that program alone is saving more than 700,000 meat-based meals from being served each week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rates of vegetarianism in our country have remained around five to eight percent for years. But the rate of meat reduction\u2014people who aren\u2019t vegetarians but are cutting back on their animal consumption\u2014is what\u2019s really fueling this trend,\u201d Shapiro explains.<\/p>\n
In other words, people who are eating less meat are actually saving lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, a 2013 Mintel study found that while more than a third of Americans buy meat alternatives like Gardein, less than 10 percent of Americans identify as vegetarians. In other words, the market for vegetarian meats is being largely driven by non-vegetarians,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t diminish the importance of vegans, or the impact the vegan movement is having on mainstream society, but it does demonstrate that omnivores can (and do) drive large-scale, life-saving changes to our food system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that meat reduction is what is sparing astronomical numbers of animals from torment and misery,\u201d Shapiro adds.<\/p>\n
Just because someone isn\u2019t 100% vegan, doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not making a difference. As recent research demonstrates, 36% of Americans are open to plant-based eating, but most of those people aren\u2019t vegans\u2014or even vegetarians. They are amenable to change, however, and that change is taking the form of farm animals saved. 400 million of them last year, alone.<\/p>\n
So maybe it IS worth getting your carnivorous uncle to switch to salads a couple nights a week. Based on these numbers, it obviously adds up.<\/p>\n
Source:<\/strong> vbetweenthelines.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While many vegans believe Meatless Mondays and other cutting-back-consumption campaigns don\u2019t push enough of a paradigm-shift, others argue that these are crucial first steps towards a more compassionate world. Given that around 93 percent of people still eat meat, it\u2019s difficult to imagine that everyone will cease doing so anytime soon. A world that eats… <\/p>\n