Vegetarianism and Planetary Well-Being

Abstract

Many people have began to accept that adopting a vegetarian diet is not only a prudent way to improve their own health, but also signifies a new vision of how our lives on the planet should be led. This vision includes an awareness that the good life for a human being entails good health, that good health in turn rests upon a carefully chosen diet, and that the diet we choose reflects as well as determines our species' impact on the biosphere. The amount of meat that we collectively consume has a profound effect on how we use and manage natural resources - forests, land, water, and fossil fuels. To put it simply the greater our dependence on meat and other animal products, the more we thoughtlessly commit these resources to satisfying our dietary preferences. And if (as I argue below) the prevailing form of agroindustry abuses the environment worldwide in ways that are detrimental to our health, then the more animal products we consume, the more our well-being will suffer. What dawns here is an understanding that the food orientation of an unhealthy society must be changed for the good of each of its members and for the good of nature as a whole.