IF everyone in the world was vegan how would the world change for the worst ?

Question

How would the cycle of life be affected

Answer 1

I imagine it would be really difficult to produce that much vegan food, seeing as how we can't even produce enough regular food for everyone.

Answer 2

People would be malnourished and weak. The populations of animals like deer and chicken would grow so big that the world would NEED hunters.. which basically contradicts the whole reason for being vegan.

Answer 3

It would ultimately be the BEST possible scenario for improving so many things!

*People would stop dying of starvation

*Our environment would become instantly cleaner-- no topsoil runoff, no deforestation, reduced air and water pollution, etc.

*People would stop dying of "western diseases" like cancers and heart disease

*Our energy crisis would be averted

*Fast food restaurants would have to start making healthy food

*Animals would stop outnumbering humans

There are way too many benefits to list here. Check out my posting that is copied from Diet for a New America: http://www.vegan-nutritionista.com/vegan...  

Answer 4

In 4-5 years, we would all be deficient in Vitamin B12, because the only reliable source of that is meat, dairy and eggs.

The population would not be able to work properly, think properly, and would be chronically tired. Disease would increase as our immune systems were affected. Epidemics of simple diseases such as the common Cold would wipe out large sections of the population, let alone any more serious illnesses such as influenza.

Humans are not meant to be vegans. It is a lifestyle choice for individuals, not a realistic option for large populations.

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Answer 5

Well I'm sure the meat industry would suffer, and certain animals would overpopulate easily. And the human population may go down because we would be weaker unless the didn't raise the kids vegan. Kids that are still growing need some animal products, like milk. I think if you're vegan that's your decision, and it's not one you can make for your children. But yea, then like ALOT of the food industries would suffer, and even more ppl out of the job.

Answer 6

If it happened overnight, there would be great famine and starvation amongst the domesticated animals we currently use for food. One answerer stated that deer, chicken, cattle (etc.) populations would increase, because they would not be killed for food.  I disagree with this, because suddenly so much more of the land mass would need to be agriculturally suited for feeding 6 billion humans.  The grasslands and pastures that other animals feed on would be converted into land for grownig human sustinence... making these animals have to compete with us for their nutrients. Suddenly severing the domestication relationships with species that have had everything provided for them for hundreds of generations would make finding food for them a tedious chore.  

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We would also view these animals as "pests" as some would be sure to get into our crops that are intended for human consumption.

These "pests" would have many natural predators that would have an easier time catching them, though, since the farmers would not be as interested in protecting them.

I'm not sure how this would effect the world water supply, obviously, irrigation techniques would need to change, to support such an immense task.

There are numerous other points we could get into, and I'm sure other answerers will.

If the shift is gradual enough, though, the process I listed above MIGHT not be as dramatic.

Answer 7

To avoid massive malnutrition (and resulting disease), it would require massive cultural and lifestyle changes. Getting sufficient nutrients through a strictly vegan diet is possible but not easy -- especially in cultures without adaptable agricultural systems and well organized transportation networks. So unless one thinks that the transition would be rapid and smooth and extremely efficient, the results could be catastrophic.  But because this is a "thought experiment", I suppose one could also imagine that all those problems would be immediately resolved.

But since you refer to the cycle of life, are you proposing that EVERY species would become vegan in its diet?

I guess to answer it properly, we would have to define a lot of details as to how the "new world order" would be instituted and operate. There a lot of variables to think about.

Answer 8

Many people would die of starvation, because in a lot of third world countries, even cutting eggs and dairy out of their diet is enough to starve them; there just isn't enough vegetation to go around.

Animal populations would explode so much so that humans would have to be sent out to reduce the number of animals that there are.

Humans would become more susceptible to things like dementia and Alzheimer's. Yes, soy and tofu do have protein, but it is an incomplete protein, not like the protein that comes from animal fats. It is this protein that helps prevent degenerative muscle disorders. Humans are omnivorous, that's just the way it was meant to be.