If all humans were vegetarians what effect would that have on the number of people that the earth could support?

Answer 1

The elimination of poultry, livestock, and fish as food resources would mean that humans would have to find substitutes for things like wool, leather, and Gelatin. While these may be seen as valuable products, they are actually by-products of animal slaughter and would not be cost-effective to produce from animals if they were not being sold for meat.

The amount of food energy used to feed livestock animals (grains) could feed 10 billion people every year.

Some other possible effects of ending livestock production:

• Substantial tracts of land would become available to wildlife. Over time, the world's farmed animals would be displaced by countless species of wild animals. Predator control programs would end, and wild predators would keep the population of wild herbivores in check.
• Decreased deforestation and increased reforestation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO), livestock production is one of the major causes of the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. You can grow 11.6 times the amount of protein on an acre of land planted in beans and rice versus an acre of land devoted to grazing cattle.
• Less irrigation would be needed to sustain the smaller number of farm crops. One pound of beef requires 2500 gallons of water to produce, as well as up to 16 pounds of grain and soybeans. Less fresh water would be lost to evaporation.
• More genetically-engineered foods may be developed, more resistant to various conditions, having a greater yield.
• Decreased production of certain products (gelatin for example might be produced less depending on the alternate source, agar, which comes from algae.)
• Better nourished world population - Depending on location, greater crop yields available for human consumption and not fed to animals could cause lower infant mortality and lower birth rates. The less land required for animal food production, the more there is for forests, wildlife, homes, and buildings.

This is only a partial answer- there would be MANY MANY more benefits if everyone went vegetarian.

One thing that would happen is there would be less animal cruelty. Animals everyday wouldn't be beaten to death, if it weren't for someone who wanted a "nice" meal on the table. Some people would become less violent (especially the ones who kill animals for money), and people everyday wouldn't have to face the horrible truth of animal cruelty. Since there are no longer jobs for killing helpless animals, we would be able to focus on more important areas like economics, health, ect.

I have considered that thought many times over, and the world would be a better place- if everyone went vegetarian.
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html One pound of beef takes 5,000 gallons of water... if that answer is so off there... it makes me wonder exactly how wrong the rest of it is... This website contains a LOT of information about how everyone becoming a vegetarian could cut down on greenhouse gases and end hunger in 3rd world countries...
No more factory farming. The world would not become overrun with animals because they would no longer be raised for food. Most vegetarians are caring, compassionate people. So I guess there would be more peace, less violence, and better attitudes toward animals.

Answer 2

If everyone were vegetarian there would be more than enough food to go around. The grains that are used for raising animals for slaughter would go to humans. It would also improve the environment. There would be no global warming, no water shortages and no energy shortages.

Alternate answer: No there would not. The populations of Africa and Asia would still be in crisis. The western world would need vastly greater amounts of vegetation to sustain them. The area required to grow a crop substitute for milk alone would outstrip the acreage currently used for milk herds. And what of the herds? unless they were all culled they would still need the same space to graze as they do now. Except, without husbandry they would need more and more land; thus reducing the land available for crop. If the intent is to burn unusable vegetation product to produce energy global warming would increase. The more land cleared for crop the more water runoff and secondary irrigation systems need to be introduced, causing water shortages. To make Africa and Asia fertile vast water desalination needs to be done, and that was never a carbon neutral enterprise.

Answer 3

vegetarianism is a very personal thing, not every one should be one but it is a good thing for your heath. Unless you are eating all organic meet then you are putting very unnatural things into your body and in the worst case scenario you could get sick. It is also a good thing for the animals, though it is in the natural order of things that people eat animals, we are omnivores. But know we are so advanced that it is quite possible to totally cut out meet from your diet, as a vegetarian myself I am slightly biased but it is pretty easy. If you are interested make sure you try eating morning star, its a fake meet brand.

Answer 4

Yes. It takes many times less land to feed a vegetarian than it does to feed someone who consumes meat. That’s because vegetarians consume crops such as grains directly, instead of inefficiently feeding them to animals who will be killed and eaten.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, (quoting the National Corn Growers Association), about 80% of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by farmed animals. Humans consume only about 12% of the U.S. corn crop. Quoting the United Soybean Board, the EPA tells us that over 30 million tons of soybean meal are consumed as livestock feed in a year. Worldwide, approximately 75% of soybeansare used for animal feed. Imagine how many more people could be fed with all that food!

According to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, it takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat, and in the United States alone, 56 million acres of land are used to grow feed for animals, while only 4 million acres are producing food for humans to eat. (Some people believe that certain lands are suitable only for grazing animals because they are too dry to grow plants, but many of these dry lands have become deserts because of overgrazing by livestock to begin with. Traditional grains such as teff are well-suited to arid regions.)

More than 90 percent of all Amazon rain forest land cleared since 1970 is used for grazing livestock. In addition, one of the main crops grown in the former rain forest is soybeans used for animal feed. (The soybeans used in most soy products sold in U.S. grocery stores are grown in the United States.)

Of the world’s more than seven billion people, more than 840 million are counted as suffering from chronic hunger. It is estimated that a person dies of hunger or hunger-related causes every ten seconds, most of them children. That’s 3,153,600 people who die of hunger every year.

EarthSave, quoting a 1994 study, states that 10 billion people could be sustained from present croplands if all ate a vegetarian diet. David Pimentel, professor of ecology in Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, reported in July 2007, “If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States [alone] were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million.”

So we have all the land we need to feed a vegetarian world, but over 3 million people will die this year if humans who can afford to, continue to consume animal flesh.

Answer 5

Vegetarians are easier on the earth's Natural Resources than are carnivores. More food can go around as currently half of all the food grown in the U.S. goes to feed livestock.

Answer 6

It is always up to each person's own individual choice, and they should be allowed to choose whether they wish to become vegetarain or not.

Answer 7

If all humans where vegetarian, then people would be a lot healthier, and the disease rate would decrease significantly.