Tu Bishvat, the New Year of Trees, celebrated on January 25 this year, has many connections with the environment. This day is the most vegan Jewish holiday, as all traditional foods on Tu Bishvat Seders are vegan.
The values of Tu Bishvat are in dramatic conflict with modern animal-based agriculture. Almost all of his 80 billion livestock slaughtered annually experience a miserable life on factory farms. Meat production has a very negative impact on the environment, and it significantly increases the likelihood of war in at least two ways.
How eating meat increases the likelihood of war
First, animal-based diets are extremely wasteful, and history has shown that many wars are caused by nations fighting over scarce and essential resources. In the United States, approximately 70% of the grain produced is fed to animals to fatten them for slaughter. Due to the large amounts of water required for irrigation of animal feed crops and other needs of animal-based agriculture, up to 13 times more water is required to feed people on animal-based diets compared to animal-free diets. You may need twice as much water. diet. Producing meat and other animal products requires much more land and energy than producing plant foods.
Jewish sages noted that the Hebrew words “bread” (lehem) and “war” (mirchama) come from the same root, meaning that when grain or other resources become scarce, nations go to war. I reasoned that the possibility was high. . In Biblical times, there were conflicts over access to clean water. And recently, competition for sufficient energy resources has become a major source of conflict.
A second reason why animal-based agriculture increases the likelihood of future conflict is that the production of meat and other animal products is a major contributor to climate change. Military experts say the global warming that climate scientists predict will result in millions of desperate people trying to escape heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, floods and other negative climate impacts. We believe that there will be refugees and that this will lead to political instability, violence and terrorism. War is more likely. Climate change is already causing civil wars in Syria and Sudan. In both countries, years of drought have destroyed farms, forced farmers to move into overcrowded cities, and sparked conflict.
How not being vegan makes climate change worse
The main reason animal-based agriculture is a major cause of climate change is because 43% of the world’s ice-free land is currently used for animal grazing and growing feed crops. Much of the area was previously covered by forests, and the world’s 6 trillion trees a few thousand years ago have declined to about 3 trillion today. This rapid decline in carbon-sequestering trees is a key reason why carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a dangerous 420 ppm, compared to 285 ppm at the beginning of the industrial revolution, far exceeding the 350 ppm suggested by climate experts. be. This is considered to be the climate stability threshold and is thought to be increasing by 2-3 ppm each year. Consistent with vegan and environmentally conscious Tu Bishvat, a significant shift to a plant-based diet will enable large-scale reforestation, with additional trees sequestering large amounts of carbon to safer levels. will be reduced.
Another reason animal-based agriculture is a major contributor to climate change is that cows and other ruminants emit methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that remains in the atmosphere for 15 to 20 years and is more than 80 times more potent per unit weight than CO2. .
Today, the main focus of most Israelis is on the current Israel-Hamas war and the fate of the hostages. But this should not blind us to the need to address the long-term causes of conflict and war. We need to move to a plant-based diet that will significantly reduce the threat of future wars and help leave a livable, healthy and environmentally sustainable world for future generations. Fortunately, this is starting to happen. Many people, especially young people, are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of plant-based diets for human health, animals and the environment. There are many wonderful and delicious plant foods available today, and a growing number of them are very similar in appearance, texture, and taste to the meat and other animal foods that many people are accustomed to. Changing your eating habits has become much easier. ■
The author is a professor emeritus at the College of Staten Island and The Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World and Revitalizing Judaism; Judaism and vegetarianism; Judaism and global survival; Mathematics and global survival; and Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Heal an Endangered Planetand over 250 articles at JewishVeg.org/schwartz.