Could it make a difference?

Using animal products is so integrated into our lifestyle that living vegan has been more difficult than I thought. Not because I feel deprived, but because there seem to be animal products in almost everything.  Yet I'm curious if over the next twenty years it will become a much more viable option. Even if you don't buy the health and humanitarian arguments, there is a sustainability challenge to the mass-marketing of animals for food production.

I recently saw a quote by John Robbins about the true cost of beef if it weren't subsidized.  He writes...

"To produce one pound of beef, it takes 2,500 gallons of water, 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil and the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. If all these costs were reflected in the price of the product without subsidies, the least expensive hamburger in the US would cost $35."

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ran an equally interesting infographic in their Good Medicine Magazine.

What happens if the compelling dynamic for shifting lifestyle becomes economic rather than ethical?

Something to think about.