It doesn't have to be using less electricity OR going vegan. It
could be BOTH.
If you have really gone into the UN report that Amitayus48 posted
in the link, you would have realised how much the reduce in impact
on the environment by going vegan. Here are some sections from
the report.
"Food production is the most significant influence on land use
and therefore habitat change, water use, overexploitation of
fisheries and pollution with nitrogen and phosphorus. In poorer
countries, it is also the most important cause of emissions of
greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O). Both emissions and land use depend
strongly on diets. Animal products, both meat and dairy, in general
require more resources and cause higher emissions than plant-based
alternatives."
"Currently about half
of the world’s land is used for agriculture and 70% of total water
use"
and some where else in the report you see these
2 statements:
"Agricultural materials, especially animal products, are also a
very important material flow in terms of their contribution to a
large number of impact categories. Animal products are important
because more than half of
the world’s crops are used to feed animals, not
people."
"Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially
due to population growth, increasing consumption of animal
products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for
alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts
would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change,
away from animal products."
When economics and politics are tossed aside on food distribution,
we would realise from what the report directly implies -
basically, we are eating
meat at the cost of not only the lives of animals, but also
the lives of people who are starving and have little/no food
to eat.
Advising people not to eat meat for the environment is not
something we see as much publicise by the government compared to
cutting electricity and conserving water. Hence not many people
know about the impact of meat, fish and animal products. But
the fact is, they are really detrimental to the environment.
Actually these issues have always been there but the UN/EU tends to
avoid it.. because.....
Secondly, i will like to add that global warming is
increasingly becoming a major issues. Natural disaster has been
increasing fourfold times in recent years.. even Singapore is
not spared. Think about it.