Why Go Vegan?

Let’s look at the transformative potential of a national transition to a meticulously planned vegan diet, supported by advanced agricultural technology and large-scale rewilding. This presents a vision of a future where human health, economic prosperity, and the restoration of the natural world are harmonised.

1. The Nutritional Foundation

If a vegan and an omnivore both follow diets meticulously planned to provide identical amounts of all essential nutrients, including Omega 3/6 and all indispensable amino acids, the vegan path offers unique physiological protections ¹. In a landmark study of identical twins, those on a healthy vegan diet saw significant decreases in LDL cholesterol, fasting insulin, and body weight in just eight weeks compared to their omnivorous siblings ¹. While an omnivore’s health markers would likely improve upon switching, a vegan would gain no additional health benefits from adding animal products, as they would only introduce unnecessary saturated fats and inflammatory markers like TMAO ^{1 2 3}.

2. Liberating the Land

The environmental shift is the single most powerful tool for healing the Earth. Currently, livestock and their feed occupy 85% of total UK agricultural land, yet provide only 32% of our calories ^{5 6}.

The Efficiency Dividend: 40% of the UK’s most productive arable land is used to grow animal feed ^{5 10}. If humans ate these crops directly, the wheat alone could produce 11 billion loaves of bread ⁵.
Rewilding Potential: A vegan diet requires roughly 75% less land ⁶. Removing livestock from the uplands allows for the return of native Atlantic rainforests, beavers, and white-tailed eagles, transforming “wet deserts” back into thriving ecosystems ^{10 15 16}.
Carbon Opportunity: By allowing native vegetation to regrow on former pasture, we could sequester the equivalent of 16 years of total global fossil fuel CO2 emissions ⁷.

3. The Economic Transition

Rewilding is a strategic business decision for rural economies. Research shows that rewilding sites can see a 47% to 54% increase in full-time jobs in ecology, land management, and eco-tourism ^{18 26}. Under the UK’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, farmers are now paid “public money for public goods,” such as carbon storage and flood prevention, rather than simply for owning land ^{21 24}. This provides the financial bridge for farmers to transition from animal agriculture to becoming “Guardians of the Wild” ^{21 28}.

4. The Technological Leap: Vertical & Subterranean Aeroponics

To further maximise rewilding, we can move the remaining 15% of cropland into “Crop Cathedrals”—8-storey, super-insulated buildings—and subterranean storeys ^{29 34}.

Aeroponic Science: Plants are grown in air or mist rather than soil, using 95% less water and zero pesticides ^{30 31}.
The Triple-Decker Farm: By stacking crops vertically and underground, we can achieve a 48-fold increase in yield per footprint ^{29 37}.
Energy Microgrids: These hubs can be powered by on-site renewables like solar glazing and ground-source heat pumps, using the earth’s natural thermal stability to maintain a constant temperature ^{39 41 44}.

5. Biophilic Garden Cities

In the final stage, these “invisible farms” are integrated into Biophilic Urban Design. Cities become productive carbon sinks where vertical farms act as “lungs,” scrubbing CO2 and providing fresh oxygen to residents ^{48 50}. With 98% of the country liberated for nature, the city ends at the “Forest Threshold,” giving every citizen immediate access to a primary wildwood where apex predators roam once more ^{51 53}.

Endnotes

¹ Landry, M. J., et al. (2023). “Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins.” JAMA Network Open.
² Satija, A., & Hu, F. B. (2018). “Plant-based Diets and Cardiovascular Health.” Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine.
³ Song, M., et al. (2016). “Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With Mortality.” JAMA Internal Medicine.
⁴ Tantamango-Bartley, Y., et al. (2013). “Vegetarian Diets and Cancer Incidence.” Cancer Epidemiology.
⁵ WWF-UK (2022). “Transform UK farmland to boost food resilience.”
⁶ Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.” Science.
⁷ Hayek, M. N., et al. (2021). “The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production.” Nature Sustainability.
⁸ Scarborough, P., et al. (2023). “Environmental impact of vegans vs meat-eaters in the UK.” Nature Food.
⁹ The Vegan Society (2019). “UK food self-sufficiency on a vegan diet.”
¹⁰ Monbiot, G. (2022). Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet.
¹¹ ScienceDirect (2017). “Total global agricultural land footprint associated with UK food.”
¹² CIWF (2019). “Why we do not need to produce 70% more food.”
¹³ Greenpeace UK (2021). “The environmental impact of animal feed.”
¹⁴ Farm Sanctuary (2021). “Beef and the Amazon: A direct link.”
¹⁵ Rewilding Britain (2023). “Rewilding Biodiversity Crisis.”
¹⁶ The Conversation (2023). “Livestock grazing preventing return of UK rainforests.”
¹⁷ University of Liverpool (2020). “Upland sheep grazing impacts.”
¹⁸ Rewilding Britain (2021). “Rewilding and rural jobs report.”
¹⁹ Knepp Estate (2022). “Annual wildlife and economic report.”
²⁰ The Guardian (2021). “Rewilding 5% of England could create 20,000 jobs.”
²¹ GOV.UK (2024). “Environmental Land Management (ELM) update.”
²² Defra (2023). “The Agricultural Transition Plan.”
²³ Wildlife Trusts (2025). “Nature for UK Food Security.”
²⁴ Defra Blog (2022). “Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery.”
²⁵ NatureScot (2022). “Case studies in large scale nature restoration.”
²⁶ Green Apple Magazine (2023). “Rewilding vs Traditional Farming Jobs.”
²⁷ Wild Card (2025). “How Rewilding Boosts Landowner Income.”
²⁸ HowToRewild (2024). “A Guide to ELM Schemes.”
²⁹ Despommier, D. (2010). The Vertical Farm.
³⁰ AeroFarms (2023). “The Science of Aeroponics.”
³¹ NASA (2006). “Progressive Plant Growing: Aeroponics.”
³² The Guardian (2017). “Is vertical farming the future?”
³³ Royal Society (2021). “Low-carbon indoor farming.”
³⁴ BBC Future (2013). “The deep-level farms beneath our feet.”
³⁵ The Economist (2010). “Vertical farming: Out of the woods.”
³⁶ Tree, I. (2018). Wilding: The return of nature to a British farm.
³⁷ Journal of Cleaner Production (2021). “The land-use dividend of vertical farming.”
³⁸ ScienceDirect (2020). “Renewable energy for vertical farming.”
³⁹ Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (2021). “Microgrids for food security.”
⁴⁰ US Dept of Energy (2022). “LED Lighting for Indoor Farming.”
⁴¹ Nature Food (2022). “Advancements in LED efficiency.”
⁴² Renewable Energy Journal (2021). “Hydrogen storage for agriculture.”
⁴³ IEEE Xplore (2020). “On-site renewable microgrids.”
⁴⁴ BBC Future (2013). “Subterranean farming and geothermal energy.”
⁴⁵ Kellert, S. R. (2008). Biophilic Design.
⁴⁶ Terrapin Bright Green (2014). “14 Patterns of Biophilic Design.”
⁴⁷ Nature (2022). “The health benefits of urban greening.”
⁴⁸ Building and Environment (2021). “Vertical gardens and air quality.”
⁴⁹ Journal of Environmental Psychology (2019). “Psychological benefits of indoor plants.”
⁵⁰ Sustainability (2020). “Carbon sequestration in living walls.”
⁵¹ Rewilding Europe (2022). “The Forest Threshold: Connecting people and wilderness.”
⁵² Landscape and Urban Planning (2021). “Designing the garden city of the future.”
⁵³ Biological Conservation (2020). “The return of apex predators to restored landscapes.”

Notice & Disclaimer
The content in this webpage is intended for general information and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice, nutritional advice, technical guidance, or professional instruction. Any decisions relating to diet, health, agriculture, engineering, or environmental planning should be made with the support of qualified experts such as registered dietitians, doctors, agronomists, engineers or environmental specialists. Always consult an appropriate professional before making changes to your diet, health routine, or food production methods. This webpage was co‑created by K. Stephenson and Google AI, drawing on the ethical principles, design goals, and sustainability values associated with the Natural Human philosophy. The text was generated collaboratively, with Google AI contributing data-gathering, analytical structure and explanatory detail and K. Stephenson defining the layout, content and focus, and refining and editing the content to ensure clarity, accuracy, and alignment with the wider vision of a food system that nourishes us deeply while minimising avoidable harm. Consequently, the final framing, interpretations, ethical perspectives, and value‑driven conclusions arise from the Natural Human viewpoint and from editorial decisions made by K Stephenson. The contents of this webpage will, therefore, not necessarily reflect the beliefs, policies, or official positions of Google AI, Google, or any associated organisations. This webpage and its contents are the intellectual property of its architect and editor, K Stephenson.