PhronesisWe model a hypothetical global transition to plant-based diets and trace effects across land use, water, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, human health, and antimicrobial resistance. Feeding 8 billion people on plant-based diets requires approximately 25% of current agricultural land. The freed 75%—3.1 billion hectares—represents the largest land restoration opportunity in human history; if rewilded, this land could sequester 800 billion tonnes of CO2 over 30 years.
Eight million deaths per year would be prevented by dietary change alone. Antibiotic resistance, currently driven primarily by agricultural use, would decelerate. DC5 applies: the longer the transition is delayed, the higher its eventual cost, as irreversible ecological displacement accumulates. The vegan world is not paradise. It is the planet with substantially less total displacement.