Where there's less consensus, however, is how to affect change. While many vegans believe Meatless Mondays and other cutting-back-consumption campaigns don't push enough of a paradigm-shift, others argue that these are crucial first steps towards a more compassionate world.
Given that around 93 percent of people still eat meat, it's difficult to imagine that everyone will cease doing so anytime soon. A world that eats far fewer meat, however, is already on the way. Meat consumption has been steadily declining in the U.S.—by 10% per capita since 2007, in fact.
In that year, for example, the U.S. raised and killed 9.5 billion land animals for food. As of 2014, that number plummeted by a whopping 400 million, says Paul Shapiro, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection for The Humane Society of the United States.
"What that means is that compared to 2007, last year almost half a billion fewer animals were subjected to the torment of factory farming and industrial slaughter plants–and that's despite the increase in the U.S. population," Shapiro explains.