01 · Food choices
What we eat.
Explore the role of animal products and plant-based alternatives in your own food choices.
Vegan Lifestyle · Your vegan calculator
Vegan living.A different perspective.
Explore what the site’s model calculates for a day, a month or a longer period. Five illustrative values, with the assumptions explained alongside them.
Vegan Lifestyle · Your guideYour timeframe. Five perspectives.
Your timeframe · Your overview
Enter. Calculate.
Explore the model.
Combine days, months and years. In this calculator, a month is 30 days and a year is 365 days.
Your model values
Choose a timeframe
Illustrative totals from the existing site model.
Animal-equivalent model
Water
Grain
CO₂
Forest-area model
Your results will appear here after calculation.
View your timeframe as charts
Each line shows the cumulative model total over the selected number of days. It is not a record of measured changes.
Transparent calculations
What is behind
the numbers?
The calculator multiplies your chosen period by five fixed daily factors. The original English-site factors have been retained, including 2.5 square metres for the forest-area model.
It does not collect your food intake, the origins of your food or what you used to eat. The result therefore cannot establish your personal environmental footprint or a specific number of animals saved.
Total days = days + months × 30 + years × 365
Model total = total days × daily factorCalculations use the unrounded daily factors. Rounding is applied only when results are displayed.
Environment & vegan living
Choose thoughtfully.
Look at the wider picture.
A calculator can start a conversation. Use the background reading to explore the questions beyond a single figure.
02 · Resources
What lies behind it.
Look at water, feed, land and emissions as distinct aspects of food production, not interchangeable measurements.
03 · Everyday life
What works for you.
New recipes, a little preparation and a few favorite places can be starting points for your next week.
Studies & background reading
The literature listed on the previous page is retained here as background on agriculture and environmental impacts. These publications are not personal measurements and do not automatically validate every daily factor used in this calculator.
- Pimentel, David, et al. “Water Resources: Agricultural and Environmental Issues.” BioScience (2004), 54(10): 909–918.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options.” Rome, 2006.
- Goodland, Robert, and Jeff Anhang. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are…cows, pigs and chickens?” WorldWatch, November/December 2009.
- Hyner, Christopher. “A Leading Cause of Everything: One Industry That Is Destroying Our Planet and Our Ability to Thrive on It.” Georgetown Environmental Law Review, 23 October 2015.
- USDA Economic Research Service. “How Important is Irrigation to U.S. Agriculture?” 12 October 2016.
- Mekonnen, Mesfin M., and Arjen Y. Hoekstra. “A Global Assessment of the Water Footprint of Farm Animal Products.” Ecosystems (2012), 15: 401–415.
- Jacobson, Michael F. “Six Arguments for a Greener Diet.” Chapter 4: More and Cleaner Water. Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2006.
- Walsh, Bryan. “The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production.” Time, 16 December 2013.
- Gerbens-Leenes, P. W., et al. “The water footprint of poultry, pork and beef: A comparative study in different countries and production systems.” Water Resources and Industry (2013), 1–2: 25–36.
From a number to everyday life
Your next meal.
A little inspiration.
Continue with practical ideas for shopping, cooking and finding a place to eat. The existing meal-planning tool is also available on our German-language website.
A quick explanation
Your questions.
Clear answers.
Are these exact personal savings?
No. These are illustrative model estimates. The calculator does not assess your actual diet, food production methods or previous consumption.
Can I combine days, months and years?
Yes. Your entries are added together: days + months × 30 + years × 365. The results show the total number of model days used.
Are the charts annual forecasts?
No. Each optional chart shows a cumulative line from zero to the total for your selected timeframe, using the same fixed factors as the results.
Your next step