An article just came out on the rise of a vegan world on the Guardian website, theguardian.com/lifeandstyl... which does a fairly decent job of thinking about what has brought about the change that seems to be flooding not just the UK but the world.
I am not saying, nor is this article, that the world is going to become vegan overnight. Indeed it will take time for industries to adopt new practices. One question that was asked of activist Joey Carbstrong by a farmer suggesting that Joey should tell the farmer what his future should be without animals. Joey argued it was not his job to tell the farmer his.
For myself I do not see an immediate future without cattle, sheep etc. Just that increasingly they won't be farmed for human consumption. That does not mean no animals. Instead it means greater diversity of animals on "farm" land. So no longer will cows and sheep dominate landscapes but a much wider and diverse planet awaits our pleasure. Some of these animals will have a continuing role to eat the undergrowth. Whatever they will live out their full lives rather than the brutal foreshortened deaths under the slaughterhouse knife or gas chambers etc that predominate.
Something that will help to drive veganism is the inevitable higher costs of meat production. So far it has been sustained by re-using parts of animals in other industries, eg leather in cars. People will begin to demand non-leather upholstery. This trend will gather pace across other use of animal parts as technology develops suitable replacements.
And more vegan cheese