Thanks for your reply, Arlene. It's interesting you mention these things. The vast majority of animals raised and killed for food never see a green field and 90% of those crops you mentioned (the ecological dead zones) are grown to feed those farmed animals. A plant-based population could be sustained on just a fraction of that land.

I've addressed some of your other points in previous articles, too, most recently this one: https://medium.com/@pathlesspilgrim/heres-the-real-reason-you-re-not-vegan-127be0e442ee