Final answer:
A meat-based diet requires more land because it involves growing crops to feed the animals that are then consumed for meat. In contrast, a plant-based diet directly utilizes crops for human consumption.
Step-by-step explanation:
A meat-based diet requires seven times as much land as a plant-based diet due to the food chain. When animals are raised for meat, they need to consume plants as their source of food. This means that a large amount of land is required to grow crops to feed the animals, and then more land is needed to raise the animals themselves for meat. In contrast, a plant-based diet directly utilizes crops and doesn't require the additional land for animal production. For example, instead of using land to grow crops to feed cows, that land could be used directly to grow crops for human consumption.