Although the American population’s 3% vegan community statistic may seem like a scant, trivial number, this strictly plant-based diet has actually seen more than a 300% increase of participants over the last fifteen years. Not to be confused with vegetarianism, being vegan strictly forbids the consumption of any animal product (meat, eggs, milk, butter, etc). However, in its most purest sense, this dietary practice actually extends far beyond the reaches of eliminating meat-based consumption. Rather, vegans seek to exclude all forms of cruelty to animals, including things like animal-based clothing or products that have been tested on animals. For the sake of the article, the vegan diet will take the primary focus.
The Vegan Reason
It is no secret that incorporating lots of fruits and vegetables into your diet can have resounding health benefits. According to research conducted at Harvard, the positive effects are overwhelmingly widespread: from lowering blood pressure to reducing risks of heart issues to even minimizing the potential of certain cancers. Moving in the vegan favor, health officials in the past had even attributed some cancers, heart attacks, and strokes to consumption of animal protein (red meats especially). These claims, although mostly debunked in recent years, still caused deeply rooted senses of skepticism towards the meat industry.
Another deciding factor for going vegan is the strong belief in humane treatment towards animals--not just for wild, undomesticated creatures but also for those that have been fundamental in human diets dating back to pre-modern era times. Viral videos circulating the internet about the abhorrent conditions that bred-to-kill animals were kept in had been enough to convince some. Even today, hundreds of thousands of livestock are confined to horrific conditions as factories aim to produce the most quantitatively at the expense of exploiting the very lives that our meat, milk, and egg products arise from.
Others cite numbers on how cultivating livestock for commercially salable products causes rises in overall pollution spikes. Animal waste, growth hormones, fertilizer, and rainfall runoff from sites of mass production contribute a hefty amount to polluting and depleting Earth’s waters as well. Particularly in less developed countries, this can severely impact delicate ecosystems and limit water sources in the long run.
A Deeper Glance
With all that being said, it seems that those that go vegan have no qualms: who wouldn’t want to improve their own health while also helping Earth and its animals? So the real question is, why hasn’t everyone gone vegan? Well, it turns out that there is much more to the lifestyle than the green, sustainable promise that meets the eye.
An article from BBC Future reports that while the meat industry does significantly contribute irreparable amounts of damage to the environment, the same reasoning is applicable to producing and shipping the very fruits and vegetables that stock everyday grocery shelves. For example, the UK importing asparagus and other non-natively grown vegetables by air deeply imprinted their country’s carbon footprint due to fumes released by extensive aircraft usage. Then taking into consideration how importation and exportation via cargo planes is used internationally from places like Ecuador to Canada to China, it isn't just a single country’s carbon footprint that needs remedying--it’s the entire world’s!
Aside from the actual plants themselves, the very fertilizers that the agricultural industry depends heavily on releases notable amounts of CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide into Earth’s atmosphere. Together, just the mere production and usage of fertilizers can account for up to 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Other industry practices, like tilling and watering fields, packaging goods, and cultivating fruits and vegetables with certain environmental needs also contribute potent gases that have major roles in global warming and erosion.
Take one extremely popular crop with a rather negative impact for example: the avocado. While avocado toast frenzies run rampant among healthy diet trends, the smashable fruit (yes, it's a fruit by definition!) is harvested by the hundreds of millions each year in just California. What many don’t realize is that around 30 to 60 gallons of water are needed to grow a single avocado fruit. And it isn’t just avocados either; mangos and many other plants share a similar affinity for water. Especially for drought-prone regions, it's safe to say that this isn’t the best environmental nor sustainable move.
Accessibility
Nevertheless, while the agricultural industry does have its own environmental liabilities, it is indeed much friendlier than the meat industry as a whole. Even so, not everyone has the capability to immediately switch over to veganism--it just simply isn’t financially viable for many. Over 40 million people in the United States alone cannot afford to switch from things like eggs to vegan friendly options like tofu due to affordability (or really lack thereof).
Excluding all animal products also greatly limits the amount of foods that provide necessary nutrients and vitamins essential for daily health. Greater effort, time, and money would be needed to be spent at grocery stores and during meal prep times to purchase and plan out vegan meals. For those like college students and minimum-wage, long-shift workers, they simply can’t dedicate that much thought to simple acts of eating. And while rice, beans, and frozen fruits+veggies are relatively cheaper foods, most would prefer to broaden their palettes while still living on a more budget-friendly diet, something that going vegan cannot offer to every individual.
The idea around fast food provides a prime example of affordability and accessibility. You can purchase a regular fast food burger for as low as $1-$2, while certain vegan burgers rise up to $4-$6. While this may not seem like a very large difference, you must keep in mind that even a few dollars saved from meals can be used to pay rent or other basic expenses. Therefore for some, the extra expenses of going vegan isn’t a financially viable option when cheaper and more widely available alternatives offer the same caloric satisfaction.
What now?
So there you have it. Overall, the vegan diet does seem to be a move into the right direction in terms of protecting and healing our worsening-by-the-day environment, but as of now, the plant-only diet isn’t quite accessible for a great number of people. That, and many others simply love meat and can’t fathom giving up their morning bacon and eggs or indulging in a rich filet mignon. It’s just important to remember that everyone leads different lives that allows them to make conscious dietary decisions that others might not be able to relate to. However, moving forward, for the sake of our planet, it may be a worthwhile idea to delve further into agricultural practices that will prevent the earth from turning to a black sphere of polluted air and toxic waste.
Sources
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/#:~:text=A%20diet%20rich%20in%20vegetables,help%20keep%20appetite%20in%20check.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6518108/#:~:text=The%20trend%20of%20increasing%20consumption,runoff%20from%20pasture%20%5B1%5D.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200211-why-the-vegan-diet-is-not-always-green
https://www.cnet.com/health/why-is-the-vegan-diet-so-popular/
https://www.alternativebaking.com/about-us/what-is-veganism/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1746-692X.12289
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/us/coronavirus-eggs-price-gouging-lawsuit.html
https://berkeleybeacon.com/rethinking-the-accessibility-of-veganism/
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cargo-planes/index.html
Comments