Part 1: why the vegan diet isn’t always the most sustainable.
Over the last couple of years, veganism has gone from “some hippy diet” to the most popular diet in the Western world (1). In just 4 years, supermarket “free from” sections have grown from just a single shelf to an entire aisle. This is mostly thanks to some new research showing that the vegan diet is the “single biggest way we can reduce our carbon footprint” (2), which has led to a 400% increase in vegans across the UK over the last 12 years (3)!
So, what did this research actually show us?
In 2010 the United Nations released a report stating that “a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from… the worst impacts of climate change” (1). Several reports have been released since, revealing shocking statistics about the meat and dairy industry:
14.5% of all manmade greenhouse gases are down to farmed livestock from the meat and dairy industry, which is more than all exhaust emissions from every car, train, ship, and aircraft on the entire planet (2)
Farming livestock uses ⅓ of all freshwater on the planet (2),
occupies 30% of all ice-free,
and produces 32% of global methane emissions (which is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in our earth's atmosphere (1,2,4).
That’s not even taking into consideration the energy used to rear, slaughter, transport, and store the meat. With all that being said, in 2018 Joseph Poore from Oxford University said:
“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.”(5)
But, this statement has been misquoted quite a few times to say:
“a vegan diet is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth”
Notice the difference?
In just 7 years plant-based meal sales have risen by 20% (2), which is incredible. As George Monbiot puts it:
“We are on the cusp of the biggest [food] transformation, of any kind, for 200 years” (1).
Why? Because people give a fuck about our planet; the home we all live in. But, there are a few things that need to be clarified. Going back to that minor misquotation from Joseph Poore: “vegan food is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact” on the climate.
going vegan isn’t always the greenest option.
This statement comes from a load of studies that compared the eco-footprint of vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters and found that a “vegan diet tends to have a far lower carbon, water, and ecological footprint than those of meat- or fish-eaters” (6). The studies looked at things like the energy used to grow and rear food, processing, and the transport of the daily meals eaten by the participants (7). And, as we know, the meat industry trumps veg by a long shot. So, it would be easy to assume that going vegan is the best way to keep our carbon footprint in check. But, this is a simplified assumption.
These studies were done when vegan food was limited to the veg aisles, greengrocers, and health food stores. Now, vegan food is pretty much everywhere, it’d be surprising to go into a restaurant without vegan options. But, the rise in veganism (400% over the last 12 years) has caused a supply and demand problem. Now that avocados have hit the mainstream (which use 2,000 litres of water to grow just 1 kg) forests in Mexico are being illegally destroyed so farmers can grow them (7). The WWF found that “soy is the second largest agricultural driver of deforestation worldwide after beef” (7). And, a recent study found 2 vegans to have a higher eco-footprint than meat eaters due to the amount of imported fruit they were eating (9).
So, the food issue is a little bit more complicated than just turning vegan or vegetarian.
As the UN put it:
“what we eat, and how that food is produced, affects our health but also the environment.”
But, I’m gonna add this:
“what we eat, how we eat, and how that food is produced, affects our health but also the environment.”
Thanks to this food enlightenment there are now a whole load more options for vegan’s, but these options aren’t necessarily as healthy…. or as sustainable. The rise in vegan food has also led to a rise in processed food. How do you think that “meat-free” sausage tastes so good? A shit-ton of additives, chemicals, and sugar.
As we know, processed foods are bad for our health, our microbiome, and our brain. Which means, if we’re eating too much processed foods we’re not able to make conscious and rational decisions about our eating habits, leading us to eat too much processed foods (which are highly addictive) [read more here]. Also, processing food uses machinery for packaging, transportation, and storing which all use a ton of energy, emitting far more carbon emissions than your local whole foods.
When I was vegan, I (like many other vegans) was passionate about my food choices and my impact on the climate. Maybe even (admittedly) a bit judgemental of other people's eating habits. But, I had to change my diet when I was ill as I couldn’t get enough calories or protein from the little food I was able to eat. So, I learned more about how to navigate my new diet in the most sustainable way possible. Through that time my passions changed, and one of the most important things I’ve learnt is:
we need to stop shaming each other on our eating habits.
We all have a responsibility to make conscious decisions, but shaming each other on what we’re eating isn’t an effective way to promote change. Food is personal. So let’s not perpetuate the problem further by blaming and shaming each other. With that being said, in my next blog I’ll show you 4 easy ways to eat consciously, cheaply.
references:
Bourassa, L. (2019) Vegan and Plant-Based Diet Statistics (accessed 17 November 2022)
United Nations (2018) UN Report: Plant-based Diets Provide “major Opportunities” to address Climate Crisis
Allen, P. (2020). Is a vegan diet better for the environment? BBC Good Food. [online] 21 Jan. Available at: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/vegan-diet-better-environment
The Human League (2021). 14 REASONS WHY GOING VEGAN IS THE BEST THING WE CAN DO FOR THE PLANET. [online] Thehumaneleague.org. Available at: https://thehumaneleague.org/article/environmental-benefits-of-veganism.
Nations, U. (n.d.). Food and Climate Change: Healthy diets for a healthier planet | United Nations. United Nations. [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/food
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet
Spector, T. (2021). SPOON-FED : why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong. S.L.: Vintage
Rosi, A., Mena, P., Pellegrini, N., Turroni, S., Neviani, E., Ferrocino, I., Di Cagno, R., Ruini, L., Ciati, R., Angelino, D., Maddock, J., Gobbetti, M., Brighenti, F., Del Rio, D. and Scazzina, F. (2017). Environmental impact of omnivorous, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, and vegan diet. Scientific Reports, [online] 7(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06466-8.