Veganism is often seen as a movement of emotion, sympathetic to the pain of animals but indifferent to the pain of humans and the destruction of our planet. There are undoubtedly some vegans whose only motivation is animal suffering or their own health, but the majority of vegans will also acknowledge that concern for the environment plays a large role in their commitment to living vegan.
For those that like numbers and statistics, Livestock’s Long Shadow, a report released by the U.N., has data out the wazoo, like the fact that 45 percent of all land on Earth is devoted to raising food animals, or that animal agriculture is responsible for 51 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The documentary “Cowspiracy” on Netflix also examines the environmental impact of eating animals. Eating a vegan diet, on average, involves less water use and pollution (raising and slaughtering animals uses copious amounts of water for drinking, washing excrement away and cleaning slaughterhouses), and less grain needs to be produced (60 percent of the soybeans and corn grown in the US are fed to livestock who are relatively inefficient at converting those calories into edible meat calories). Animal agriculture, especially cattle production, is contributing significantly to deforestation, in part to make room for herds of beef cattle and in part to create fields where grain can be produced to feed cows in feedlots.
For those of you who hear these statements and want to think, “sure, that’s not good, but I only buy local/organic/from Whole Foods,” I have bad news for you. 99 percent of all meat in the U.S. comes from factory farms, and the claims that local/organic/grass-fed animal protein is more environmentally friendly are tenuous at best. The book “Eating Animals” has much more to say on this subject, but the conclusion drawn is that buying more “responsibly sourced” meat is only an option for economically and geographically privileged individuals and is not feasible as a solution to world hunger or environmental concerns.
This may have read as an attack on non-vegan environmentalists for having not already heard these facts or not caring about them. I do not want to attack anyone, and I recognize that it is hard to care about everything with dedication and sincerity. Once you’ve become devoted to one cause, it can feel like a betrayal to spend energy on something seemingly unrelated. My goal is to show that environmentalism and veganism are inherently linked, and to kindly ask you, the reader, to expand your compassion for the environment as a whole to include the animals who live on this planet with us.
Mainstream “environmentalism” in capitalism often parades around demanding individuals make small changes — turn off your lights for an hour, get a hybrid car, recycle what you can — instead of turning the people’s attention to the small handful of corporations that are making decisions that put our planet in peril (and the governments that support them with subsidies and lax policies). What I hope you, the reader, understand after reading this, is that going vegan is one choice you can make that will have larger ramifications than just asking for no straw with your iced coffee. Animal agriculture contributes more to greenhouse gasses than all transportation sectors (cars, trucks, airplanes) combined. Opting out of an inherently wasteful and destructive system makes a statement to those in command that you do not agree with them and gives you agency as an individual.
Teagan Robinson, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at TRobinson19@wooster.edu.