#5
Is Veganism Really the Answer?
By Isabella Brunt
There are so many problems that we could talk about in regard to our eating habits. To name a few: the carbon footprint of a steak, the water needed to grow lettuce, topsoil erosion, plastic packaging waste… The list goes on. One proposed way to reduce our carbon footprints is to go vegan, however, there are major pitfalls with this. Red meat does undoubtedly have a huge environmental impact, but so too do imported fruit and veg.
The term ‘vegan’ makes me think of smoothies filled with cashews and blueberries, mycoprotein no-chicken nuggets and avocado on toast. Many of the food items that vegans begin to eat more of are actually hugely damaging to the planet due to their flown importation, the water and temperature conditions required to grow them and the packaging they come in. We can’t just cut out foods like cashews or avocados because they contain important nutrients that fill gaps in the vegan diet. Furthermore, removing them from our chains of food production would be catastrophic for the people and land that farm them.
Illustrations by Emily Wolfe. Instagram: @wemolt
This considered, most of non-meat-eaters are reluctant to return to unethical, industrially farmed meat. Of course, you’re entitled to continue steering clear of meat, just try to bear in mind the environmental impact of all foods. In the article ‘If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer’ Isabella Tree offers an agricultural alternative to factory farms, one that avoids many of the detrimental consequences of the industrial system. She outlines the advantages of rotational farming, the premise is that various animals and plants bring different benefits to the land, which in turn all aid each other. The animals graze freely in herds, almost entirely left to their own devices, which “creates opportunities for other species, including birds and insects”. The positives of this strategy not only mean the animals are healthier and happier, but also helps rebuild diversity in animals, plants and soil.
Instead of presenting a binary – vegan or non-vegan – we should be encouraging a move towards less meat, more local. The term ‘plant-based’ describes a diet that includes almost wholly fruit and vegetables, and less processed, packaged foods, but does not fully eliminate animal products. A local, plant-based diet would be ideal, but I understand that this is not accessible to everyone. Local fruit and vegetables should be cheap, however they’re often marketed in a way that puts them at a higher price. Meat and dairy grown on a farm such as Isabella Tree’s also may be more expensive. I therefore encourage those who can afford to eat in such a way to do so, in the hope that the increased consumption will drive production up and prices down. We should all strive to eat less meat, buy organic or non-soy fed eggs and eat fruit and veg that’s in season.
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