Veganism: the new way to save the planet?

Within the last decade, a movement known as veganism has swept across many developed countries. For example, in the UK, the number ofpeople who opt for a plant-based diet has increase by threefold, reaching to542000 in 2106, equivalent to 0.85% of British Population. Among those people, the younger generation from 15-34 are the majority (42%) while the older generation (>65) only just reach 14%. It is said that social media, with the likes of Instagram, youtube videos, and blogs that espouses the benefits of having a plant-based diet is the major driving force of this trend. There are countless products in stores and contents online about ‘juice cleanse’ and ‘detox’ with plant based diets. As healthy, moral and environmental friendly as the vegan movement allegedly claim the plant-based diets are, it is important to understand the environmental implication of converting to a vegan.

The idea that plant-based diets are more sustainable partly stemmed from the concept of feed conversion e.g. - it would take greater than10 kilograms of grain to produce a kilogram of factory-farmed beef and theformer would have feed more people. This is supported by the fact that 90% of the energy is lost between each trophic level within the food chain. By opting for a plant-based diet, following this line of logic, you can save the energy that would have been lost. Additionally, livestock production often is painted with negative images of chickens, pigs and cows crowded in little space with their faecal matter, which in the public imagination is immediately linked to pollution. The crop agriculture in comparison is usually associated with the idyllic countryside with clean air and freshwater. Thus in the realm of public popular discourse, adopting a plant-based diet seems to be a much more environmental friendly option, not to mention its care for animal and alleged health benefits.

While researching for the environmental impact of plant based diets, I found that most journals do point to the possible reduction in the carbon dioxide emission and environmental impact and this is one component to achieve sustainability. For example, in this journal article, they claim that to avoid the collision of food security and food sustainability at current trends of consumption and environmental degradation, it will be necessary to dramatically reduced the consumption of meat and dairy products across the globe. In the journal article written by Pimentel and Pimentel (2003), their results show that more energy, land, and water resources are used to support a meat-based diet than a lactoovo-vegetarian one, when the calories of the food are controlled at 3533kcal per person.  According to Vanham et al (2016), for the Dutch urban citizens, by making a shift a pesco-vegetarian or vegetarian diet would reduce the water footprint by around 40%. Additional similar statistics could be found on countless web sources that suggest the positive environmental impact that plant-based diet bring.

As a geography student, I have learnt it is important to deconstruct and examine these ‘stats’ critically. So far my research has largely points to the positive side of the plant-based diet. Personally, because of this, I have tried to be vegetarian one meal per day. However, I am also aware of some negative implications this could have on the environment e.g. use of chemicals and large scale monocultural farming and the issue is definitely not as simple as the statistics itself suggest. In the next post, I will explore the more uncomfortable side of the plant-based diet that are not often mentioned in the mainstream media.