Veganism for the environment
Stephen Grant
Issue date: 12/1/09 Section: Opinion
Anthropogenic climate change, mass extinctions and environmental degradation have more Canadians than ever citing environmental issues as their greatest concern.
Many organizations have provided guidelines for reducing our ecological footprint. Most have fallen short on the most effective way of helping the environment: a transition to a plant-based lifestyle.
Reports, such as the United Nation's, "Livestock's Long Shadow" often get ignored, instead favouring pollution reduction from other industries. This document details the effect of meat production on the environment. It found that 18 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gases are created from animal agriculture. This makes animal usage a greater threat to climate change than the entire automotive industry.
So why all the hype about capping industrial sources when one need not look no further than their plate to reduce their personal emissions? Don't get me wrong; I am for reducing any source of pollution to the best of our abilities. A vegan lifestyle is an extremely effective way to do this.
That does not just entail the emission impact of terrestrial animal exploitation - many consume fish as a 'healthier' meat alternative. This also has negative consequences. Studies have found that all bony fish sequester carbon by secreting calcium carbonate. Over-fishing removes a major source of carbon sequestration. The removal of fish that eat plankton doubly impacts climate change. Instead of carbon being consumed by these fish, it goes to the bottom of the ocean floor, decomposes and then erupts into the atmosphere as methane gas. This effects coastal environments by creating dead-zones and producing greenhouse gases.
Climate change is not the sole concern when we consume animal products. Approximately 60 to 70 per cent of corn and soybeans go to feeding livestock. The energy conversion is only that high because factory-farmed animals cannot even perform simple bodily functions. According to natural energy pyramid economics, only about 10 per cent of plant matter's energy makes it to the average meat consumer's body, making it enormously inefficient. This requires more land, and greater energy input for extraction. With over one third of Earth's arable land used for agriculture, approximately 30 per cent of the Earth's arable land is going to use for animal agriculture. This has lead to mass desertization, deforestation, soil erosion etc.
Many organizations have provided guidelines for reducing our ecological footprint. Most have fallen short on the most effective way of helping the environment: a transition to a plant-based lifestyle.
Reports, such as the United Nation's, "Livestock's Long Shadow" often get ignored, instead favouring pollution reduction from other industries. This document details the effect of meat production on the environment. It found that 18 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gases are created from animal agriculture. This makes animal usage a greater threat to climate change than the entire automotive industry.
So why all the hype about capping industrial sources when one need not look no further than their plate to reduce their personal emissions? Don't get me wrong; I am for reducing any source of pollution to the best of our abilities. A vegan lifestyle is an extremely effective way to do this.
That does not just entail the emission impact of terrestrial animal exploitation - many consume fish as a 'healthier' meat alternative. This also has negative consequences. Studies have found that all bony fish sequester carbon by secreting calcium carbonate. Over-fishing removes a major source of carbon sequestration. The removal of fish that eat plankton doubly impacts climate change. Instead of carbon being consumed by these fish, it goes to the bottom of the ocean floor, decomposes and then erupts into the atmosphere as methane gas. This effects coastal environments by creating dead-zones and producing greenhouse gases.
Climate change is not the sole concern when we consume animal products. Approximately 60 to 70 per cent of corn and soybeans go to feeding livestock. The energy conversion is only that high because factory-farmed animals cannot even perform simple bodily functions. According to natural energy pyramid economics, only about 10 per cent of plant matter's energy makes it to the average meat consumer's body, making it enormously inefficient. This requires more land, and greater energy input for extraction. With over one third of Earth's arable land used for agriculture, approximately 30 per cent of the Earth's arable land is going to use for animal agriculture. This has lead to mass desertization, deforestation, soil erosion etc.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
Tayler
posted 12/01/09 @ 4:39 PM EST
Great article Chris!
Tayler
Tayler
posted 12/01/09 @ 4:46 PM EST
Great article Chris!
Patrick Lacroix
posted 12/01/09 @ 9:47 PM EST
The following are questions for Mr Stephen Grant, whose statements and logical inconsistencies warrant a strong rebuttal.
First, to your response to Ashley on the matter of dairy farming. (Continued…)
Bernard Brown
posted 12/02/09 @ 8:29 AM EST
To answer your question, 'Can someone even be an animal-utilising environmentalist?' the answer is yes.
The key is that we need to strongly reduce our production/consumption of animal products (and raise a lot less livestock, etc. (Continued…)
Denis
posted 12/02/09 @ 6:33 PM EST
Patrick,
As a vegan, I can tell you that most animal rights activists started out as human rights activists and then extended their activism to animals. (Continued…)
Denis
posted 12/02/09 @ 6:59 PM EST
In fact, Patrick, me and Stephen signed a petition for "men against violence towards women" today. We wore ribbons to raise awareness and tomorrow we are walking to raise awareness about violence against women. (Continued…)
Tayler
Tayler
posted 12/02/09 @ 10:12 PM EST
Patrick,
In response to the response of yours on Chris' article.
1. Everyone who is vegan saves over 100 animals per year. In our decisions to become vegan, we are choosing not to ignore the cruelty placed upon these animals and we all choose to become vegan for our own reasons or from our own experiences. (Continued…)
Stephen Grant
posted 12/02/09 @ 11:21 PM EST
Bernard, there's no better way to eliminate the taint of animal agriculture than boycotting it any way possible. Middle grounds tend to be somewhat arbitrary. (Continued…)
Oh, You Know Me
posted 12/03/09 @ 9:25 AM EST
I love it when the vegans start to get fired up! It's kind of like they all get together in a group and decide who is going to post what and when on these types of things. (Continued…)
Ashley
posted 12/20/09 @ 2:27 PM EST
I just stumbled upon this article while I was looking up things to do at Brock, being vegan myself and hopefully attending Brock, I figured I should ask the following questions:
1 Does Brock cater to vegan needs in the food area. (Continued…)
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