plant-based nutrition is:
- on average (after having no more children/no children) the most effective way of reducing our impact on the environment in our system. Partly due to the disproportionate land area needed to feed animals first. Organic / higher welfare animals need even more land. Methane is still a highly potent GHG here. So it is across the board in our system.
relating to climate: e.g. https://bayern.landwirtschaft.jetzt/en/klimawandel/
relating to food security – historical example of drastic reduction in animal farming (under “Denmark”): https://spiral-m.com/coronavirus-history:
relating to world hunger:
“There is also a highly unequal distribution of land use between livestock and crops for human consumption. If we combine pastures used for grazing with land used to grow crops for animal feed, livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land. While livestock takes up most of the world’s agricultural land it only produces 18% of the world’s calories and 37% of total protein”
https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
- one of the most effective ways of preventing pandemics: e.g.
9 years before Bill Gates’ Ted Talk, a talk on PREVENTION and CAUSES of most pandemics in the last 100 years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se9yqWNIG8A
“Given that animal source food production can lead to the outbreak of zoonotic disease that can harm both consumers and non-consumers, the authors argue that the goal of disincentivizing both production and consumption could be achieved by a Pigouvian tax – a “zoonotic tax” – on meat.”
https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/pandemic-animal-agriculture.php
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/coronavirus-pandemic-virus-disease-wildlife-environment-farming-infectious-a9487926.html
- key to significantly reducing health costs generally and significantly lessening reactions to Covid-19 – relating to last point, too.
https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/early/2021/05/18/bmjnph-2021-000272
pre-covid:
e.g. UK
USA
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/vegetarianism-is-good-for-the-economy-too/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/12/30/animal-agriculture-costs-more-in-health-damage-than-it-contributes-to-the-economy/amp/?fbclid=IwAR0beFnmEpg7zZ7RHfXW3MoraED0VgLp_z-seIGWCUCCGXzyMpmoXAgry9U
- The best way to reduce the biggest amount of suffering and killings on Earth.
(in addition to biodiversity devastation) – each year 80 billion farm animals and 1-3 trillion fish are killed each year (6 million per hour ) and as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels. 40-50 million sharks killed in fishing lines and nets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_slaughter
https://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
98% of consumed meat in Germany comes from factory farms which are indisputably places of suffering for animals. The majority of animal products available come from the same factory farms.
https://www.geo.de/natur/oekologie/3331-rtkl-massentierhaltung-herzinfarkt-auf-dem-bauernhof
All animals including organic and those raised with higher welfare end up either dying prematurely or being slaughtered very young in slaughterhouses where abuses and psychiatric problems in workers are commonplace:
Sentience
Sentience and consciousness in non-human animals including fish is recognised in the scientific community
There is no difference in this sense between dogs and cats and farm animals.
“All animal life should be respected and studies of the welfare of even the simplest invertebrate animals should be taken into consideration when we interact with these animals.”
https://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf
https://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/publications/download.php?id=39609
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20502877.2022.2077681
A basic tenet of civilised society is to protect the weak and vulnerable and reduce harm wherever possible. This concept is core to ethical plant-based nutrition, not just concerning other sentient beings, but relates to the spread and outcome of pandemics (“solidarity”), solidarity with poorer countries who consume far less resources than we do but are bearing the full force now of climate change, in part due to our own excesses.Â
- Plant-based as a feasible and beneficial nutrition has been recognised in the scientific community:
e.g. From the biggest dietetics association comprising 1000s of professionals in nutrition (they look at all the major studies):
“It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phyto-chemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements.”
https://www.eatrightpro.org/~/media/eatrightpro%20files/practice/position%20and%20practice%20papers/position%20papers/vegetarian-diet.ashx
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