Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. Our society has been searching for ways to decrease its considerable environmental and socio-economic impacts despite a lack of political will and the spread of misinformation in regards to this urgent crisis. Veganism can be one of the diverse solutions to overcoming climate change. All plant-based diets (be it veganism, vegetarianism, or even flexitarianism – a form of “casual vegetarianism”) are a contributing force to defeating climate change’s disastrous consequences, and additionally, bettering our lifestyles.
Veganism initially emerged in the late 1960s during the hippie movement and counterculture as a way of addressing subjects such as environmentalism, animal ethics, and health. Today The Vegan Society describes it as “a philosophy and a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose [… ]”.
In the last decade, Veganism and other plant-based diets have gained more popularity, as the concern for climate change has exponentially surged, with the recurrence of wildfires, floods, droughts, animal extinctions, rising sea levels, and record temperatures all over the world. The world population is predicted to surpass 10 billion by 2050, meaning there will be an increase in the demand for food, water, and other vital resources. This will also cause great commotion on the other side of the market, with growing competition for arable land, water, and energy.
It is clear that food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. As the meat industry is particularly destructive, veganism serves as a speck of light in the darkness because it can reduce humanity’s carbon footprint and make the planet more sustainable for upcoming generations. However, it is important to break out of the western-centric approach that views veganism as the ultimate solution. We must ask ourselves if this is effective in all countries, specifically developing countries.
The Environmental Damages of the Meat Industry: The Climate Argument for Veganism
The exploitative meat industry, dominated by powerful, politically-supported corporations, has been known to completely destroy the environment. In fact, animal agriculture is the second-largest contributor to human-made greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuels, and is a leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution, and biodiversity loss. The meat industry requires a massive intake of water, especially for industrial-scale beef production: according to the IME food waste report, 15,415 L of water are used to produce 1kg of beef, while only 287 L are required to produce 1kg of potatoes. Here, producing meat wastes approximately 53 times more water than producing your delicious fries.
A 2018 report found that meat, aquaculture, eggs, and dairy use about 83% of the world’s farmland. However, these animal products provide only 37% of our protein and 18% of our calories. In addition, approximately one-third of the world’s grain is used for the intensive livestock industry, when all this used land could be used to grow fruits, vegetables, or grains to feed billions of humans directly!
The meat industry is furthermore one of the main contributors to deforestation across the globe. Deforestation due to cattle culture releases 340 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every YEAR, leading to an increase in the depletion of the ozone layer. 70 % of the world’s deforestation is a result of this industry.
Most importantly, according to Stoll-Kleemann and Schmidt, 14.5 % of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions result from (mainly industrial) live-stock farming; roughly equivalent to the emissions of every car, bus, train, ship, and aircraft on the planet. Moreover, on top of livestock farming, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation; large-scale fishing is actually causing the extinction of some marine species – coral reefs have been destroyed, leading to the depletion of the marine ecosystem.
With all of this information, it is quite easy to feel powerless and desperate, however, adopting a vegetarian diet (meaning you can still consume eggs and dairy products), can reduce emissions from food production by 55% per capita. A vegan diet, in this case, would completely cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, and allow our societies to become more secure in terms of food by being able to provide more for more people.
Is Veganism Efficient in Developing Countries?
However, while I am advocating for veganism, it is crucial to take into consideration the impact that veganism could have on poor, developing countries – and especially “failed” states, such as Yemen or Ethiopia. As we have previously seen, the meat industry has destructive effects on the environment, but developing countries are facing the worst consequences of this phenomenon. Notably, deforestation in the Amazon has colossal consequences on the local indigenous communities, as well as destroying the local ecosystems.
Moreover, intensive commercial fishing can also be extremely cruel to humans: even today, slavery and exploitation of labour are common in developing countries like Somalia, for example. Therefore, it can be intuitive to assume veganism could eradicate these atrocities and allow better freedom and rights to these nations.
However, it is important to note that veganism is gaining in popularity in privileged, rich, and developed countries such as the USA where 6% of the population is vegan and vegetarian. It is in fact a socioeconomic privilege, allowing middle to high-income households to escape the catastrophic methods of mass exploitation for animal products and the prevalence of obesity in these areas.
Veganism might be problematic in other countries as 1.3 billion people in the world are small-scale farmers and livestock owners for whom animal products are essential. In fact, alternatives to their diet and lifestyle do not exist. Additionally, about 800 million people worldwide have little to no access to food. Countries such as Ethiopia or Yemen, for instance, care about their survival more than anything else; veganism is likely the last option they would consider. Moreover, these populations would not be able to shift to veganism as it requires supplements (iron, zinc, vitamin b12), and substituents to meat such as protein-rich vegetables (avocado, tempeh, chickpeas, etc.), to stay healthy, which may not be accessible to them for income-related or accessibility-related reasons.
We can see here that consumer choice is linked to income – it is quite complicated to change one’s diet when one is living in extreme conditions of poverty.
Can Veganism Save the World?
Therefore, one wonders: can veganism realistically save the world from climate change when half a billion people are projected to live in extreme poverty in 2030 (according to the World Bank)? Stopping the devastating effects of climate change will require greater efforts than cutting meat from our diets, despite it reducing humanity’s carbon footprint to a large extent.
I think it is firstly very important to look at our consumption habits on an individual level, especially regarding our meat intake. Moreover, on the international stage, we must focus on the political leaders we vote for, allowing us to shift our capitalistic economic system away from fossil fuels. It is equally important to learn to be more responsible consumers and share a more equitable distribution of income so that anyone can get out of the vicious circle of consuming processed unethical and environmentally damaging foods.
We must then consider the responsibilities of individual consumer behaviour and our countries’ capacities to reform socio-political institutions and systems on a larger scale.
Carla is a U2 student at McGill studying International Development in the Honors Program with a concentration in Environment. She’s a citizen of the world; as she has French nationality, is of Italian descent, was born in Sweden, lived in the USA and is now living in Canada! Some of her main interests include human rights and most particularly women’s rights, climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation.