Pros and Cons of a Vegan Diet
Many people become vegans because they believe it's a more sustainable way of living. In this post, I'll define veganism and explain the environmental pros and cons of this lifestyle.
What is veganism?
Veganism is a lifestyle than entails using zero animal products. "Animal products" include products that require killing animals (like meat, leather and gelatin) as well as products that take from animals but do not require killing them (like wool, silk, dairy, eggs and honey). My pros and cons list focuses primarily on the diet aspect of the vegan lifestyle.
Pros
Veganism reduces emissions from animal agriculture
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), people in the western world need to significantly reduce their meat consumption in order to curb climate change. Going vegan is one way to reduce meat consumption, albeit fairly extreme. Eating less meat can mitigate climate change because raising and processing farm animals emit loads of greenhouse gases (like CO2 and methane) which are causing climate change.
Animal agriculture contributes to emissions partially because animals release methane simply by living, breathing and digesting food. Meat production also uses fossil fuel energy (which releases CO2 when burned) very inefficiently. Researchers from Oxford University found that global animal agriculture accounts for 56-58% of the greenhouse gas emissions from food, but only contributes 37% of our protein intake and 18% of caloric intake.
Animal production requires more energy to create the same amount of protein and calories primarily because fewer nutrients are transferred from creature to creature as nutrients move up the food chain. In other words, we receive more nutrients for the same amount of energy input when we eat lower on the food chain. Thus, eating more plants and fewer meats through a vegan diet can reduce energy consumption and the release of harmful emissions.
Veganism reduces land degradation by animal agriculture
Farm animals, and cows in particular, have a tendency to ruin land if they are not managed properly. Cattle ruin landscapes by stamping down topsoils, which are vital for preventing pollution, filtering groundwater, and growing nutritious crops. Cows are also very picky eaters. This means that if they graze on an area of land for a long period of time, they will eat an excessive amount of a certain plant, leaving the ecosystem imbalanced and less biodiverse.
If cows were not part of our diet, this type of land degradation would disappear. Even if we ate fewer cows, this land degradation would be less common, leading to healthier soils and ecosystems. Although some ranchers manage their cattle so that land degradation is less of an issue, this type of meat is less common and much more expensive than meat from less carefully managed cattle.
Veganism reduces water consumption
Animal agriculture uses a heck ton of water. Not only do the animals need to drink water to survive, but water is also used to water the animals' food and in the processing of meat. To put this excessive water use into perspective, producing a ton of vegetables requires 85,000 gallons of water while producing a ton of grain-fed beef requires 145,000 gallons of water. Eliminating meat from our diets would save water, which is a precious and ever-dwindling resource.
Cons
Veganism is not accessible for everyone
Globally, not everyone has the ability to adopt a vegan lifestyle. Living a healthy vegan lifestyle often requires in-depth knowledge of nutrition and access to foods that are typically sold in specialty grocery stores. These restrictions make it very difficult for uneducated people and people who live in food deserts to be vegan. Veganism is also clearly impossible for people who need to eat whatever food is available in order to avoid severe malnutrition. This means that a vegan diet cannot sustain the world’s population. Although this point obviously doesn’t remove the benefits of individuals choosing to adopt vegan lifestyles, it is worth considering when thinking about diets inclusively.
Veganism doesn't use land efficiently
Some studies suggest that vegan diets do not use land efficiently enough to feed our planet. By 2050, scientists expect the world’s population to increase to nearly 10 billion people. In order to feed these people, we will need to use all the resources we can muster. Currently, the regions where many farm animals live are not suitable for growing crops because the soils do not contain enough nutrients or the climate cannot support croplands. In order to make the most of this land, we will need to raise animals. This means that as the world’s population increases, some animal agriculture will be necessary to feed the globe.
Other diets have similar benefits To Veganism
Veganism is a rather extreme way to achieve the benefits listed above. Some other diets, like vegetarianism or flexitarianism, can also reduce emissions from animal agriculture, land degradation and water use, while being more achievable than veganism. This point is not necessarily a con against vegan diets. Rather, it is a pro for other low- and no-meat diets. The flexibility of these diets may also make it easier for people to get the nutrients they need locally or organically when compared to vegan diets. Even the IPCC report I mentioned earlier does not recommend that everyone adopt a vegan diet — it simply suggests people reduce their meat consumption. Thus, although vegan diets have many environmental benefits, they are not the only sustainable diet option.