Is Veganism Really the Answer?

🍂 Do you eat a plant-based diet? Do you think it's creating change?
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🎥 Watch my Nebula exlusive video on grass-fed beef: nebula.tv/videos/occ-is-grassfed-beef-a-climate-so…

Veganism is a philosophy primarily opposed to the commodity status of animals, it is not simply a plant-exclusive diet.

Just want to note that one of the reasons the meat and dairy industry remains so profitable despite its enormous inefficiency is due to taxpayer-funded incentives and subsidies. The state is constantly rescuing this industry from its failures and pushing it to overproduce.

Veganism is not just about emissions. That’s a second thought. It is, first of all, an ethical position that considers animals as fellow creatures who aren’t there for us to exploit for mere palate pleasure

To climate change? It sure helps, but doesn't solve it. To minimize the suffering, exploitation, killing and commodification we unnecessarily impose on animals? Definitely.

Meat industry is also driving antibiotic resistance by pumping healthy animals with antibiotics

Even if you are not a vegetarian, we should all be horrified by how the animals, and subsequently, the food you eat is treated. There is no concern about the welfare of animal or the human who eats it. Only concern is the bottom line and maximizing profits.

As a vegan, veganism isn't THE solution. It's one of the solutions.

I think it’s also important to note the catastrophic environmental damage large scale fishing has as well. You mainly talk about beef and chicken in this video which is indeed what most people think of when they hear meat. But most people seem somehow even more ignorant about the horrors of the fishing industry. I recommend the documentary ‘seaspiracy’ for more info

I thought you'd mention the role that government subsidies of animal agriculture plays into this issue.

For the reasons you mentioned, it's important for vegans and everyone else who does not agree with animal abuse to be politically involved. Citizen-led initiatives and activism can enact systemic change in a way that individual boycotts do not.

How can anyone watch an undercover video from a slaughterhouse and then go "yeah, that's fine, I support that, I will keep giving them money"?

Nearly 11 years vegan. Best decision I ever made.

Veganism isn't the solution, but there is no solution that doesn't include veganism.

It's not the only answer that is required, but it is an important one. I used to be a big meat eater, but 2 years ago I cut my consumption by over 90% and I don't miss it at all.

Happy to see earthling Ed in this video, for his hard work on animal liberation and vegan activism.❤

My predictions before watching: it won't magically solve every problem but humanity eating way less beef would have a positive impact on the environment

Went vegan last year for the climate, animals, and personal health. I feel so good!

interesting to know workers are also abused in slaughterhouses elsewhere. In Germany, there recently was an investigation showing the poor living and workinh conditions of these workers, usually from poorer parts of Europe. One woman even ignored her pregnancy, got her baby in a garage, and abandoned it near a supermarket. This is obviously a crime on her part, but would not have taken place if she didn't know she would loose her job immediately if she disclosed her being pregnant, as the empoyer wouldn't want to pay her during maternaty leave. (Firing someone for being pregnant is illegal in Germany and paying maternaty leave legally required)

I don't think any vegan actually thinks that it is THE ONLY SOLUTION to address climate...
It's just the biggest one an individual can affect EVERY DAY.

You can't opt out of capitalism except by buying less stuff, which many vegans also participate in...

There's also the mental benefits that come from knowing your food isn't coming from an ongoing holocaust and so much suffering.
This changes one's whole disposition towards everything, and makes you a more peaceful person in general.

It lines up very nicely with Taoist philosophy, which is in my opinion the best way to a happy mental life, as well as physical.

Cheers!
Great video in general.... please post the info about grass-fed for the rest of us at some point

In most ways I'm all for the shift of the responsibility away from consumers towards those with more power, but that's generally about making environmental options more available and affordable, while making the harmful options more expensive or banned entirely. For people who already have access to cheap vegan food like legumes etc., the difference between "individual responsibility" and "governmental responsibility" is "do you want to go vegan by choice, or do you want to avoid it for as long as you can until someone else makes the decision for you?" And it would be a reach to say that people who choose option two are more likely to push for the change to happen on a larger scale, even though it's more in line with the "not a consumer responsibility" rhetoric.

Of course you individually going vegan isn't going to save the world. But that's not the baseline for what is and isn't the right thing to do.