Eco Lesbo Vego

I figured I’d better get this post (about why I choose to live meat-free) over with pretty early on, since I’m posting vegan recipes every Friday.

So what’s up with veg*nism and the environment? And what’s with the asterisk?

Don't eat the piggies, pat them like Mr Pre-teen does

Ok, the latter question is going to be quicker to answer. The asterisk stands for whatever you’d like to insert between the g and the n. Typically, this is either an a (vegAnism) or etaria (vegETARIAnism). A lot of people, meat-free folks in particular, have stringent beliefs on what constitutes vegetarianism and veganism. For the most part, they’re right. In an effort to keep everyone happy as clams (who live in peace without fear of being eaten!), I’m using the asterisk whenever I mean someone who is meat-free. Whether that person eats or uses other animal produce is not a factor when the asterisk is used.

Since we’re getting stuck into terminology, here’s some more – my own interpretation (of course, all of these people eat plant-based foods as well, but we’ll be here all day if I get into that):
Vegan: a person who does not consume or use animal products at all (to the best of their ability – it’s impossible to be perfect)
Aspiring Vegan: a person who does not consume or use animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal, and who is trying to give up consuming or using any animal products at all (to the best of their ability)
Strict Vegetarian: a person who does not consume or use animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal
Vegetarian: a person who does not consume animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal
Pollotarian: a person who does not consume animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal – except CHICKEN
Pescatarian: a person who does not consume animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal – except SEAFOOD (including fish, crustacea, squid and octopi)
Pollo-pescatarian: a person who does not consume animal products, the production of which resulted in the death of that animal – except CHICKEN and SEAFOOD
Omnivore: a person who eats animal products – the whole shebang.

Ok, so maybe that wasn’t quicker to answer. Hmm. Anyway, I’m an aspiring vegan. Yankee Elv is an aspiring eco-vegan. Mr Pre-teen is an anti-pesca-soymilk-drinking-omnivore. Figure that one out if you can!

So now we come to the second question. What’s up with veg*nism and the environment?

To answer this, we need to ask a third question – how does the production of meat and other animal products impact the environment?

Pollution
Animals, particularly ruminants like cows and sheep, cause pollution. A single cow produces 80kg to 110kg of methane annually. When you consider that globally there are about 1.2 billion large ruminants (like cows), that means 96 million metric tonnes to 132 million metric tonnes of methane is released from ruminants annually. The vast majority of these animals are domesticated for food production. Keep in mind that methane has between 20 to 25 times more impact on the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but it degrades about 20 times faster. This means that by going meat-free or even reducing your meat consumption, you help create a much more dramatic reduction in global warming, in a much shorter time, than you would by reducing your carbon emissions alone. Another gas that is not often considered is nitrous oxide, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Approximately 65% of nitrous oxide released globally is produced by meat, dairy and poultry industries. None of these statistics take into consideration the gas released from solid waste, either, and it’s a big contributer (discussed below). A side effect of all this gas and poo is that the air becomes stinky to the point of causing illness in nearby residents. And let’s just remember, when you smell something, what you really smell is tiny particles of that thing you’re smelling. So if you smell pig poo… you figure it out.

Damage to waterways
Dairy cows produce approximately 55kg of wet manure every day. That’s more than twice the weight of Mr Pre-teen… every single day. Pigs also create a lot of manure (much more than the amount of gas they produce, as they’re not ruminants). There are so many chickens in the world these days that their manure piles up as well. What’s so bad about poo though? It’s natural, it will break down, and makes good fertiliser. That’s true – in small portions. Doing the math tells us that the amount of manure produced by cows annually is in the millions of tonnes. That’s not counting the manure produced by pigs, chickens and sheep – and in Australia, we have more sheep than people (back off, Kiwis! lol). This much manure introduces heaps of nitrogen and phosphorus into the ground water, which seeps into waterways and contributes to the excessive growth of blue-green algae. This algae can degrade water quality until it’s no longer potable, have significant health impacts on humans and animals who swim or drink the water, and also reduces oxygen to the point where fish and other aquatic species can die.

Damage to land
Farming, particularly the farming of ruminants, requires significant land area. This land is typically free of trees, leading to significant deforestation. In Brazil, for example, home to much of the Amazon rainforest (the largest rainforest in the world, and thus a significant carbon sink), 65% of land clearing between 2000 and 2005 was due to the creation of cattle ranches. Not only does deforestation reduce the number of carbon-absorbing trees, but it also produces carbon, which is released as the trees are cut down. The removal of this vegetation and thus the binding root structure also leads to soil erosion. Land is also damaged by the waste excreted by factory farmed animals, which often contains heavy metals from the growth supplements they are given.

Water Use
Producing animal products uses a lot more water than producing plant-based products – up to ten times more water, thousands of litres. Approximately 70% of the fresh water humans use globally is used in agriculture. In Australia, only 4% of the 60% of the country used for agriculture is used to grow plant crops. That means the remaining 56% of Australia is used for farming animals, using most of the water in our drought-ridden country.

I could go on and on (for example, reduction in biodiversity, impact on human health, pollution from transportation and slaughter of animals) – but I think you get the point. From an environmental perspective, meat and other animal products are seriously damaging. Apparently, the official handbook for Live Earth (the concerts – a well-renowned source if there is one, I’m sure) says that ‘refusing meat [is the] single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.’ Going veg*n is also lower impact than driving a hybrid car.

Although reducing your consumption and use of animal products entirely is ideal (and what I’m aiming for, even if I’m not there yet – damned cheese), even reducing your meat consumption is a good thing. Although Mr Pre-teen is an omnivore, in actuality he only eats meat once or twice a week. Sanitarium, for a while, tried to get Australians to go for ‘Meat-free Mondays‘ (the original site isn’t active anymore – wonder why they gave up on it). I’ve decided to do the same for myself, making Fridays a vegan day. Some other days might be vegan too, as I’m a very strict vego all the time, but on Fridays I’ll make a special effort. Yankee Elv is keen, which is good cos she cooks on weekdays!!

Every little bit counts.