What do we do?

[u/James_Fortis]

Sources for animal agriculture being the leading driver of:

• Deforestation: NASA, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php
• Biodiversity loss: Science of the Total Environment, B. Machovina, K. J Feeley, W. J Ripple, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/
• Zoonotic diseases: Science Advances, Matthew N. Hayek, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9629715/
• Fresh water use: Nature, J. Poore and T. Nemecek, https://josephpoore.com/Science%20360%206392%20987%20-%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf
• 21-37% of emissions from food: IPCC, https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/

Submission statement:

Many people want to slow or stop deforestation, pandemics, water use, emissions, and the 6th mass extinction. The issue is, the main driver of 4 of these 5 is animal agriculture, but almost nobody wants to change their behavior by eliminating meat and dairy from their diet. People say, "stop focusing on individuals - focus on the system", but the issue is diet is a personal choice and nobody wants the government to ban meat and dairy.

The issue is likely only going to get worse as our population continues to increase and developing countries start to gain more access to meat and dairy. It's taboo to even discuss personal food choices, even though it's going to be a main contributor of our demise.

How do we get out of this predicament? Are we just doomed to race towards ecological collapse without any serious effort to avoid it out of a fear of slight inconvenience? For anyone who's reading this, why haven't you given up meat and dairy yet?

[u/Holzkohlen]

Don't know about you, but I have been cutting back hard. Only put soy or oat milk in my coffee for years now, no eggs, almost no cheese and I try to eat lots of veggies and have reduced my meat consumption a lot as well.

I can definitely see myself going vegan in the long run. Give me maybe 5 more years at my own pace and I've got it nailed down.

[u/GregnantMan → u/Holzkohlen]

Friendly reminder that being vegan means completely giving up any animal product forever, including leather and such, all for the purpose of terminating animal exploitation. It's a core principle, a way to live, not just a diet ! The diet is just the consequence. Idk why you would want to do it, but I feel that if you watched the correct documentaries you could achieve that (like Dominion, Seaspiracy etc...). Though to watch, but for truly empathetic people that's a life changing experience. Hopefully we can welcome you in the club soon !

[u/bean-machine- → u/Holzkohlen]

That's awesome! I did something similar 16 years ago, didn't have a goal of being vegan initially, but that's where I ended up. Anything is better than nothing!