Is being vegan REALLY better for the environment? - BBC News

Are you a vegan, thinking about going vegan or a total meat lover? Whatever your preference, an increasing number of people are choosing the plant-based diet.
Everyone has their own reason for doing it whether it's for health reasons, to reduce animal cruelty or to protect the environment. But how environmentally-friendly is being a vegan?
In this video we explore the impact some of the most popular vegan foods have on our planet, comparing them to the farming industry.
Presented by Frankie McCamley. Produced by Phoebe Frieze

#Vegan #Veganism #Diet #BBC #BBCExplainer #Explainer

[radomu]

You just pissed off people who hate vegans and vegans at the same time.

[happym]

This video has so many incorrect pieces of information. To name a few; b12 is not in soy beans, quinoa is not the only protein alternative and mass deforestation for beef is a massive issue in South America.

[FeckinSkratcheR]

How do you make a video so bad it annoys both parties.

[billyboy]

Is this seriously a BBC video? Christ. She talks about vegans in a weird condescending tone, and she picks out some of the highest impact plant foods but makes no comparison to what you're substituting. Absolutely full of misinformation.. her "expert" focuses on if everyone suddenly went vegan over night.. which is ridiculously irrelevant.

Would reduced demand in meat.. by far the largest consumer of soy beans make a difference if we continue to consume it ourselves? Given that animals eat considerable amounts more (can be about 8 times) again, it's pretty obvious that it would make a huge difference. Not mentioning much of main environmental impacts from meat and dairy, or the ocean just shows again how bias and dumb this ridiculous video is.

[SeanSurajJeremiah]

It doesn't seem to me like anything was explained well enough. Too much talking. A few numbers. Superficial photes. And no figures.

[alexandreandrejow]

Quinoa is also grown in North America and Europe. Anyway, you can be vegan (or omnivores, or whatever) and never ever eat quinoa. The demand for soy continues but lowers. The majority of soy produced is used as animal food. We eat only a tiny portion of it directly. It's very dishonest to blame a minority for the destruction of the rainforest. BBC, I am sure you can research better. Also, the image that shows soy as containing B12 is completely wrong. Soy doesn't have B12, it's added to processed foods.

[loveanimals-]

Invented in the 1800s? LOL. Indian civilizations have had it for 2000 years, written in books. Do your research!

[hannarauch]

It would have been interesting to see the impact of being vegan in proportion to the impact of being a carnivore. Obviously each form of diet has an impact on our planet. It’s about choosing the one with the smallest.

[GarrusSpectre]

“Yeah well meat and dairy farming uses up land like crazy and heats up the planet like we’re in a sauna, but quinoa (which as far as I know is hardly the cornerstone of any vegan diet and is eaten by omnivores and vegans alike) is bad too, so it’s really super-hard and complicated to say what’s better.” What kind of logic is that?

[ravigopinathan]

This is a illogical argument. If less people are eating meat, less people are buying the soybeans to feed the cows. If the soybeans go directly from the farm to people's food, instead of being food for a cow, it's more efficient. The animal agriculture industry is more harmful to the environment than simply eating non animal products, due to all the methane and inefficiency of growing food to feed animals to feed humans. I'm not saying everyone should go vegan- that's not gonna happen. But it's an illogical argument to say that going vegan isn't actually better for the environment. It is.

[SanlyLiuu]

Why did it go from ‘is being vegan enviromental friendly?’ to : we produce enough food to feed all the people on earth? 😂

[Miquelalalaa]

I’m right wing and vegan. When did what someone chooses to eat become such a divisive left/right issue?

[JB-lecd]

Here come the 'us and them' generalisations 🙄 -lazy thinking at its ugliest.

[Sunnipoo]

Vegans aren’t the problem, meat eaters also eat quinoa and soy . If there was no animal agriculture the animals would and could fend for themselves and we humans would have enough food to feed the majority of the world.

[katherinekelly]

Lol pretty sure vegan recipes have existed before 1849

[patricksharkey]

This is some very poorly.made content. Under-researched and carelessly put together

[MsLeonor]

Why is this still a discussion? It does help the environment and saves animals ❤️

[ritchieaustin]

Can’t believe there Is still a protein argument going on

[pzfgqkz]

So we shouldn't go vegan because... lamas ?
For every kg of meat you need to feed the animals many many kilos of vegetable based diet so there is no doubt that lowering the consumption of meat would lower your carbon footprint if you think about all the greenhouse gases that are emitted by growing and transportation the corn etc needed to feed the animals. The problem is that it is a very big sacrifice to stop eating meat but I guess not having slaves and having to do your own jods by yourself was at the time a very big sacrifice..

[iamkalixa]

"If people are vegan, we will use up more land growing vegetables" or " God made animals for us to eat, if we didn't eat them, they would be everywhere" These are just some of the statements made that really shows just how much people want to say what they want without any kind of research. To a person like myself, who has done the research, it just sounds...stupid.. but that's OK . You gotta start somewhere.
Wishing you all the best.