The hidden costs of a vegan diet – BBC REEL

Veganism has truly taken off – as a lifestyle and as a diet – especially in Europe and the United States.

There has been plenty of discussion around the potential health and environmental benefits of a vegan diet, and the trend shows little sign of slowing down. Some studies predict that by the year 2040, as much as 60 percent of meat eaten globally will be created in labs or made from plant-based products.

But are we ready to make such a radical transition? And what are the hidden costs – socially, economically and environmentally?

Script, camera and edit by Frederick Bernas
Commissioning Editor: Cagney Roberts
Motion graphics by Dan John

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#bbc #bbcreel #bbcnews

[dexter_johnson]

Plant based folks eat more than just mushrooms and avacado -- at least I do.

[dhsredhead]

I'm legitimately confused at the idea that because some people living in rural parts of Africa and Asia depend on livestock for survival that means that people in the UK can't go vegan. How does that work?

[olivethevegan]

I don't think this is particularly balanced argument at all, picking out avocados and Peruvian asparagus are as two examples of high carbon based plant foods is fine but vegans don't just eat these types of foods! It would be better to present statistics on the average environmental footprint of a vegan diet and a carnist's diet, rather than using these just these examples. Also, during the fertilisers section why is there no mention that more UK agricultural land is used for growing crops for animal feed rather than direct human consumption, and this also needs to be touched on when considering rewilding. when talking about water pollution there was no mention on how animal manure contributes to this problem as well.

[hoxxyhart]

The fact that they showcase Quorn as vegan when it usually contains egg and milk is indicative of the quality of this research.

[metalextras]

People often forgot to mention that eating wide varieties of grain and fermented products with varieties of beans produce are the center point of being a vegan.

[nancyneyedly]

As a vegan I ONLY eat nuts, avocados and cocoa, and it is a known fact that no one else on the planet eats nuts, avocados and cocoa, so big point made there. Excellent reporting by geniuses.

[patreekotime]

You know youve done a bit of shoddy journalism when even the comment section vegans sound reasonable. BBCs own charts and statistics have shown beef to be the worst offender which convinced me to give up beef. And showed that coffee, tea and chocolate are also not great, which helped convince me to give up caffiene. 🤷 Shame on BBC for doing a targetted clickbait hit piece instead of an honest appraisal of the evironmental impacts of western agriculture.

[bammeldammel]

It is interesting to see how nobody ever speaks about peolpe that are not on a plant based diet that consume avocado, esparagus, nuts and all these other goods.

[taking_time]

This is poor. I’m not even vegan and I was throwing things at the screen. Who on earth was this made for? Many (maybe most) vegans already bear most of these issues in mind as a whole lifestyle, not just in their diet. And we’re not all missing burgers and steaks, hoping for a lab-made alternative. Dreadfully thin research and unbalanced premise.

[Lucas-zdyn]

The reason this is so unpopular is that you made it seem as those are veganism 's problems, when they're in fact a problem in all our food industry. Not just groceries get transported by plane and, while showing a graph of the most water intensive crops, you did show almonds way below than dairy/meat so it would still make sense from a sustainable point of vie to eat only almonds instead of meat.

[bammeldammel]

All the people that I know on a plant based diet are also conscious about where there food is coming from.

[djwoodymusic]

Substandard output here from the BBC, ok can we now please have a video entitled 'The hidden costs of a non-vegan diet'?

[schmidcl]

Yeah, because I eat grapes from South Africa and avocados from Peru all day long 🤦🏻‍♂️

[aaronmau-schank]

This is a big miss by the BBC. Bad journalism adding to the general confusion on environmental issues.

[BigKeith]

How about pointing out the footprint between dairy and plant milks? (which the BBC itself has published articles on). Even almond milk which is arguably the worst is better than dairy.
Or the amount of space utilised by animal agriculture and plants grown for feed worldwide? Or the calories wasted to feed an animal and make relevant produce, instead of just eating plants?

I eat the exact same as I did before but with lentils/beans/tofu for protein, and plant milks instead of dairy. You don't need expensive mock meats or cheeses, which with supermarket brands now aren't even an issue cost wise to include some in your diet. The soy milk I buy is cheaper than dairy.

Abusing animals is cringe and I wouldn't do it even if it were cheaper, which it's not.
Veganism is an ethical choice above everything, interesting you didn't explore that on top of getting everything else wrong.

[manfredearl]

barely any mention of ethics, because it's something that mainstream media doesn't have an argument against. They can make these wishy washy videos making veganism seem about the environment but it's still infuriating to see an ethical issue being misrepresented as an environmental one that's "inconceivable" to get rid of because 'jobs'

[beyondbeat_]

Let's not forget that more than 60% of the crops are to feed animals

[oliverralph]

There is no mention of where the food for cattle comes from, most of it is flown in from the Amazon.

[manfredearl]

human slavery employed loads of people, doubt you'd argue that that would be "inconceivable" to get rid of.

[Vxc]

Didn't knew that eating fruit/cocoa/avocados from far away places or eating mushrooms were a vegan thing 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ if so then vegans are the majority 😂