Why is there not more of a shift towards a plant-based way of eating, surely this is the way of the future?

There is a beautiful quote by the Dali Lama which says

“It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.”

In the current condition that the world is in, it astounds me that there is not more action to collectively preserve this one home we have and the people and animals who live in it. 

I wrote recently about the lack of urgency, so I apologise if I’m belabouring the point.

No one appears to be looking critically at intensive animal farming and the apparent links to diseases and the environment. Animal agriculture’s impact on our environment and health is being swept under the carpet. Perhaps dismantling it would affect too many people, both the corporations and the ordinary folk who love their meat and dairy and vote in their government representatives.

The science cannot be more exact, with studies being published frequently on how a plant-based diet can improve one’s health. Hand in hand are the reports on climate change, and one of the biggest things we can do is stop animal agriculture. Our waterways, here in N.Z., are a disgrace. It has been coming for a long time because of land misuse, with fertilisers destroying the soil and intensive animal farming pollution seeping into the ground and eventually into our freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes. 

Add to this the methane that animal agriculture emits into the atmosphere. Now I’m no scientist, but I am logical, and for all the huffing and puffing that the ag industry does, I can’t see any win for anyone, regardless of any ‘new technologies’ they may come up with. According to Sally Garden, a principal analyst for the Climate Change Commission, we are already on course to not hit our methane targets by 2030. 

Isn’t it time we took the bull by the horns (figuratively speaking) and looked at where the real damage is being done? As things stand now, all animals, including humans, are in a no-win situation. Wild animals are losing their habitats due to climate change or man’s interference. Domestic animals are being abused, live in confinement (factory farms) and die in ways that even the slaughterhouse workers end up with PTSD because of the violence. And many humans, even in so-called first-world countries, have no access to fresh water, food or housing. It has already begun that, due to the heating up of the planet, many people will have to leave their homes and become climate refugees. 

We have been shaking our proverbial fingers at the fossil fuel industries for a long time, and we talk about having renewable energy sources. Let’s be honest; electric vehicles will take a long time to trickle down to the ordinary person. Why wait when we can address the environmental problems by choosing what we eat? 

Governments worldwide need to be faster to address their agriculture pollution. They quickly latched onto the science during COVID but now conveniently ignore it for the climate. And when they do, convincing their citizens will be a long, slow process. 

Stepping your foot onto the plant-based path is the best thing you can do. In one fell swoop, a vegan lifestyle can address the environment, remove animal cruelty and, as a bonus, improve your health. 

Until next time…