The argument for moral vegetarianism focuses on the moral objection to killing animals for food, particularly in confinement for slaughter. Raising animals for slaughter is cruel and unethical, and many animals in the United States are not humanely slaughtered. A vegetarian diet is more healthful and better for the environment. Most contemporary arguments for moral vegetarianism start with premises about the wrongness of producing meat and move to conclusions about the wrongness of consuming it. Some appeal to a broader basis compatible with both utilitarianism and animal-rights theories: a principle of equal consideration, extended. Some arguments for moral vegetarianism proceed by appealing to widely held beliefs about the immorality of causing unjustified pain.
There are two approaches a vegetarian might take in arguing that rearing and killing animals for food is morally offensive. One is that eating animals is morally bad, and the other is that consuming meat produces more normalization of bad attitudes towards animals. Ethical vegetarians argue that there is no distinction between animal and human life and that it is immoral to cause suffering when it has huge environmental impacts, requires masses of grain, water, and land, hurts the global poor, and causes unnecessary suffering.
Ethical vegetarians believe that the reasons for not hurting or killing animals are similar to the reasons for not hurting or killing humans. They argue that each individual has a moral obligation to be vegan because they are morally obligated to not support wrongdoing. The vegetarian argument implies that it is right to eat meat when it is not a luxury, i.e., when that is needed for our survival. Nonvegetarians are not on firm ground if they justify killing and eating animals simply on the ground that the animals are not humans.
📹 The Most Logical Arguments AGAINST Veganism (In 10 Minutes)
TODAY’S VIDEO: Today we go through the most frequently used arguments against vegans, including: It’s my personal choice …
What is the moral dilemma of veganism?
Vegans abstain from animal products to protest the cruelty and suffering animals endure in factory farms and slaughterhouses. They believe in the inherent rights of all sentient beings and call for a more humane and just world. Animal agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and water pollution. By choosing a vegan diet, individuals can significantly reduce their ecological footprint, mitigating climate change and addressing environmental issues.
Shifting to a plant-based diet can promote sustainability by using fewer resources and reducing the environmental impact of intensive agricultural practices. This shift towards plant-based eating represents a conscientious step towards a more sustainable and balanced coexistence with our planet, showcasing the pivotal role dietary choices play in shaping a harmonious future.
What is the strongest argument for veganism?
Veganism is a controversial topic due to its ethical and environmental implications. Eating meat requires the death of a living being, while dairy farming involves animals being separated from their children, causing distress and causing bovine mastitis. Vegans do not require meat to survive, and as moral actors, it is the correct choice to give up meat and dairy.
Livestock farming contributes to global warming by breaking down food into methane, a greenhouse gas, and releasing it into the atmosphere through cow burps and farts. This contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and air and water pollution. Vegan diets are rich in health-promoting foods like fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans, and pulses, with a lower risk of heart disease. Vegans may need to supplement their diets with B12, but this can be easily done using yeast extracts like Marmite.
On the other hand, veganism is opposed due to its natural history and cultural significance. Animal protein was vital for helping early hominids develop larger brains, and humans evolved to have meat as part of our diets. Food is a central part of all human cultures, and if the world went vegan, iconic cultural traditions like bolognese sauce, tandoori chicken, sashimi, currywurst, and Peking duck would be lost.
A balanced diet, including moderate amounts of fish, meat, and dairy, provides essential vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids for overall health. However, vegans may also have a higher risk of strokes due to B12 deficiency. It is unclear whether the health benefits of veganism are more about diet and lifestyle choices.
What are the pro arguments for vegetarianism?
The top 10 reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet are to lose excess weight, live longer, slow the aging process, avoid toxic food contaminants, reduce global warming, make economic sense, help end world hunger, and have compassion for animals. Vegetarian diets are naturally lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, with a higher intake of plant nutrients than most meat-based diets. Vegetarians have been shown to have a lower risk of dying of heart disease than non-vegetarians, and some studies have even reversed coronary heart disease in patients on a low-fat vegetarian diet.
Additionally, regular consumption of fruits and vegetables is strongly associated with a reduced risk of some cancers, such as colorectal cancer, compared to the general population. In conclusion, adopting a vegetarian diet is a crucial step for overall health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.
What is the argument between vegan and vegetarian?
Vegetarians and vegans are two distinct dietary patterns that exclude certain food items from their diet. These include meat, fish, shellfish, crustacea, gelatin, and animal by-products. Additionally, dairy products and eggs are also typically avoided.
What are the moral reasons for vegetarianism?
There are a number of reasons to support ethical vegetarianism, including animal welfare, environmental concerns, global food scarcity, resource distribution, and the welfare of animals, the environment, global food scarcity, and resource distribution for future generations.
What are the arguments in favor of non vegetarianism?
Cancer patients are advised to consume mushrooms due to their high nutritional value, including iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients are crucial for energy metabolism, cognitive function, and cardiovascular health. Animal products also contribute to weight management by reducing calorie intake. However, non-vegetarian foods, particularly red and processed meats, are high in saturated fats and cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.
Meat production has significant environmental consequences, such as deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Choosing sustainably sourced meat can help address these issues. Plant-based diets are considered superior to meats for several reasons.
What are pros and cons of vegetarianism?
Vegetarian diets are often a popular choice for health-conscious individuals, as they offer numerous health benefits such as reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and obesity. However, there are potential downsides to this diet.
A well-balanced vegetarian diet, consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, can provide numerous health-protective vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. However, a high-processed vegetarian diet may increase the risk of some chronic diseases. Additionally, there are many junk foods that can fit into a vegetarian diet but are not good for you, such as soda, chips, and cookies. Packaged vegetarian meals and snacks may contain high amounts of added sugar, sodium, and fat, offering little nutritional value.
To ensure a healthy vegetarian diet, it is essential to consider both the pros and cons of the diet. By understanding the pros and cons of a vegetarian diet, individuals can make an informed decision about their health and lifestyle.
Is there any good argument against veganism?
Veganism is a controversial topic due to its historical and cultural significance. It is argued that humans have been eating meat for around 2. 6 million years, and that animal protein was crucial for early hominids’ brain development. Food is a central part of human cultures, and if the world went vegan, iconic cultural traditions like bolognese sauce, tandoori chicken, sashimi, currywurst, and Peking duck would be lost. A balanced diet, including moderate amounts of fish, meat, and dairy, along with fruits, vegetables, and pulses, provides essential vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids.
While vegans may have a lower risk of heart disease, they also have a higher risk of strokes due to B12 deficiency. The health benefits of veganism are unclear, as it is unclear whether they are primarily about diet or a broader lifestyle, such as increased exercise, non-smoking, and moderate consumption.
What is the moral argument for veganism?
This article discusses the ethical justifications for veganism, focusing on the moral implications of a vegan diet or plant-based diet. Veganism is a way of eating that forbids or avoids consuming any animal products, and it has gained interest due to its potential benefits for human health and ethical behavior. The research aims to assess ethical theories and evidence related to animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and human welfare.
It also analyzes existing literature and clinical studies to understand the challenges, advantages, lifestyle modifications, and nutritional concerns associated with a vegan diet. The study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the ethical reasons for veganism and its broader societal impacts.
What is the main argument of a defense of veganism?
The argument for veganism is based on the premise that the raising and killing of animals for food is morally wrong if it causes serious harm that is morally unjustified. Furthermore, the practice of veganism is argued to cause serious harm to animals and some humans.
📹 The Biggest Lie About Veganism
Written by: Mitchell Moffit Edited by: Luka Šarlija SOURCES AND FURTHER READING …
I’m vegitarian and you have convinced me to be vegan. I grew up on a farm. Mainly cows and crops like peanuts cotton soy excetera. As a kid I would go with my dad to AI cows and Heifers. I would find it quite disturbing but eventually I became so desensitized to it because someone I trust was doing this so I thought it was fine. I even took interest in farming. When I was about 11 or 12 I showed a steer( a castrated bull) at county beef expos and festivals. They judged the steers based on the meat they could produce based on there build and size and heifers based on how well they would reproduce. I took care of Big Iron for over 6 months before showing. I halter broke him, fed him, groomed him for show. The reason I wanted to show cows is because my older cousin did and I looked up to her so we showed together. After doing about thre shows and winning grandchampion and reserve grandchampion places with Big Iron he was sold to a slaughter house. That when the first seeds to becoming vegitarian where planted. My family told me that was nature, and Big Iron didn’t suffer. A few years later I started doing more research about meat industries and veggitarianism. After discovering your website I’ve decided to become vegan. Thank you. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
I have yet to come across a logical, rational and critically thought out argument against veganism which cannot be debunked in two seconds flat. Religion, taste, culture, tradition, personal choice….you name it. What baffles me the most is that they attempt to defend their cognitive dissonance against a movement that is about compassion and love for all living creatures. It’s mind-boggling that they would oppose humanity in its purest form. The worst part is that I have encountered humans that fight me tooth and nail while vehemently defending their heinous treatment of our fellow earthlings. It’s maddening, sad and deflating but we cannot stop. We will never stop.
It’s amazing how feeble and shallow the arguments against veganism are and yet people make them with such confidence. It’s frustrating that whenever someone debates a vegan, even though their terrible arguments will get destroyed they’ll still come out on top in the court of the public opinion just because they are in the majority.
At the beginning of my vegan journey I tried to find a possible logical reason to not get into veganism for that I used to read and watch a lot of works! Even the arguments of vegan haters but the more I read the more I understood that veganism is the way! And you helped me to get rid of agonies to an extend thanks a lot! ❤️
I can’t watch anything where animals are being mistreated, tortured or killed! Became vegan in 2020 after perusal ‘End of meat’ documentary and until this day I suffer from some form of ptsd so seeing animals even “just” in cages is absolutely traumatic for me. So I have to only listen to this article without perusal it because just the first few minutes are incredibly distressing for me to see 😢. I am so upset with myself for not learning years ago what I know now and wish I had been brought up as a vegan from an early age. The fact I used to eat meat upsets me! If I could change one thing in my past it would definitely be eating meat!
When you talk about wild animals, there is another argument i find elucidating against hunt and pro vegetarianism/veganism: Wild large predators are not just “beeing wild” in a way we don’t need to be. They have an amazing role for us all. Wolves, lions, bears and other top consumers mantain ecosystems and biodiversity, while when we hunt or eat meat we generally do the opposite. By consuming the weekest and the sick, they keep their prey’s diseases controled at same time they keep the population numbers controlled. Also they control just by its presence the number of other carnivours. Large carnivores ecosystem role is irreplaceable. On other hand, when we humans hunt we don’t stay looking wich is the sick animal and easy to catch with less energy expenditure and less probability to get injuried. A wolf will avoid to go for the toughtest big deer or the big boar with long sharp teeth. But we humans don’t. We hunt indiscriminately or hunt the biggest and healthier animal to have more meat and feel and display it has a trophy. You kill not only a family member, but also the fittest and healthier genes. Sometimes a dominant male that don’t allow younger males to reproduce in that territory, as in the case of boars. Hunting by humans can be very disruptive. If you’re killing wolf parents you’re killing teachers also. With less hunting skills their oportunistic traces will be accentuated and domestic farm animals prefered instead of wild animals. Talking about this, there’s another relevant point.
thank you for using parts of the ‘promised neverland’ anime. I swear it’s literally the best anime when it comes to veganism. like with ‘Parasyte’ you can draw a lot of parallels with carnism in our society but ‘promised neverland’ you cant even deny one bit that this is exactly how people treat our non-human cousins in feather and fur. those demons in the anime are the real humans in real life. the first thing people get when they feast on the suffered dismembered corpses of the most innocent is literally heart disease. most of humanity are already demons. if those animals would ever form a religion the devil would be depicted in human form, no doubt. and humans have the audacity to talk about love and peace. how very ironic and pathetically and depressingly ignorant and hypocritical.
My best friend told me that God told us to eat animals so we “wouldn’t overpopulate.” If you know anything about the bible, you’d know that that sentiment is not expressed anywhere in the text so I have no clue where she got it from. I told her that if such a loving God really wanted us to destroy his creation and cause the unnecessary pain and suffering that we do to these animals then I want no part of it. Why would God be ok with us destroying the animals (and the planet) just because they taste good?
Great article Ed. Also, if people argue that killing plants is morally the same as killing animals, is killing plants morally the same as killing humans too, since humans are animals ? And biologically humans are closer to animals than plants. So if killing animals is morally the same as killing plants, so is killing humans.
Growing crops for plant based foods does not reduce animal death compared to eating moderate to large grazing animals. It looses substantially if you count invertebrates as having moral worth. It looses solidly if you count all vertebrates like frogs. It can be close to a wash if you only consider rodents, and if you look at potential animal years of life it wins, but that is moral math that people can disagree on. Also we can disagree in how we weigh environmental effects, margin of errors, and sustainability. There is not doubt that crop fed animals for food is the worst.
damn bro this was hard to watch. Fucking cruel the shit that still happens. I always gotta remind myself that its not my responsibility to stop it, not alone anyway and that as an individual I cant. But still, seeing all this shit happening I wonder what more I can do. Ive been vegan for years now, this once again reinforced my decision. Nonetheless this article was tough for me to watch and made me think. Thank you a lot.
Great article. Been addicted to your vids after your latest milk movie was recommended. I’m a vegetarian that occasionally eats eggs but will try veganism again. I had already tried it 2 yrs back but didn’t do it keeping my nutrition in mind which made me weak, ultimately making me quit. This time, hopefully I’ll be smarter,plan my meals properly and be vegan in the long run. Thank you so much for your contribution,also that really touching movie – milk
These argument’s are pretty good…………. When talking to a city person. In other places of the world like for example my home country Norway, I live in a small group of islands on the west coast of Norway where 99% of this community’s income comes from fishing and fish farming. Stopping this would mean that we are getting rid our only big source of income. (Note that only has 5% farmable land) If all Norwegians were to be vegan then we would HAVE to rely on food sent to us from foreign countries which would make Norway very vulnerable.
Ed. Having very poor self confidence/esteem, i struggle to express and voice my opinions. If it’s okay with you, i am going to write all those arguments down to remember them and how you phrase them. This way, next time someone tells me « what about lions », I’ll know how to respond. What you do is amazing. Thank you.
Very interesting article. However, I think the core of your argument (morality) could be explored further. Is there a universal morality? If not determined by legality, how is morality defined? Why should we, as humans, seek to minimize suffering? Is the elimination of suffering possible if death is ultimately inevitable?
Sorry, there’s some truth in this article but also some lies. What people need to understand is that veganism holds animals to a living standard that animals don’t even hold to each other. Humans are of more moral value than a chicken, which I’ve seen eating their brother’s fresh carcass the morning after a possum killed him. Animals are simply of less value than humans and that’s why it’s not just wrong but also disrespectful to compare farming to holacaust or slavery aka ways of dehumanizing humans. I’m all down for stopping mistreatment of animals because of course their pain matters but this is getting ridiculous. There are more farms than you think that do a decent job making their animals happy (remember that their idea of a good life is different from ours.) And that if these specific animals aren’t in farms they’re in the wild accountable for their own survival, food, and safety – and are nearly always guaranteed to die at the hands of disease or predators which is always more miserable than what you consider inhumane. Every culture in the world eats some form of animal product meat is part of what makes humans human.
4:36 we see that you claimed that morals doesn’t come from laws 5:59 we see here that you also claimed that morals doesn’t come from culture and traditions Since you don’t believe in God so morals doesn’t come from God We conclude that morals is not an objective thing that comes from a single reliable source it is rather a subjective thing depends on each individual himself and only himself So from this perspective what gave you the right to decide that it is not moral to kill animals for the sake of good taste 1:17 ??? That is according to your morality not mine! You can’t force anyone to follow you moralities just because you think it’s right Me personally I value good taste more than a life of animals That makes is a necessity for me based on my own morals
Hey Ed, thank you so much for what you’re doing for the animals and for your very inspiring activism. This 10 minutes article is a very good summary of the remarks I’ve struggled with in the beginning, coming from friends or family that didn’t understand why I was parting from “the norm”. I’m from France and would very much like to spread this well-packed message around me. Sadly I think there no way I can add french subtitles, but if I do the translation, and send you a .srt file (google drive link), would you be ok to add the french subtitles to your article? Matt
Hmmm I’m actually reconsidering my diet now. I have your typical omnivores diet. I was never swayed by animals feeling pain (I know I’m horrible but it may be a secret reason why omnivores are omnivores, they just don’t want to say so) but needless pain. That’s another thing. Humane treatment of animals for food is hard to come by. And then you mentioned the dog that got euthanized and was killed humanely and that made me reconsider my argument. It’s kind of hard to swivel around that one. Maybe, if I could ONLY eat meat, then that would be a justifiable reason for eating meat but vegans existing and not dying makes me reconsider.
I work in medicine, and one of my colleagues is a Doctor of Nutrition. She got me switched over to plant based diet and I’ve never felt better. Can talk for days about the benefits of eating plant based diet. That being said I know Vegans do eat some junk that I would never eat, I think Oreos and sugar for example. From a pure nutrition standpoint I wish more people would eat more plant based nutrition. That being said I think its great people stand up for things that they believe in, it give you a sense of purpose. I don’t really care myself if people eat meat, I would never kill an animal for food, or harm it, but I cant understand why people do it. In the end people would be so much healthier eating better. Like Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.”. Feed your body right and it will take care of you.
Maybe I should make a similar argument against abortion, “Sure you have the choice to abort a baby, the same way you have a choice to abuse a dog or steal from old ladies.” Now I’m not defending the abuse of animals and I also don’t want animals to suffer unnecessarily, that’s why I advocate for the use of captive bolts or anesthetic overdose and not the methods you mentioned. You were also sort of misleading with how you used the word “humane”. Is it humane to kill someone? Well it depends on the context. It could be considered humane to kill someone who is suffering, it could even be considered as morally just to kill someone who might cause suffering. But is it humane to kill an animal? Well it depends on the context. Hunting in order to feed your family can be seen as compassionate, and especially in third world countries or countries where it’s very difficult to grow crops it can be seen as very necessary. What about the “might makes right” argument? Well I don’t think the concept of “right” even exists in the animal kingdom, to them it just is. A buck doesn’t want to be killed by a lion, but it’s purely instinctive, not because of morality. Of course I’m not defending the “might makes right” argument, I’m saying how it applies to humans is not equal to how it applies to animals.
I’m an Inuk (indigenous person from the North, commonly referred to as Eskimo in the US) and my ancestors ate almost only meat in order to survive this incredibly harsh environment that formed us. Because of its demanding environment, natural selection has sculpted us into great meat eaters and poor at digesting many plants. Most of my family suffers from autoimmune diseases when we are on a diet high in carbs and plant material in general. When I eat a mostly wild meat (including animal organs both raw and cooked) my autoimmune problems go away. For us it isn’t just a case of if it’s ethical to eat meat, but more so that it’s the healthiest and most nutrient dense option we have. There are approximately 370,000,000 indigenous people worldwide and many have at least adapted if not evolved to thrive on meat, animal fats and organs. Indigenous peoples have in all cultures I know of traditionally respected, loved and protected the animals that give us life. I don’t believe that all people are the same and need the same foods for survival. As a matter of fact our genetics can easily show where our ancestry comes from specifically because of our differences. People with light skin generally come from areas with little sun and can synthesize vitamin d (an essential vitamin as well as hormone) much more easily than dark skinned people. In the north half of the year we get little or no vitamin d through sun so we recieve ours through diet (seals and fish). Our requirements are not all the same, the myth “we are all the same” simply isn’t true.
Let me lay out to ya why I love animal flesh: Life is worthless. Morality is illogical, and stupid. Morality is only necessary if we all share the goal of having a good functioning society; and compassion for animals does not help any humans. Obviously, killing animals with a lot of pain is kinda negative; but killing animals in a way which they don’t really experience too much pain is no problem. You cannot force humans to live miserable lives, eating dirt and grass, all in the name of saving some stupid creatures.
Save cow chicken and pig? First thing will happen when all ranches around the World closing down. All animals are left alone with no food and they will all die. Animal right has no money to maintain the cost. They can probably take over to feed those animals for 1-2 weeks before bankrupt. Then all ranchers will open farm, massacares all animals in process because that’s how farm was created. More and more animal habitats will be reduced when more farms created as the whole world now only eats vegetable. Vegans never know the vegetable they eat was grown on top of millions of animals lives. Frogs, Squirrels, Rabbits, Mouse, Rats, Snakes, Eels and everything that lived there and poised as threat for farmers. So now you have millions of animals died in ranches and billions more died due to new farms created. Let’s say those animal rights also protests to the way that all farmers can’t kill animal when growing crops. Then only 10% crops can be harvested and with food shortages, vegans will start to eat meat to survive.
Thank you Ed This is the best article I’ve seen on this subject. These excuses make no sense and you’ve refined it down perfectly. Everything moral argument leads to veganism. Nothing else holds water. Veganism is the gold standard if you care about animals and want to include them as worthy of respect. Otherwise you must exclude them and provide reasoning which there is none.
I appreciate that you approach this with a scientific mind. My only critique is about your moral argument. It’s treading water, not really going anywhere. Studies have shown that humans are not the only species capable of making decisions based on morality. Many of them are omnivores, like humans. Have you considered sharing your sources? I’d like to know if I’m wrong but, I don’t trust people at just their word. The information has to be available to study.
Personally I don’t think it’s just a personal choice it’s literally engraved in our biology and our bodies have to make huge sacrifices when switching to vegan diets and there’s absolutely no way to sustain a vegan diet without absorbing a large ammount of toxins and having to perform hours of daily high intensity training, while you can live off one raw egg a day as a male you can not live off one avocado a day, that’s because of the drastic difference in carbs, sugars and toxins found int plants and the lacking vitamin percentage, for example roughly 100 grams of liver contains 400% of your daily intake for vitamin b12 and almost 1.5x the rdi for vitamin a, and much more, the disparity between the nutrient levels should be proof enough that a vegan diet is not healthy, not even remotely healthy infact toxins in fruits and vegetables are the main cause of today’s heart disease, alzheimers or dementia and many other cognitive and physical issues, the reason the toxins cause so much damage is because of the sugars and carbs which interfere with your bodies ability to maintain a ketogenic state, causing the toxins to bind to cells and form cancers, cholestrol build up from the sugars, arterie clogs etc.
Um, you legally have to put a dog down once it bites someone especially a child because it’s liable to bite again, when I was about 8 years old my Rottweiler took a nice big chunk outta my head, right at the temple, I lost so much blood I was in coma for a week. My dad chose to put our Dog down Because his daughters life comes first. You say nipped but if it was a “nip” the kid wouldn’t even notice the dog probley bit the child. Who didn’t know better. So your saying a dog’s life is more important then a infant who doesn’t know better. So your basically saying you would give up your children before you give up a dangerous animal that could possibly turn on you next, just for picking up it’s dish.
Great article. But I have to say that there some points you mentions that there are kind weak (sorry if my English is not the Best, Iam from Argentina): – The First point I have to mention is that most of arguments are based in an idea that human are in a way different to the resto animals, “we are superior for them”. And thats for we have a moral responsability over them, “we are not wild animals we are better”, but I will ask you to tell me what the specific reasoning between them and us. You can look and look and finally that you will discover that we are not so different to them. And you can say, “well that proof my point”. But no, just because this argument I coukd say that this “morality superior” is a joke, if ants monkeys or pigs could they woukd kill us like today us. Only thibk it, does the Bird ask the worm if they wanted to be eaten, of course not! So why we shoukd think we are best than them? At the end humans are only abother animal. – Then I have to say you that you are talking about how morallity always change and that is more a historical event. But if morality is relative (because you are defending what is MORAL for YOUR point if view) how can it be used for an universal argumental. Our occidental view normally blocks our way of thinkibg as if there is an only way to think what is right or worng… – When you talk about the dog figting and compare it to eat meat. The analogy is not bad, only that is different. The intention we can say is the same “having pleasure” but the mean is quite different, in one we are feeling pleasure for seeing two animals feel pain and fisght for their life.
How about the fact that since the 50s, synthetic NPK fertilizer has been used to grow all of our food, conventional and organic, and causes the plant to uptake nutrients without chelating/carbon bonding them making it so that our body has a hard time absorbing and utilizing them. NPK fertilizer also causes our plants to have way too much inorganic calcium and iron which are at the root cause of many different illnesses. If somebody is a high carb fruitarian in the tropics, constantly eating vine ripened fruits grown in nutrient dense, natural, tropical soil, then it’s doable, but other than that people are going to become nutrient deficient trying to be a grocery store suburban vegan.
Of the most prolific vegan activists Ed is certainly one of more sensible ones, at least he admits the vegan diet isn’t perfect, however respectfully, I didn’t really see any compelling arguments in his retorts, he mentioned about how human can live on a Vegan diet. Which is true, factually speaking the human body can survive on many diets, but you certainly will only survive and not thrive on a vegan diet, with its many deficiencies and its generally its lack of nutritional density. All of Ed’s other points are very abstract and philosophical, they come down to your ideology, which is hard to argue either way. Other more logical arguments against veganism which I would like to see defense of would include. Monocropping plants is just a bad for the environment as factory livestock farming, nor sustainable without animal fertilisation. Many vegans forget or choose to be ignorant to that a Vegan diet it is not a bloodless diet. Many animals lose their lives in the process of farming plants & vegetables. Birds, butterflies are poisoned by chemicals, rabbits and mice are run over by tractors, and vast fields of mono-cropped vegetables displace native populations of animals that once lived on the land. The farming of vegetables is not humane to rabbits with disease such as myxomatosis. If vegans truly value the life of all animals equally, then surely the death of one herbivore cow, which can feed dozens of people, is better than the deaths of dozens of small rodents and other animals to produce plants.
Vegetarian here: A good counterpoint to veganism i heard was: Many agriculture areas can’t be used to harvest plants, eg Mountain areas, slopes, rocky areas. But farm-animals can inhabit these areas eg goats, chickens, cows. Therefore it makes sense for food efficiancy to offer these habitats to animals who produce food as milk and eggs. Adding to this, one could say: “But those farm animals would eat away the food we could be eating!” Countering this, many farm animals are fed food that we humans don’t/can’t eat such as hay or the left over gras/capsules from grains. Therefore I think a Vegetarian diet is morally justifyable if the animals are well treated. If anybody has a counterpoint to this, I would love to hear it. I’m an openminded person. Source on marginal Land around 10min mark: youtu.be/sGG-A80Tl5g
What annoys me is the vegans who get annoyed about carnivores and the carnivores who get annoyed about vegans, not everyone is going to stop eating meat because you said so, some people.. like me enjoy eating animal products, you do you and I’ll do I, I get all my meat from a butchers so it’s alot cleaner and it’s traced from where it was killed from, mm, burgers
You can say we don’t need to eat meat to survive but if we were all vegan there would be malnutrition to match as the poorest citizens wouldn’t be able to buy the processed foods that are needed for a fully nutritious life. You also forgot how big of a producer the meat industry is to GDP and the fact it gives a million jobs in the UK alone
I watched this article because I am looking for arguments, scientific evidence, facts supporting veganism. “Moral” reasons are not sufficient for me – today so many things are judged on someone’s morality or feelings, that one can get lost very easily. And these very often are not valid arguments but are the logical fallacy of appealing to emotions. Also, diverting the subject from veganism to completely unrelated topics such as LMBTQ… issue or womens rights, is again not a logical argument but a logical fallacy. In this article for example, I was waiting for the FACTS supporting your claim that “We don’t need animal products”. If the human body was designed as omnivorous, why exactly wouldn’t it need nutritions from animals? Or vica versa: if we don’t need animal nutrition, meat, why have our teeth and digestive system evolved to be omnivorous? It wouldn’t make sense, why would Mother Nature make such a mistake? What logical argument do you have for this?