Help Protect the Environment

It is widely agreed that agriculture is one of the most environmentally damaging activities that man undertakes. As consumers, we can make a difference by choosing food that is produced in an environmentally sustainable way. As has been shown, livestock consume more protein and calories than they produce. This alone makes animal farming an unsustainable use of the Earth’s resources.

On top of this, the consumption of animal products contributes to global warming, pollution, water scarcity, land degradation, deforestation and loss of biodiversity – in other words, all the major environmental problems.

We should all be aware of the impact that our lifestyles have on the world around us: switching to a vegan diet will significantly limit your individual impact on our increasingly threatened environment.

Discover for yourself what a difference a vegan diet can make by visiting: http://www.myfootprint.org/en/ These sites will help you to calculate your ecological foot print. First put in omnivore, then change it to vegan and see the difference this makes!

Food miles
Environmentally conscious consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of buying locally produced food to cut down on ‘food miles’ (the distance travelled by lorry, ship or aeroplane by our food before it reaches our plates).

The livestock connection:
When considering food miles, many people think only of the miles travelled by the ‘end product.’ They think that British chicken, pork or beef is an environmentally friendly option because the animals have not arrived from overseas, building up air miles.

However, British animals increasingly eat feeds such as soya, manioc and tapioca that have been imported from abroad, consequently the environmental footprint left by eating British meat can be just as great as eating imported animal products.

Vegan foods are better for the environment because eating vegetable protein direct, rather than through the intermediary of an animal, uses far less land. Eating locally grown vegetables is better still.

Source:
http://www.vegansociety.com/resources/environment/the-planet.aspx