- Hey Shaheen. Is it wrong to be vegan?
- I don't know Ari?
(singing)
- All right, so
let's find out if veganism is actually making
that much of an environmental impact.
(excited music)
- According to Joseph Poore,
Air transported fruit and veggies can create
more greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram, than poultry.
- There was a study in Italy,
where they looked at omnivores, vegans and vegetarians,
and randomly two vegans in that study
had the highest environmental impact.
It was because these vegans were eating exclusively fruit,
and to ship all this fruit from far strung places
across the world had a huge environmental impact.
But, that same study,
if you look at all 153 people overall, yes,
meat eaters had a bigger environmental impact.
In the UK for example,
asparagus was found to be one of the most environmentally
detrimental vegetables you could eat
because they're growing that asparagus in Peru,
and then they're shipping it to the UK.
(excited music)
- While livestock does have an impact on carbon emissions,
it is not the leading source of environmental impacts.
By far, the use of fossil fuels
is the leading source of such emissions.
- I did this video where we did
an environmental footprint calculator
and the vegan actually,
she had the highest environmental footprint
because she flew across country a lot.
- If you're vegan,
but then you're also flying and driving a car,
it's hypocritical, right?
- But also we're all hypocrites.
- Fair enough.
- And I think just trying to do something
is better than nothing.
(excited music)
- A 2019 report written by a group of scientists
recommends a largely plant-based diet,
which is purported to be able to feed 10 billion people
by 2050, allows small and occasional allowances for
meat, dairy, and sugar.
How about that?
That's all I'm talking about.
I'm not here preaching, eat meat every day,
drink milk every day, but I do say that,
Hey, those things are nice.
- The problem is,
meat and dairy are not being produced sustainably.
You can't produce the amount of dairy and meat
that people consume currently, on a sustainable level.
(excited music)
- Mainstream veganism as a history of appropriating
traditional foods.
- There's a whole tradition of Eastern religions
who have been practicing non-violence and not eating animals
and animal products for centuries.
But when you think of mainstream veganism,
you often think of white people.
There's some people who say that veganism is
hurting indigenous farmers
because the demand for these certain foods like quinoa,
now everyone wants them,
and all the health food stores are carrying it.
So much so that people in Peru and Bolivia
where quinoa's traditionally grown,
have sometimes not even been able to afford it.
(excited music)
- Around 1.3 billion people depend in some way
on raising animals for their livelihood, today.
In Iran, for example,
you have traditional nomadic tribes that still exist.
They rely heavily on their cattle for dairy and for meat,
but also that is their source of livelihood,
so they love and care for those animals
and they don't abuse them to a point
where they are not a renewable resource for them.
Now, I know some people are doing this for ethical reasons
because they don't want to harm any living being,
but they also have to take into consideration
that in some cultures, both historically,
and currently, there is no other way to survive.
So I wonder if people who are vegan take into account
that a lot of people who aren't vegan
have been so traditionally in harmony with the earth.
(excited music)
The majority of America can afford a big Mac,
more than they can afford just basic salad ingredients.
If we can't address that,
then I don't think there's any more to address.
- This gets into food justice.
If you don't have the buying power to get all the products
that you need to have a nutritionally sound, vegan diet.
- Maybe being fully a vegan is not for everyone
and not to preach it as something everyone should be.
(excited music)
- The average American eats three hamburgers a week.
I think that's too many hamburgers.
- That may be too many hamburgers.
- And I think veganism
is a natural response to that extreme.
We don't need to be eating meat in every single meal.
- Let's say someone just reduced by 50% their meat intake,
but at the same time changed other things;
by 50% changed the amount of driving they do,
and by 50% reduced the amount of flying they do,
they don't theoretically fall into the bracket of veganism.
But one might say that they've done more
because they've done a more balanced reduction.
I think that that's forces
people to have to be way more educated,
which is something that inherently sucks
because people don't want to take that kinda time.
- It's not gonna be catchy.
You don't get to have the pin that says
I am moderately consuming things in an appropriate way.
That's a lot for a button.
It's a lot easier just to put vegan on it.
- Yeah. Yeah. To be vegan.
Maybe the better thing would be to just kind of
be more chill about your veganism.
- And there are chill vegans!
- Of course, there are chill vegans,
but there is total douche bags out there.
It's just like they're total out there who are me.
(laughter)
(piano music)