One Goal, Two Roads?

The Questions

In most rooms, I'm the voice challenging the status quo, calling out choices that are sustainable but not vegan.

Sustainable, Not Vegan

?? Using biodegradable wool over synthetic fibres.

?? "Investing" in leather products that may last years of reusing.

?? Swapping imported, packaged meats for local meats.

Not all steps towards sustainability are vegan. Conversely, every now and then, I'm challenged on whether my veganism undercuts my sustainability.

Vegan, Not Sustainable

?? Synthetic liquid cleaners that pollute our water systems.

?? Relying on plant-based packaged foods over local produce.

?? Wearing plastic feathers and pleather over animal feathers and leather.

Every choice is a dance of values in a world where it is extremely profitable to have you be both non-vegan and unsustainable. In such a world, there's no perfectly sustainable vegan.

For example, I must regularly take flights across the globe in this journey of advocating for the animals. Each time, I must carefully weigh the vegan pros against the sustainable cons.

As both a vegan and a sustainability advocate, I cannot be perfect but I can be good. So which "good" trumps the other? Thankfully I don't have to choose because when done responsibly, veganism is a step in sustainability.

Not all vegan choices are sustainable. However, when all other variables are constant, all vegan choices are more sustainable than their non-vegan equivalents. Why? Because of the footprint of rearing animals.

Vegan and Sustainable

Even as the debates continue, the math on animal rearing is not up for debate.

We know for a fact that even when we account for the transportation costs of imported foods like avocados and the water footprint of crops like almonds, nothing comes CLOSE to what it takes to keep a cow or pig alive for the years before slaughter.

英国牛津大学 found that plant-based diets lead to 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution, and land use than meat-rich ones. We find similar conclusions when we consider the life-cycle analyses of non-vegan cosmetics, clothes, and other animal products.

It is baffling to me that we've convinced a whole human race that feeding an animal tonnes of soy for years, injecting it with synthetically produced, antibiotics, and clearing forests so we can house it on extensive farmlands is all LESS environmentally burdensome than growing a patch of soy for a block of mock meat.

And even otherwise reputable journals and universities have been fooled. Much of the anti-vegan research out there was sponsored by the meat-egg-dairy industry lobbyists. This research is then fed to sustainability graduates around the world who go on to advise the offices of lawmakers, many of whom are already in conversation with the same lobbies.

In simple terms, it profits many powerful people to keep animal agriculture alive, and they are willing to spend a lot to have the "science" on their side. But the science is in: Veganism = Sustainability.

There is no doubt about the sustainability of a plant-based economy in absolute terms. What is in doubt however is how we get there.

The Policy

To be honest, the world has more questions than solutions here, so I'll give you those.

?? How can we ensure universal access to plant-based nutrition?

?? How can governments ensure a just transition for communities dependent on animal exploitation?

?? What is the future of medical and cosmetic testing?

I don't claim to know all the answers. What I do know is that I'm on the kinder side of history.

The Ethics of Sustainability

There is no humane way to kill someone who wants to live and doesn't need to die in the circle of life. When there is no nutritional necessity, meat is unethical. When it doesn't improve chances of viability, animal testing is unethical. It's just that simple.

We may be able to achieve a semblance of sustainability without a completely plant-based economy. But is there where we want to be headed? Sustainability Advocates must answer if the movement is an ethical one or simply a mathematical one.

?? Is this a movement for mere human survival or a better planet?

?? Are we hoping for freedom for all or just enough for the Earth to continue?

?? Do we just want a green world or do we fight for a fair one?

I know what my sustainability looks like. It is inalienable from the promise to not harm. My sustainability is not a trend or a gimmick. It's a promise that comes from the softest and strongest part of me, the part that doesn't simply hope for human continuance but for the liberation of ALL from suffering.

One goal, one road. There is no better planet without compassion. Maybe by some accident of fate, we'll come up with a world that's both sustainable and non-vegan. But is that the world we'd be proud to have built?