ROLAND MAYRHOFER: Although vegan and vegetarian diets and lifestyles differ significantly from each other, among other things, notably in their respective consequences regarding animal welfare and their ecological impact, vegans and vegetarians are often grouped together and usually compared to omnivores in psychological research. Considering that vegans and vegetarians often share similar motives for their lifestyle choices, namely animal and environmental issues, the question arises why similar motives lead to different conclusions and correspondingly different behaviors, most notably, of course, that vegetarians consume animal-derived foods such as cheese or milk while vegans do not consume animal-derived products (e.g., food, cosmetic […]
BBC: Could going vegan help feed the world and save the planet? While industry and energy production are often singled out as the main drivers of climate change, the global meat production industry is a bigger polluter. Veganism advocate Gary Francione and nutritionist Dr Ron Weiss join Nuala McGovern to discuss the pros and cons of veganism. While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it is a massive cultural leap for many. We ask whether veganism could really be useful in places where food might not be readily available. And answer concerns over whether a […]
HARRIET MARSDEN: The EU aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 – but has been investing four times as much money into carbon-intensive livestock farming than growing plants, research has found. More than 80% of subsidies given to farmers through the bloc’s common agricultural policy (CAP) went to animal products in 2013, according to a study published last week in the journal Nature Food: 38% directly and 44% for animal feed. The “vast majority” of CAP subsidies are going towards products that are “driving us to the brink”, said study co-author Paul Behrens, environmental change researcher at […]
