Although I’m 'in recovery' from the Comments sections of mass-media sites like ‘Instagram’ & ‘X’, I'm a dedicated 'Deep Green' activist / environmentalist who's always seeking opportunities to broaden my Nature knowledge & disseminate Science-based solutions to the biodiversity / climate / extinction crisis we humans have brought on ourselves..
So far, hands down the most critical component of saving Life on Earth is CONSERVATION - & restoration of Nature's functions AT ALL COSTS. “Giving up” is not an option! Leaving our future up to the evil last-century perpetual-growth leaders, moneymongers, oligarchs & space-travel charlatans already holding us back from making a doable hopeful future is SELFISH & SUICIDAL — & tells our kids life’s not worth saving!
But it’s delusional thinking we can accomplish this & set a better course for humanity while continuing to blindly plunder & rape healthy intact ecosystems just to maintain the illusion that our lavish wasteful lifestyles are flawless ‘sacred cows’ that can’t be improved. They can - & musT - improve.. by deconstructing / laying bare / UPDATING perceived factors of the Good Life, STARTING WITH OUR UNNECESSARY USE OF NON-HUMAN ANIMALS!
Science shows animal agriculture is the 2nd-largest contributor to human-made GHGs after fossil fuels — & leading cause of deforestation, air/water pollution & biodiversity loss, comprising 44% of anthropogenic methane emissions — 34X more potent than C02 — & 44% of nitrous oxide (the most potent GHG) AND is the largest contributor to global water pollution. That’s just part of its heavy footprint..
I.E. We drastically need to lighten the strain animal ag puts on Earth’s finite resources. Replacing dairy/meat with plant-sourced foods would reduce C02 emissions alone from the industry by 96%, to just 73 pounds of CO2e.
Not only that, but plant-based diets are much healthier for humans, with our long winding intestines (opposite of carnivores’ short GI tracts) — ask any doc/naturopath! I switched long ago, & it’s easily the best change I’ve ever made.
We can’t just IGNORE the Science of CO2's/ ecocide’s/ GHGs’/ pollution’s effects on global warming — & saying “it’s too late anyway” & letting govts get away with murder serving polluters instead of people is a morally destitute way of sabotaging all efforts to ensure a liveable future! We must find ways to organize & get this info OUT THERE to as many peops as humanly possible, so everyone can make a difference for Earth's future... ESP. for the non-human creatures that face imminent extinction if we don't ACT to save their natural wild habitats..
This is basic knowledge that kids should learn at school - yet don't, prob cuz Big Oil & other extractive industries have even co-opted our kids' education (the latest pamphlet touting LNG as a "sustainable" energy source is almost laughable it's so chock-full of lies... (We must get back to caring for - stewarding - our natural ecosystems as 1st Nations did for thousands of years. Tho sadly, much of their knowledge was stripped by Residential Schools per the early BC govt's evil agenda..)
Ironically, our present govt leaders are in many ways much more corrupt than before, pretending to serve BCers' needs while catering to polluting mega-corporations' profits..
So it's left to us to galvanize & make the needed changes to prevent the worsening of catastrophic climate change, together with the scientists who have the answers. Going vegan en masse is the obvious way to rein in & shut down exploitation & extraction of finite resources that must remain alve & intact (protected) if we hope to have a future..
(The alternative is unthinkable.)
BillyGoat, you possess a particularly enticing writing style –-esp. your visceral descriptions placing yourself in the thick of a landscape where close contact with the earthy, heady ecology of ‘mixed farming’ inspires your most poetic efforts; ALL V. historic, raw & seductive —tinged with an old-timer’s wisdom of the land.. That is, until your brutally opinionated attempts to turn vegans/ vegetarians into the ‘misappropriated scapegoats for heart disease’ whom you blame for this ‘Brave New’ chemicalized monoculture of vegetable farming..
First, the knowledge that monocropping is an ‘ecologically malignant system’ is surely widespread among farmers (even non-farmers!) everywhere-!?That this most basic of farming fundamentals is ignored –-along with pollinator-starving herbicide spraying & other diabolical insults to key wilderness ecosystems-– has little to do with ‘veganic fanatics’ & more with corporate homogenization driven solely by profits & sales. Most vegans i know are among THE most conscious/ conscientious consumers of all –-at least in Canada, where vegans actively generate ‘continuous learning’ groups/ platforms to share info on ethically-sourced/ non-GMO/ organic/ regenerative farming (markets that continue to expand due to their efforts).
Suggesting vegans ‘unknowingly’ cause ‘degradation of soil fertility’ belie their core beliefs, which are rooted in compassion, evolution & science-forward learning —as opposed to corps laying waste to healthy ecosystems via mass applications of toxins to yield crop outputs & nothing more.. (& there’s NOTHING beneficial/ worthy about corps' undue influence on global food production/ security: theiR scourge of the Earth needs to die out along with their murderous influence on the future of farming!)
While i empathize with your nostalgia for mixed farming’s magical symbiosis of yore (how can i not, given your expose of modern-day monocrops draining soils of their natural nitrogen-rich healthfulness?), I'm certain most vegans/ vegetarians would prefer to preserve that ‘ethereal relationship flowing between the soil, the crops, the livestock and the landscape’ than support monocropping -- iF the ‘livestock’ in question weren’t destined for inevitably violent, bloody ends on slaughterhouse assembly-lines bereft of an ounce of the compassion needed to bring that idyllic vision to life-!?
The reality today is that meat-eating has become such an aggrandized ‘staple’ in people’s diets that animal-protein-related diseases abound –-including heart disease & obesity.. & in Asian cultures, encroachment on wildlife habitats is widely affirmed to bring contagious pandemics like COVID-19 into human populations. And that’s nothing to ignore. Whereas, even the most small-scale farmers on the planet have learned that the oppressive 'Big 3' demands of modern corporate farming --fungicides, herbicides & pesticides-- are degrading healthy plants & soils with long-term harms such as acidification & pollinator wipeout, which could well NiX the idealized goal of global food security.. & herald worldwide famine instead..
Here on Canada’s west coast, my vegan peers bear no resemblance to youR mistaken IDs of blind but well-meant NAiFs. So I must refute your view that vegans finagLed these sweeping veg-over-livestock revisions by making meat/ dairy 'the misappropriated scapegoats for heart disease'. Being vegan myself, i know firsthand that veganism's core raison d'etre revolves not around myopic obsessions with human health --but rather, abhors the way humans have corrupted their innate Dominion over all non-human beings, & thus REJECTS & BOYCOTTS aLL cruelty & disrespect of those whom WE see as our EQUALS who deserve to live happy lives free from oppression by heartless 'humans' who treat them as objects to use & abuse at will, without any thought of their inmates' feelings/ desires..
So while vegans eschew the products of human-inflicted oppression --including animal-derived clothing, 'entertainment' et al-- we welcome all efforts to better animals' lives & ease their pain. Sadly, the dynamics of yore --wherein humans may have taken to heart their roles as stewards respecting Mother Nature in taking from her what was needed to live (while replenishing that which was reaped--hence, 'SOW WHAT YE REAP') are mostly NO MORE.. Such lofty limits on human consumption/ exploitation, demanding CAREFUL BALANCE in managing nature's abundance, are RARE --if nonexistent-- in today's economics, wherein thoughtless acquisition/ extraction/ harvesting/ mining is the name of the game.. Sadly, it's a 'game' in which animals used for human consumption (of any kind) are condemned to unspeakable cruelty/ discomfort/ violence not of their choosing, from birth to death. Veganism aims above all to create a world that respects nature's laws & frees all living beings from the misery of entitled human enslavement..
False characterization aside, being a vegan consumer in a largely non-vegan world entails witnessing --daily-- the suffering of those that long to be free of human tyranny (alongside much opportunity for improvement, which i create/ take when i can).. Residing in Canada means sharing this country with miles & miles of treeless prairie grasslands eaten up (literally) by beef cattle ranches providing fast-food outlets with their best-selling menu items –still, despite the growing trend of their meatless/ ‘plant-based’/ vegan burger sectors: {YUP} BeeF burgers..
So much for the runaway, tyrannical success of veganism flooding the globe..😔 YES, in a way you’re depressingly right about the viral ignorance of the consumer majority: even during the most stringent lockdowns forced by COVID-19, they emerged in droves in single-driver bliss to line up end-to-end idling emissions at ubiquitous A&W/ BurgerKing/ McDonalds/ ETC. across North America in ‘social-distancing’ obedience with a renewed catatonia glazing over their short-lived eco-idealism that had so adrenalized NY’s 2020 with promises of rising collective Climate Action — only to be shot down by the sobering (almost freezing) new ‘normal’ of pandemic-paradigm rigidity. A giant PALL over ALL has STALLED the PROGRESS presumed to bring new hope for future gens with the influx of heartrendingly enthusiastic YOUTH to science-based Climate Activism. & THAT's a CRippLing SHAME..