for more on these). And it’s a good source of omega-3 fats, iron, zinc and calcium.
Soy fields are a cause of rainforest deforestation, but this soy is grown for animal feed.
Significant amounts of the Amazonian rainforest are being destroyed every day, and these trees are crucial to our planet’s survival. They are the lungs of our planet, and their loss is a significant factor in contributing to climate change.
A large amount of the rainforest deforestation occurs to make way for large, monocrop soy fields. This has been used regularly to illustrate that vegans’ choice of soy milk is poor. But that’s not the full story!
Eighty per cent of the soy that is grown in the Amazon (the soy for which the rainforests are being destroyed) is fed to animals, [63] and indeed up to 90% of the rainforest’s total deforestation is for animal agriculture.[64] But as we’ve seen, only 6% of the soy produced globally is consumed by humans.[65] So, while it is true that the megafields of soy are causing mass destruction of the rainforest, it’s the animal agriculture industry that is causing it and utilising the soy.
Also, when comparing the environmental impact that soy has on the planet versus an animal-based protein like beef, you should take into consideration all the soy the animal has consumed as part of its lifecycle. When framed like this it seems silly to compare the two. Rearing an animal is a much less efficient way to get protein, with only a fraction of the energy that is fed to the animal as plants being available to humans as meat. (See here).
So, despite what many people would have you believe, you should feel free to consume soy with a clear conscience, from both a health and environmental perspective. It’s good for your body and is much more environmentally friendly, when you look at all the factors involved, than eating a comparable animal protein. Miso, soy sauce, soy milk, edamame, tofu and tempeh are all wonderful choices for you to include in your diet. We highly recommend getting on board with soy. It doesn’t deserve its bad reputation, and in fact is part of the solution to the planet’s ills, not part of the problem.
CAN I REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
When we told our friend Naushard we’d gone vegan, he exclaimed that he’d found a flaw in our plan. He discovered that the motivation was climate change. And so, with a devilish look in his eye, he told us jokingly (or not jokingly) that for every steak we didn’t eat, he was going to eat two steaks!
Great banter. Naushard is a funny guy. But let’s delve into his threat for a moment. Not only did he not buy into our logic about cutting out meat having a positive impact. He didn’t think that our not eating meat was going to make any difference at all. But he was also threatening to ensure that our change didn’t make any tangible difference anyway, by upping his meat intake to counter our meat decrease. Funny. And kind of evil.
The last time we saw Naushard, we were shocked to hear that he had given up meat. ‘I don’t eat steak anymore. I’m still eating fish, but no more steaks.’
To hear him backtrack was a genuine shock. He is the last person you would expect to go back on his word. He would prefer to keep the joke going at the expense of the truth if it made it funnier. And here he was admitting that he had not only broken his promise, but had done a total about-turn and joined us in the beef-free camp!
We see this all the time. We love it and it’s one of the best things about our job. Talk to any vegan, and they’ll have a story like this one. And it goes to show that you really do make a difference to those around you. We all affect everyone we come into contact with. What we are saying is that the system will never change if you don’t change first. Often, too, we’ve found it’s the ones who mock you the most who join you in the end – just like Henry used to laugh at Ian when he first went vegan!
Every big change in history has been started by a small collection of individuals, striving for a better world.
Whether it’s the creation of the United Nations as a peacekeeping organisation after World War 2,[66] the abolition of slavery or the global, ongoing move away from tobacco. These movements towards a better world were spearheaded by individuals changing their own views and actions, which in turn affected the views of others.
When people ask us why we’re vegan, one of our responses is: ‘To avoid awkward conversations with our unborn children.’ Our generation – and the generation before us – has presided over the biggest extinction event in recent history, and it is the next generation that will pay the price for our inaction.
You really can make a difference to the world just by virtue of the decisions you make.
There can be no greater way to care for the happiness of others than to preserve the planet and future for them. The predictions of where the planet may end up otherwise are too grave to consider. We owe it to our young people to do something about climate change before it’s too late. The effects of our actions will be felt by them. They will be clearing up our mess. Think about the conversations you’ll have with them in the future. ‘What did you do when we could have stopped climate change, Daddy?!’
It may feel easier to avoid responsibility by thinking that the problem is bigger than us, or has been around longer than us. But to put it into perspective, consider how long humans have existed, and how recently climate change has escalated.
Humans have been on the planet for 12,000 years, but it’s only in the past 140 years that we‘ve burned fossil fuels, which has caused a lot of our current problems. Just 30 years ago, we knew most of what we know now about climate change, and we nearly put the wheels in motion to stop it. But we didn’t. And since then we have done almost everything in our power to make it worse. We have a couple of decades to stop complete, irreversible disaster. It’s crunch time.[67]
We can’t sit back and do nothing. Let’s spend our time on Earth trying to fix what we’ve broken – and enjoy some amazing food along the way!
YOUR MONEY IS YOUR VOTE
The money you spend is a vote for how you believe the world should be. Every single thing you buy fuels the economy. Every plant-based product that you buy tells the global economy that you want more plant-based – and therefore more sustainable – products. And every animal product that you buy tells the global economy that you want to continue to consume animal products, which are, we know, significantly worse for the planet.
What the world needs, for us to survive, is for us to spend our money on delivering change. If enough of us change our buying habits, then we can take our planet off the pressure cooker. We can start to put measures in place to cool it again, while letting the animal kingdom recover.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
