Anti-Vegan is Anti-Human (video script)

[Red]

Hey so I'm planning on making my next video about the effects of animal agriculture on humans. I'd appreciate any feedback or criticism. Tell me what parts I should cut out/are too boring.

“We are, quite literally, gambling with the future of our planet- for the sake of hamburgers.”
-Peter Singer

You know I was gonna do this deep and elaborate intro about what’s at stake and how you shouldn’t be turned away by this video because it supports veganism, but this video is gonna be longer than usual, so I’m just going to get right into it. This video is not going to discuss the ethical arguments for veganism in how it affects the animals, rather it’s going to be about how veganism is still an ethical choice because of how animal agriculture hurts humans. I mean, I do think the ethical arguments for veganism are still the strongest, and I am an ethical vegan at heart, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other reasons for you to go vegan, vegetarian or at least cut down on meat consumption.

Even if you are the biggest human supremacist in the history of mankind and you don’t give a sweet fuck about the animals and are only interested in what benefits humanity, you should STILL try to eliminate meat consumption; The reasons for this also stem from an ethical standpoint; Many who go vegan or vegetarian do so for ethical reasons related to animal suffering or animal rights, but you don’t necessarily have to care about the animals if you’re gonna go vegan.

A lot of this reasoning can be traced back to climate change. O-ho-ho-ho, yes, climate change, the uncomfortable reality of our time. I know people don’t think it’s an issue since we don’t talk about it anymore, but believe you me, it’s still probably the biggest issue of our time. We all know the basic science behind it, greenhouse gases get released into the atmosphere, which causes more heat to be trapped in Earth’s system, raising the climate and causing immense problems for humans and civilization, including, but not limited to, displacement, famine due to crop failure, rioting and potential civil wars (fun things to think about, I know). We all know fossil fuels are the biggest contributor, but for most of us, there isn’t much we can do about that, aside from cutting down on excessive energy use and voting for politicians who support clean energy. Practical clean energy. Many rely on energy and electricity to survive, or at least make life much more comfortable. Technology just makes life better. Sure, it’s possible to live without it, but I don’t feel as though anyone should be forced to give up these comforts, and I’m sure you’d agree with me. There is good news; you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint without hampering your overall quality of life; Eliminate animal products. The amount of greenhouse gases emitted by our livestock range from about 16% to 30% of all emissions! 16 or 30, that’s still very significant. The reason why the number varies is because it really depends on what you’re taking into account. I’m not gonna go into the boring science, I’ll just gonna put some maths and sources in the description if you’re interested. Cows are definitely the biggest contributor, but chickens and pigs add to that amount to. Chickens do have the smallest footprint out of all livestock but keep it in mind, going plant based removes all of those emissions, even some smaller emissions from poultry is still excessive. Unfortunately, the number of greenhouse emissions tends to be exaggerated by documentaries such as Cowspiracy, which does a lot of double counting and taking into account things they really shouldn’t, which leads to a ridiculous figure of 50% (You shouldn’t need to exaggerate claims to make an important point). However, the overall message of the documentary still stands, that is, animal agriculture makes up a pretty significant percentage of the emissions pie. If I were to estimate, in terms of optional emissions (that is, emissions that aren’t necessary for our infrastructure, economy and quality of life), meat consumption makes up about 75%ish? Th-th-th-the main takeaway from this segment I suppose is that since our infrastructure relies so much on fossil fuels, there generally isn’t very much the average person can do about that, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t emissions we can’t do anything about on an individual level, and eliminating meat consumption gives the best bang for the buck in that respect.

It isn’t just the animals who are polluting. Remember that animals require food and water to live, and those add pretty considerable amounts. Growing plant foods such as soy and corn (the primary animal feed) have their own emissions too (though not as much), and also leads to more deforestation. It just adds even MORE to the amount they already emit. Also, I’m sure you’ve heard this factoid around the internet a few times, that it takes a lot more water to produce a pound of meat than any other food? 1800 gallons for one pound of beef? 576 Gallons for a pound of pork. 468 for a pound of poultry. Compare those to say 100 gallons for a pound of apples. 61 for a pound of tofu. 34 for a pound of potatoes, you get the idea. Not only are these things relevant now since it’s a lot of unnecessary emissions, but it’s a long term thing too; Given the planet’s increasing population, we will not be able to feed the world with meat if we want everyone to live sustainably. It’s the people in richer countries that contribute most to these emissions; In many poor regions of the earth, people pretty much eat plant foods, since meat is too expensive for them, and thermodynamics, it’s better to just eat the plants. Global Food Charities such as Food For Life feed people with plants not because they’re a vegan organization, but because that’s how they efficiently feed the most amount of people as possible. The only reason why meat is pretty cheap in developed countries is because we subsidize the hell out of animal agriculture, especially in the US. The point I’m trying to hammer in if you will when I’m discussing the water and food taken by these animals is how energy intensive animal agriculture is. Think of it this way; which is more efficient, eating 500 calories of plant based food, or 500 calories of an animal who consumed those plants for energy? Thermodynamics indicates that the former is the efficient option. (We might need to subsidize the transition from animal to vegan agriculture to give people the skills to manage land where it’s hard to grow crops, but with less land needed to grow crops we can also look at rewilding land for tourism. Add onscreen)

My point isn’t necessarily that if we are to all go vegan all those people will be automatically fed (the world hunger argument is more nuanced than some believe), rather it helps show that we currently use so much food and land inefficiently just for the sake of meat. We’re always talking about deforestation, and the effects that it has on the environment and habitats of animals, meanwhile animal agriculture is the biggest cause of deforestation. It’s so insidious, I mean, could you think of a more effective way to unnecessarily pollute the Earth?

None of this is to say that going vegan entirely eliminates your environmental footprint; You know, just because you go vegan doesn’t mean you get to go for a joyride in a hummer without any impact. You should still reduce where you can. My point is that going vegan is the easiest and most impactful way to reduce your footprint. I don’t want to be accused of committing any no-true-scotsman fallacy here, but this is honestly how I feel: I don’t think you can be considered a true environmentalist if you aren’t vegan or at least not making an effort to reduce meat consumption.

Oh yeah, and don’t give me that ‘Oh I buy local!’ or ‘I buy organic!’ cause newsflash, that’s a buncha crap, and can make things worse off. I know this is counterintuitive as hell, Local meat is usually worse for the environment than factory farmed meat due to the animals not being fattened up as quickly; This means they live longer and will emit more methane. On factory farms, things are more efficient since they fatten the animals up faster, leading to sooner slaughter. Oh yeah, speaking of which, something quick to add here while I’m on it, the use of antibiotics on livestock in factory farms brings the increased risk of superbugs, that is, pathogens resistant to antibiotics, which will threaten many lives. Just putting that out there. So yeah, damned if ya do, damned if ya don’t, really. The best consumer behavior here is to just not eat meat. Which reminds me...

This is an unpopular opinion, and I will try to keep this short (and trust me, if I didn’t we’d be here for another 20 minutes), but I am sick and tired of people who don’t think they hold any responsibility in regards to climate change. I’m talking about the people who make posts about how it’s the fossil fuel companies who are responsible for all the climate change, and the individual is not to blame. If you’ve seen my previous videos, you know I share no love for fossil fuels, but don’t you think it’s a bit naive to deny any and all responsibility for climate change on the individual level? Do you really think you share none of that blame? These companies are only breeding and slaughtering animals because we want to buy those products. Maybe you weren’t aware of the severe problems of animal agriculture. That’s fair enough. But now you are though. Still don’t think you have any environmental impact? I mean I hate to redpill or blackpill or whatever color pill here but I don’t have any hope in fixing climate change; that dream of mine died a while back. It seems to be inevitable given how things are currently going, and it doesn’t seem as though governments are going to be proactive on this; But that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything to at least damage control it or something. It is time for us, as citizens and consumers to take matters into our own hands and do our part to stop climate change, and as inconvenient as it may be to some, that involves eliminating meat consumption.

To be fair, it is hypothetically possible to reduce your carbon footprint more than going vegan; That is, if you’re fine without AC in the summer or Heat in the winter, taking colder, shorter showers sparingly, only taking public transit, hardly ever do laundry, and derive all your entertainment from sources that don’t require energy such as phones or video games… but none of that seems very comfortable. If you really want to reduce your carbon footprint, why not just stop eating meat, since it comes to that point of inconvenience otherwise?

It’s not just the environment that is at issue; If you’re watching this (and are able to understand the language I am speaking), I can safely assume you are a first worlder. If you look at the health of the average first worlder, you’ll see it is pretty bad. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and deficiencies in many nutrients can all be traced back to the Standard American Diet, or SAD for short (and it is pretty sad). Believe it or not, high intakes of cheeseburgers, sweets, processed junk, butter, and fried foods with low intake of fruits and vegetables isn’t very good for you. Meat in general is pretty bad for you, especially given how some restaurants prepare it. A diet rich in that nice good cholesterol isn’t a recipe for health, snd despite what the quacks from groups such as THINC claim, it’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that cholesterol is bad for you. There is plenty of high quality evidence to support not only that but health issues with meat consumption in general. I’m gonna link it all in the description since I don’t want to bore anyone, but whenever you see a study or something published that says that a diet high in saturated fats and cholesterol is good for you (or similarly, that animal agriculture can help reverse climate change), just remember this; When anyone makes any claim that goes against a scientific consensus, it’s a good idea to be skeptical of it. Spreading this type of misinformation is a pretty lucrative business, especially these days, and there are some people out there desperate to exploit you for money. Don’t let them take advantage of you.

Anyway, a kinda crappy vegan diet is usually (probably) better than the standard WPD, since you’ve removed a significant amount of saturated fats, and you’ve eliminated cholesterol. Seriously, you can’t do much worse than the standard American Diet (If you you can eat like crap on a vegan diet knock yourself out, it’s still preferable since it isn’t harming anyone else). Of course, just because you don’t eat meat that does not automatically make you healthier by default, as you should still try to meet your daily nutritional requirements, which isn’t as hard as it sounds. We should be moving towards more plant based foods to encourage the consumption of healthier foods for society at large.

There’s an argument people like to throw out against veganism, is that vegans are malnourished, and I’d like to call bullshit on that. There are so many plant foods out there to help reach your minimum nutritional goals. Some people have the idea that vegans eat nothing but salads, but nothing can be further from the truth (I think I’ve only had salad like once in my entire life, and I didn’t even finish it). A properly planned Vegan diet can satisfy all of your nutritional needs, and thensome. ‘Oh but what about muh B12??’ Yes, it is true that it is difficult to find Vitamin B12 in high amounts compared to a diet that includes meat, but it’s important to note that B12 doesn’t come from meat, it comes from a bacteria, and we’ve been able to use that bacteria to make a supplement in the 50’s. So OK, the B12 issue was a good concern for before the 1950’s, so what about now?

I’m gonna disprove the notion that vegans are malnourished right now with the help of Cronometer, which measures your daily nutrient intake. I’m gonna reach every goal here within one day of meals with nothing but vegan food. Here goes: For breakfast, how about some Oatmeal with blueberries with an apple and a glass of calcium and vitamin D fortified orange juice, B12 Supplement along with it, for lunch have a nice Tofurky Sandwich with some tomato and avocado on whole wheat bread with a side of pumpkin seeds and one of my banana berry smoothies, have 2 sweet potatoes as a snack, for dinner have 2 Gardein Chick’n Scappolinis with a can of Kidney Beans and a spinach and kale mix with an orange seltzer for a drink, and for dessert have a nice cup of Chai tea with soy milk in it with some walnuts; There. A 100% vegan day, and I’ve met all of the nutritional standards on Cronometer and left many of them in the dust. Can we now count the whole ‘Vegans are malnourished’ thing as myth? The standard american diet, let’s be honest, isn’t satisfying many of these nutritional requirements. I was going to go through a day of the standard american diet, but I don’t need to; Research shows that such a diet leads to deficiencies in Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, magnesium, and Vitamins A, C and E, but nooo it’s always about how vegans never get enough B12. Look, if you have any more concerns regarding getting all your nutrition on a vegan diet, I recommend checking out resources by nutrition experts Jack Norris, Ginny Messina, and Michael Greger. They offer pretty easy to follow nutritional advice which can help you stay on track.
I’m planning on making a video in the future about ways to make going veg easier, but I think it’s important to quickly address this now, that is, the difficulties some people may face when giving up meat. It’s often said that when you go vegan, you don’t give up anything. C’mon, what do you think this is, 1785? You buy mock meats just like the beyond burger. This is the industrial age! The Supermarket fellers all have them. Go to your local supermarket or even your local Walmart and try some Vegan mock meats, and use them to replace some of the meat in your diet; For example, like having burgers and chicken tendies? Try swapping out the meat for a Beyond Burger and some Gardein chicken fingers. Instead of putting cold cuts on your sandwich, try out some of Tofurkey’s vegan deli slices. Replace the cow’s milk in your fridge with either almond, soy, rice, oat, hemp milk (guaranteed you’ll like at least one of ‘em). I also suggest some of FollowYourHeart’s stuff for cheese and egg replacements. Just google Mock meat brands, you’ll be surprised at how many there are; Go to each company’s website and use their store locator. No, not every mock meat is good, there’s a pretty good amount of them that taste like dogshit. But, this is why buying mock meats is so important; it shifts market signals towards them more, so when the companies see that more people are showing an interest in mock meats, they’ll invest more in them and contribute more to making them taste even more like meat, and, on top of that, help drive the price down. I do agree that most mock meats don’t quite taste exactly like meat, but we’re getting pretty close, and not buying mock meats isn’t gonna help that. Ever since Burger King introduced their version of the Impossible Burger, we as consumers have to buy them instead of the actual Whopper to tell them that we want this over that; If Burger King sees enough interest in meat-free alternatives, they’ll start investing in making vegan replacements for other menu items, such as their chicken nuggets or their bacon sandwiches. If they start turning a good profit on it, other restaurant chains such as McDonald’s and Wendys will join in on the competition, making the price of their vegan foods even lower.

Maybe you aren’t quite ready to give up meat wholesale, yet you still realize all the issues that animal agriculture has in the modern world; Then maybe you should try out a Reducitarian diet, which as the name implies, you reduce your animal product intake. Even eliminating animal products one day of the week (Meatless Mondays) has a significant effect. Hell, if you’re feeling courageous you can crank that up to 2 or even 3 days a week? Maybe you can participate in Veganuary (vegan for just January), or a vegan before 6 diet (which is pretty much just meat for dinner). I recommend checking out Reducitarian to help you get started. Anything you can to cut down, even if it’s not all the way. Just cutting down on a bad thing is still overall a good thing. I just want you to at least make some sort of effort to change for the better; This is your chance to actually start making a real difference in the world; I know you’re capable of that. Maybe you won’t go vegan or even vegetarian, and that’s fine. The goal is to get you to move in the right direction to help the world out in any way you can; And for many of us, it begins right on our plates.

[Red]

BTW If anyone has a better idea for a title lemme know.