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Science
thegryphon.co.uk
Veganuary vs. Regenuary: Why there is only one winner
Image: steemit.com
The facts behind why locally sourced meat and dairy produce can’t be considered more sustainable than veganism
and the internet – which I wouldn’t blame you for in the current climate – you’ll have heard of Veganuary. It is a movement that originated in 2014 to encourage people to try veganism for the pledged to give up meat and dairy for 31 days. Since then, popularity has snowballed year on year, with over 500,000 people signing up for Veganuary 2021; quite a staggering increase. According to the Vegan Society, the number of self-declared vegans has increased from 150,000 (0.25% of the population) in 2014 to 600,000 (1.16% of the population) The increase in popularity of veganism has caused meat and dairy farmers to feel targeted. Now I’m not talking about factory farming, where animals
than simply choosing not to eat well raised animals”. This claims that importing avocados and almonds, apparently “vegan staples”, from South America and California is worse than locally sourced meat. A 2017 study conducted an extensive literature review and found that, per kg, UK beef and UK pork produce 20 and 5 times the emissions of avocados, respectively. It’s also worth mentioning that avocados and nuts aren’t solely reserved for vegans. One key point the Ethical Butcher makes is that Regenuary can be for both vegans and omnivores. What they fail to recognise is that an omnivore can take part in Veganuary for one month and then
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as a commodity. Instead, I’m talking about local, smaller scale farms, where animals are arguably treated well throughout their lives, even if the end result is them being killed for meat. Some would argue this is acceptable and this article is not here to pass judgement on that. It will instead fact-check some common misconceptions about buying local vs. buying vegan. A post by Ethical Butcher has made a few waves in recent weeks. This post stated that Veganuary should be replaced by Regenuary, where the most important criteria is where produce comes from. In this post, multiple bold and baseless claims were made. Let’s start with “swapping out beef and pork for nuts and avocado is worse for the environment
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Katherine Graves
Even the lowest impact meat, organic pork, was responsible for more than 8 times the climate cost than the highest impact plants
return to eating meat and dairy products. It could be argued that Veganuary is more accessible than Regenuary, as veganism comes at a much lower cost – meat and cheese substitutes aside. Buying local meat and cheese produce, however, tends to be more expensive, with butchers and delis generally having higher prices than supermarkets. On to the next claim: “if all foods eaten for a month, … are not imported, and the animals are farmed using regenerative agriculture, now that could save the world.” As lovely as this sounds, it is just not the case. An analysis of the highly renowned Global Emission Model for Integrated Systems (GEMIS)
database concluded that organic meat is not better for the environment. Even the lowest impact meat; organic pork, was responsible for more than 8 times the climate cost than the highest impact plants. This further shows that organic and local doesn’t necessarily equate to the most environmentally friendly option. Another claim the post makes is that “soya deforestation of South America”. This is not untrue; a lot of deforestation occurs so that soya can be grown. However, if you look at what the soy is used for then the Ethical Butcher’s point is somewhat moot. Globally, only 6% of soya is grown directly for humans, whereas 75-80% (up to 96% in the Amazon) is for farmed animals. The excessive deforestation to grow soya plants is caused by the demand for meat and really can’t be blamed on vegans. From a sustainability point of view, there is no competition: Veganuary wins against Regenuary shop local and vegan, which ultimately is the most sustainable option. However, the demonisation of meat and dairy farmers is very toxic. Yes, we should move towards reducing our meat and dairy intake, whether for our own health, the environment, or the welfare of animals, but meat and dairy farmers, who make up a large proportion of rural communities, should also be given support to make this transition as they are currently left by the wayside. This breeds movements like #regenuary, which spreads misinformation about the true environmental impacts of meat and dairy, and further increases the divide between meat eaters and vegans.
Barking mad: Dogs may be smarter than you think words. The dogs could not distinguish between
Indi Lacey Man’s best friends are capable of learning simple commands, some breeds with greater ease than others, and can quickly learn where treats are stored in a house or even the way home from regular walking routes. Their intelligence has allowed for the existence of guide and service dogs, and even to help in therapy. They have the ability to deceive other dogs and humans alike, and some can even count up to 5 and solve simple arithmetic. These abilities place dogs at a similar mental capacity as a 2-year-old child. However, a question which has puzzled animal behaviour researchers is why dogs cannot seem to
comparison the average human knows 20,000 to 35,000. Only a select few dogs, in particular one more well studied Border Collie called Rico, are able to achieve “fast track learning” which is the way humans learn words. This enables these dogs to distinguish and respond to between 200 and 250 words. Still, this of 2, are able to add between 10 and 20 words to their vocabulary each week. A recent study in Hungary tested the ability of 44 example “sit” from similar sounding words such as “sip” and “set”, and non-similar sounding nonsense
them by only one sound, but could readily distinguish between the nonsense words and words they did know. This is similar to the processing skills of a 1-year-old human, who would tend to group similar sounding words into instructional based categories rather than focus on small changes between words. However, humans go on to expand their vocabulary after this stage while dogs do not. The reasoning for this is still uncertain as the researchers seem sure that it is not for lack of ability, and certainly some dogs have shown a high ability to expand and advance their vocabulary.
