Why should I go vegan?
ETHICS
Short answer
For the animals, your health, and the planet — three independently strong reasons that reinforce each other.
ETHICS
The detail
Animals: ~80 billion land animals and up to 2.3 trillion fish are killed for food each year. Behavioural and neurological evidence shows they experience pain, fear and joy.
Health: Vegan diets are associated with lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and some cancers, per multiple long-term cohort studies.
Planet: Animal agriculture uses 77% of farmland to produce 18% of calories (Poore & Nemecek, Science 2018), drives most tropical deforestation, and generates 14.5% of human-caused greenhouse gases.
Take a moment to calculate your 'environmental footprint' online to see how much water and carbon you could save by making the switch today. A 2018 study in the journal Science indicated that avoiding animal products is the single most effective way to reduce your impact on the Earth. Beyond the statistics, many people report a sense of 'moral consistency' that comes from aligning their daily actions with their innate compassion for animals.
Source: Poore J, Nemecek T, Science 2018; FAO 2013
RELATED
More questions like this
- Why go vegan instead of vegetarian?
Dairy and egg production kill animals too — male calves and male chicks in particular. Vegetarianism doesn't remove animal harm; it hides it.
- Is going vegan really better for the environment?
Yes. It cuts your food-related carbon, land and water use by about 50–75% each — the largest single action an individual can take.
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