Veganism

Veganism is the theory or practice of abstaining from the consumption and use of animal products. While some vegans avoid only animal-derived food, many others also exclude any items that use animals as ingredients or for testing. These prohibited products can range from clothing (e.g., leather) to makeup. Dietary veganism differs from vegetarianism in that vegetarians may choose to consume some animal-derived foods such as milk, eggs, and honey on the grounds that animals do not need to be slaughtered to obtain these products. Veganism is motivated by a variety of reasons, including personal health, animal rights, environmentalism, and ethics. It is generally practiced less as a dietary preference and more as a lifestyle choice and form of activism.

Vegan activism more recently has also focused on the relationship between the consumption and use of animal products and climate change. On a global level, intensive animal farming has been shown to be a major contributor of the greenhouse gases causing global warming. On local levels, intensive animal farms and feedlots can pollute air and water in their immediate locations. The rise in livestock production for food has led to a dramatic increase in deforestation, especially in the Amazon region. Author Jonathan Safran Foer, who explored the ethics of meat consumption in his book Eating Animals (2009), wrote about the effects of animal consumption on climate change in his book We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (2019). In addition, activists have accused factory farming of committing animal cruelty.

There is debate about the nutritional health of a strictly vegan diet. Some studies say vegans are at risk of being deficient in protein and certain vitamins and minerals, notably B12, iron, zinc, and calcium. Proponents of veganism say modern protein requirements are inflated and that nutrients usually found in meat, fish, and dairy can be replaced by nutrients in vegetables, legumes, and fruit and in the form of fortified foods, such as vitamin-enriched breakfast cereals and plant-derived supplements.