Becoming plant-based from an environmental perspective doesn’t work, because you’re still free to exploit animals, just to lesser degree.

Let’s say everyone goes 75% plant based. That would indeed reduce the demand and supply 75%. A 75% reduction in environmental impact, great from a consequentialist perspective.

But in a capitalist world, a shrinking supply means a higher cost, resulting people protesting and demanding government intervention towards the cost and unavailability of meat, which would result in backtracking to appease people.

Without everyone becoming vegan and rejecting animal exploitation on ethical grounds, reducitarianism doesn’t work if your goal is to stop the acceleration of climate change. Everyone would need to go 0% consumption of animal products and completely negate all supply and demand.

Veganism is the solution, but the motivation must be from a staunch moral position, or else people will waffle on their commitment.

Im sure you are right about that. I don’t think any argument I could present would convince you otherwise. I just hope you are happy, and if you haven’t found happiness, that you find it.

It cracks me up when the carnivore crowd claims there’s some massive Seventh-Day Adventist plant-based lobby spending billions, trying to convert everyone to veganism.

If that were the case, the billions would be tremendous waste of money for the worst marketing campaign of all time, based on the number of vegans in the world.

Great insight. The primary reason people shy away from veganism is because they’re afraid eating a plant-based diet is “gross.” I get frustrated when plant-based products on store shelves are subpar, or when restaurants serve plant-based food that doesn’t appeal to nonvegans. The way to people’s hearts is through their stomachs.

Asking why people are like this without genuinely seeking to understand is just bemoaning the state of the world. The world is a place of unavoidable ignorance and suffering.

Most of us were nonvegan before becoming vegan. We know damn well why people choose to consume animal products. They’re wrapped up in their own suffering via capitalism and only want the familiarity and convenience of emotional comfort via food, after another stressful day at work.

If one can understand that most people are suffering from ignorance and have a hard time accessing their compassion, the one can relieve a lot of their angst at the world. Then, one can develop compassion for all who are suffering, human and nonhuman alike.

Awesome progress from a welfarist perspective, I guess. The pigs are still victims of exploitation.

I don’t do this to make the world a better place, I’m vegan because of a commitment to developing compassion from a place of virtue ethics and Buddhist principles. This world IS shit, but if everyone developed compassion, it would be a better place.

I do this to develop into a better person, and I answer to my own conscience. Acting to withdraw my support of animal exploitation is a way of better living for myself. All sentient creatures need to be treated with compassion.