Why aren't you Vegan?

You don't need to but as it's so good for the environment it is a good reason to go vegan. And rather than looking at it as why should we restrict ourselves unnecessarily it should be why should we cause suffering unnecessarily? If we can live without exploiting others, and it's not difficult, why shouldn't we?

By being vegan you not only restrict your own diet you restrict what it is possible to do to help the environment and animal welfare.

PDF document from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) which I think is probably worth reading, it highlight some of the environmental issues that come with being vegetarian / vegan.

My main issue with it is the fact that we'd need far more land space to be able to grow enough produce, which means more forests are likely to be cut down, which would then mean more animals are having their habitats destroyed. The land required for all these crops to replace beef and lamb is about 1,352 kilo hectares (kha), compared with about 135 kha to supply concentrates for ruminant meat now.

Not to mention the fact that the crops will most likely be covered in pesticides which means that any insects once inhabiting the area will inevitably start to decline. I believe you also have the right to shoot animals such as deer if they are causing damage to crops in some places, and other forms of preventing damage caused by these animals are using dogs, and electric and non-electric fences.

As far as I'm concerned, not eating meat is actually doing more harm to animals than if we were to continue eating it.

Edit: Found some articles I felt might be relevant.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

https://www.theguardian.com

@TommyCT, surprised you haven't responded to this yet with that fancy new vegan account you've made for yourself.

Truthfully, I find vegetarians and vegans to have very little idea about the realities of farming. For many farmers, the welfare of their animals is a priority. People go into farming because they love animals. You can't do it if you don't because it's hard work, long hours and relatively low incomes. Many dairy farmers in this country struggle to make a profit unless they make butter/cheese/ice cream etc. on site.

Also lost of veggies/vegans talk about the amount of land used to rear livestock without understanding that often land used for livestock farming is utterly unsuitable for arable farming.

Animal products taste nice.
I couldn't be bothered with the restrictions on my diet.
To support British animal farming.

On that last point you'd be brave to be vegan where I live. It has a tendency to go down badly in communities whose economies are foudned upon meat and dairy farms

What strange comment to make.

I won't reply to every comment on this thread, I just came to see what reasons people were saying. Someone commented they have no reasons, so I provided some. You don't know me or have a reason to expect me to reply to everything, so I don't understand why you're 'surprised'?

Anyway, I don't have time to read the whole PDF, would be better if you can give me some direct quotes and I can reply to them individually, I can't dissect every PDF thrown at me. I can also send you some pro-vegan documentaries and statistics too, will you watch them?

"My main issue with it is the fact that we'd need far more land space to be able to grow enough produce, which means more forests are likely to be cut down, which would then mean more animals are having their habitats destroyed. The land required for all these crops to replace beef and lamb is about 1,352 kilo hectares (kha), compared with about 135 kha to supply concentrates for ruminant meat now."

It think you're forgetting that we feed the animals; we're turning more food into less food. If you cut out the middle part then we won't need to grow more produce as a whole, we'll grow less.

Because I like meat and I'm a carnivore who regularly needs protein to maintain muscle. Oh and I know you don't need meat for protein, but it's easier and it's tasty, if it helps I only eat free range.

Perhaps 'meant for' is the wrong term entirely considering the fact that nothing intended for humans to be as we are now. If that makes sense.

We have everything to kill, tear, chew and digest flesh so I and many others have no qualms eating meat. It's just as natural to eat meat.