I do not agree with veganism as a moral standard. If it is your personal moral stance, that is fine. If you think humans eating meat is inherently immoral, I don’t want to deal with you, you’re hopeless. Vegan ideology behaves more like a sect of evangelical Christianity than a dietary choice.
Veganism is better for the environment, but claiming that it's a morally superior choice ignores cultural and economic factors that make people eat animal products.
It is not inherently better for the environment. That is the thing. When you begin trying to explain that local, sustainably sourced animal protein is better for the environment than imported plant proteins that are farmed 3,500 miles away using slave labor, they start tuning you out. Down is better for the environment than polyester stuffing, leather is better for the environment than pleather. We should work on making animal agricultural practices more sustainable instead of trying to shame everyone into eating plant products that are also farmed unethically and unsustainably.
Veganism - vegetarianism, even - is only viable for
Wealthy people
People who live in a very small part of the world that produces enough protein-based plants year round to sustain the locals.
For everyone else, it's a diet based on colonialism and imports. The ancient nordic people were not omnivores because they disdained plants as real food; they were omnivores because THERE ARE NO EDIBLE PLANTS IN WINTER.
Repeat for desert regions that have several months of "it's too hot and dry for plants to feed people and still survive themselves" and rocky coastline areas with "if you don't eat fish & eggs, you won't get any protein because there aren't enough seeds or nuts and you can't grow things that produce them."
We do live in a society where most people can afford to be vegetarian. We have plenty of imported plants, including protein-heavy plants. But locavore beats the hell out of herbivore for sustainability and ethical environmentalism.
