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for the planet
for all species
Why Plant Based?
Why do we choose to be a plant based as a business? It's simple.
As a company that works in the outdoors, we see the impact that humans have on the environment every day. As such we want to do our part and minimise this impact. Below is a brief list of our whys.
The Environmental
Science tells us that the single biggest environmental footprint we have as a species is animal agriculture.
Animal agriculture has a massive environmental footprint. It is responsible for land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degradation and deforestation. Nowhere is this impact more apparent than anthropogenic climate change. Animal agriculture contributes to 18% of human produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This adds up to more than all the emissions from ships, planes, trucks, cars and all other transport put together. Animal agriculture also uses all of these in getting animals to market and to our plates. Add to this processing and refrigeration, and we have a massive footprint.
Every second, 1-2 acres of rainforest are burned for grazing livestock or growing animal feed. An average of 137 plant, animal, and insect species in tropical rainforests around the world go extinct every day because of the destruction of these biodiverse regions. Specifically within the Amazon rainforest which is home to at least 10 percent of the world’s known biodiversity. 91 percent of deforestation is caused by livestock.
Currently, livestock covers 45 percent of the Earth’s above water level land. As a result, one-third of land is desertified, meaning that the land is chronicall degraded, leading to a loss of soil productivity, less nutrients and carbon in the ground, and a lack of water absorption.
Water usage of the industry extremely large and damaging. The meat and dairy industry uses one-third of the Earth’s fresh water. Add to this damage done to waterways from effluent runoff, and the picture looks very grim.
Lastly fishing and its impact on our oceans adds to the total burden of animal agriculture on our environment. For every kilo of fish caught, 5 kilos of unintended marine species are caught and discarded. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, almost 90% of the world's fish stocks have been exploited, overexploited, or completely depleted. Some estimates show that we could see fishless oceans by 2048.
Research shows that this continued marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean’s capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, recover from disturbances, and regulate climate. The collapse of the ocean ecosystem will have catastrophic effects on our planet.
Anthropogenic climate change poses a diverse and pervading risk to the health and well-being of all species on our planet. An increased risk of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves, are the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century. Anthropogenic climate contributes to extensive habit loss, in addition to land clearing and pollution from human activities, all have a catastrophic impact on global biodiversity.
Choosing to go plant based, is the single biggest thing we each can do to help reduce these effects in the fastest possible manner. This is essential if we are to meet global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets – which are necessary to mitigate the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change.
Inefficient and Inequitable
Animal agriculture is also highly inefficient. To produce one kilogram of beef requires 25 kilograms of grain to feed the animal, and roughly 15,000 litres of water.
The scale of the problem can also be seen in land use. Around 30% of the earth’s land surface is currently used for animal agriculture. Since food, water and land are scarce in many parts of the world, this represents an inefficient use of resources.
Feeding grain to livestock increases global demand and drives up grain prices, making it harder for the world’s poor to feed themselves. Grain could instead be used to feed people, and water used to irrigate crops.
If all grain were fed to humans instead of animals, we could feed an extra 3.5 billion people. In short, industrial livestock farming is not only inefficient but also inequitable.
Your Health
At the production level, industrial livestock farming relies heavily on antibiotic use to accelerate weight gain and control infection. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest threats to both human and animal health today. AMR can affect anyone, of any age, and in any country. It can lead to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs and possibly death.
This contributes to the growing public health problem of antibiotic resistance. As this figure continues to rise, it becomes hard to not overstate the threat of this emerging crisis.
High meat consumption, especially of red and processed meat, which is typical of most rich industrialised countries, is linked with poor health outcomes, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and various cancers.
These diseases represent a major portion of the global disease burden, so reducing consumption could offer substantial public health benefits.
Currently, the average meat intake for someone living in a high-income country is 200-250g a day, far higher than the 80-90g recommended by the United Nations. Switching to a plant based diet could save up to 8 million lives a year worldwide by 2050 and lead to healthcare related savings and avoided climate change damages of up to $1.5 trillion.
Unethical
Last but certainly not least, animals are sentient creatures whose needs and interests matter. We should ensure these needs and interests are met and that we do not cause them to suffer unnecessarily.
Industrial livestock farming falls well short of meeting these needs and interests. Most meat, dairy and eggs are produced in ways that largely or completely ignore animal welfare. They do not provide sufficient space to move around, adequate contact with other animals, and often no access to the outdoors.
In short, industrial farming causes animals to suffer without good justification.
Most people agree that as a basic rule, an action that promotes the overall happiness of others is morally good, while an action that causes harm or suffering without good justification is morally wrong. The overall impact of animal agriculture causes harm on many levels.
Most people living in industrialised countries have unprecedented dietary choices. Our nutritional needs can now be met by consuming foods that are less harmful, therefore we ought to choose these over foods that are known to cause more harm.
A plant based diet is one of the easiest things we can do to live more ethically.
Plenty of AWESOME Alternatives
There are so many awesome and yummy alternatives to choose from in an ever growing market. It is a veritable feast for your senses if you choose to step away from preconceived ideas and conventions. We strive to deliver some of these to you when you come on our tours :)
This is why we choose to be 100% Plant Based as a Business :)
