When it comes to environmental activism and awareness, not many surpass the credentials of the 45th vice president of the United States of America, Al Gore. The author of numerous books, renowned speaker and a stalwart advocate for pro-active environmental action, Gore is also vegan.
Prior to his vegan transformation, Gore highlighted the devastating effect that the global meat industry was having on the environment:
“It’s absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis—not only because of the CO2 involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process.” [1]
Of course, Gore is absolutely correct about that. The amount of greenhouse gases emitted from animal agriculture is alarming.
“The United Nations’ report, Livestock’s Long Shadow says livestock farming is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transport (cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships and planes) combined (FAO, 2006).”
Not only that, but vast swathes of land need to be cleared of trees for animals to graze, which only adds to the growing problem of increased global carbon dioxide emissions fuelling climate change.
Gore’s move to veganism seemed then the natural thing to do, although interestingly at first, he was more curious about veganism than making the link between the two issues. However, once he had made the vegan conversion, Gore also came to appreciate the other benefits of the lifestyle, including his health. In 2013, he said:
“I changed my diet to a vegan diet, really just to experiment to see what it was like…I felt better, so I’ve continued with it and I’m likely to continue it for the rest of my life.” [3]
So as vegans, we’ll take a seal of approval, especially a vice presidential one!
[1] https://mercyforanimals.org/heres-why-al-gore-went-vegan
[2] https://www.vivahealth.org.uk/resources/meat-truth/environment-online
