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Is Veganism Actually Good for the Environment? A Reality Check.

  • Writer: Emanuele Bortolotto
    Emanuele Bortolotto
  • Jul 20
  • 5 min read

Updated: Sep 8


It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Konala, Helsinki. The sky is a pleasant, non-threatening shade of blue, the birds are chirping, and the planet is gently roasting like a marshmallow over a campfire that has gotten slightly out of control. It’s the kind of day that makes one ponder the big questions. Am I happy? What is the point of it all? Is this little plate of lentils I’m eating making any difference whatsoever?

We hear it all the time: going vegan is the best thing you can do for the planet. But is it true? Does swapping a burger for a bean patty actually do anything, or is it just a self-important gesture in a world of oil tankers and private jets?

Let’s investigate. Let's take a look at the hard data behind veganism and the environment and see if our dietary choices are saving the world, or just making us awkward at barbecues for no reason.


The Elephant in the Room (Or the Cow in the Field)


When we talk about environmental damage, we often think of cars and planes. And those are important. But one of the biggest, most destructive forces on our planet is something we interact with every single day: our food system. Specifically, the part of it that involves raising billions of animals for food.

The impact of animal agriculture isn't just one thing; it's a multi-pronged assault on the planet's life support systems. The three main fronts in this war are Land, Air, and Water.


The Land Grab: Earth's Sprawling Pasture


This is the big one. The single biggest environmental impact of your food is how much land it takes to produce it. And animal products are unbelievably land-hungry.

A landmark 2018 study from the University of Oxford found that meat and dairy production uses a staggering 83% of the world's farmland, despite providing only 18% of our calories. It's the most inefficient system imaginable. We clear-cut vast, ancient ecosystems just to grow crops to feed to an animal, which we then eat. It’s like buying a whole bakery just to get a single croissant, and then setting the bakery on fire.

This massive land use is the number one driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss. When you clear-cut a forest in the Amazon to make a pasture for cattle, you're not just deleting trees. You’re deleting an entire, irreplaceable ecosystem. It’s like deleting all the non-playable characters, creatures, and plants in a region of Skyrim just so you have more room to park your horse. It’s a catastrophic loss of life, all for a steak. The Oxford study found that a global switch to a vegan diet could reduce our food-related land use by 76%. That's an area the size of the United States, China, the European Union, and Australia combined.


The Air Up There: More Than Just Cow Burps


The conversation around animal agriculture and greenhouse gases often gets reduced to "cow farts." Which is not only inaccurate (it’s mostly burps), but it also dramatically undersells the problem.

Animal agriculture is responsible for about 15% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. That's more than all the world's cars, planes, trains, and ships combined. These emissions come in three main flavors:


  • Methane (CH4): This comes from the digestive process of cows and sheep (enteric fermentation). A single cow can burp out hundreds of liters of methane every single day. Methane is a sledgehammer of a greenhouse gas, over 80 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

  • Nitrous Oxide (N2O): This comes from animal manure and the fertilizers used to grow their feed crops. Nitrous oxide is nearly 300 times more potent than CO2.

  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2): This is released when forests are burned to create pastures (deforestation) and from the energy used all along the supply chain.


The Myth of the Local Burger


"But my burger is from a local farm! It's better than your avocado shipped from halfway across the world." This is a nice thought, but it is almost entirely wrong.

Research has shown, again and again, that transportation is a tiny fraction of a food’s carbon footprint. For most foods, it accounts for less than 10%. The vast majority of emissions come from production—the land use, the fertilizer, and the methane.

What this means is that what you eat is far more important than where it came from. A pound of beef from a local farm has a much, much higher carbon footprint than a pound of lentils shipped from another continent. It's not even close.


So, Is My Sad Little Plate of Lentils Saving the World?


Let's be brutally honest. Can veganism, on its own, stop climate change? No. Of course not. The problem is too big and complex for any single solution.

But here’s the crucial part: while it cannot solve everything, a plant-based diet is the single biggest way for an individual to reduce their environmental impact. That’s not an opinion; it's the conclusion of the most comprehensive food system analysis ever conducted. It reduces your personal carbon footprint, your water footprint, and your land footprint more than any other lifestyle change you can make.

It's not about being a perfect eco-saint. It's about pulling the biggest, most effective levers available to you.


The "What About Soy?" Red Herring


Someone will inevitably bring up soy and its connection to deforestation. It’s a valid concern, but it’s a classic misdirection. Over 75% of the world’s soy is grown for one purpose: to be fed to livestock. The amount of soy grown for human consumption (tofu, soy milk, etc.) is tiny in comparison. The deforestation caused by soy farming is, therefore, a direct consequence of the meat industry's insatiable demand for animal feed.

Speaking of tofu, if yours tastes bad, that's a user error, not a tofu problem. We can help. Check out [Why Does My Tofu Always Taste Like Cardboard?].


The Conclusion: It’s Not About Perfection, It’s About Direction


So, is veganism good for the environment? The evidence is overwhelming and unambiguous: yes. It is the most direct and impactful way to live more lightly on the Earth.

Your individual choice to eat a bean burger might feel small, like one person trying to bail out a sinking ship with a thimble. But when millions of people start bailing with thimbles, the ship starts to rise. Your choice matters because it is part of a collective shift in the right direction. And that's not sad at all. It’s powerful.


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