原文：https://www.surgeactivism.org/whyvegan
注：译文谨供参考。

Why should I go vegan?
为什么我应该成为纯素食者？

“Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose.”
“纯素食主义（veganism）是一种生活方式，尽可能并力所能及地杜绝一切形式的剥削和虐待动物，以免将它们用作食物、衣服或任何其他用途。”

ETHICS
伦理

We consider ourselves a nation of animal lovers, they are our friends, companions and even members of our families. However, as a nation we also slaughter one billion land animals every year as well as billions of marine animals, for no necessary reason.
我们认为我们（英国）是一个热爱动物的国家；它们是我们的朋友、伴侣，甚至还是我们的家庭成员。然而作为一个国家，我们没有必要的理由却每年屠宰十亿只陆地动物和数十亿只海洋动物。

We are born into societies and cultures that condition us from birth into believing that animal products are normal, natural and necessary. Our societies dictate many philosophies and ideologies that we carry with us through life and in the case of animals, we are told to love some - and eat others. We have normalised behaviour that we would normally consider to be horrific, using excuses and ingrained justifications to hide behind the reality of our immoral actions.
我们从呱呱坠地起就受到社会和文化的熏染，让我们相信动物产品是正常的、自然的和必需的。我们的社会为我们烙上了与我们终身相伴的许多的价值观念和意识形态；在对待动物方面，我们被告知要爱护某些动物──却又能吃别的动物。通过找些借口和根深蒂固的道理来掩饰我们的不义之举，那些我们原来普遍认为是恐怖的行为，现在也已经被我们习以为常了。

We are indoctrinated with advertising and marketing, further reinforcing the idea of separation and segregation between species, with decades of devaluing and reducing the lives of farm animals to nothing more than commodities for human disposal. In many respects we are vulnerable to the power society holds over us, but at what point do we choose to look past what we are told and seek the truth?
（铺天盖地的）广告和营销内容持续灌输给我们，进一步加深了分开和隔离（区别对待）不同物种的思想；数十年来农场动物的生命不断遭到贬低，将它们沦为了供人类任意处置的赤裸裸的商品。在许多方面，我们都很容易受到凌驾于我们之上的社会的摆布，可是什么时候我们会决定超越听到的东西去追求真理？

Animals suffer, just like us. They feel a vast spectrum of emotions including love, joy, grief, fear and pain. The fact that animals experience pain means that they have an innate preference to avoid it. Therefore it is our moral obligation to protect them from unnecessary suffering - however we have normalised exploiting them in the trillions, profiting from their gentleness and their innocence.
动物像我们一样感受苦难。它们也能体会到非常丰富的情感，例如喜爱、高兴、悲伤、恐惧和痛苦。事实上动物能够感知痛苦，这意味着它们具有主动避免痛苦的天性。因此，我们有道德义务保护它们免受不必要的苦难──然而，我们已经“正常化”剥削以万亿计数的大量动物，利用它们的柔弱温驯和天真无邪来谋取利益。

The suffering that occurs in order to produce animal products is immense - and it is all unnecessary. The consumption of animal products has no necessity in the human diet and is in fact massively detrimental to our health and life longevity. Moving from an animal-based diet to a vegan diet is directly opposing animal cruelty and oppression. Every purchase we make is a vote for the type of world that we want to live in, therefore when we buy animal products, or products tested on them - we are saying that we are comfortable living in a world that inflicts violence upon animals. However when we choose the vegan option, we are stating that we oppose animal cruelty and wish to live in a compassionate, non-violent world.
为了生产动物产品，所造成的苦难是巨大的──这是毫无必要的。人类饮食完全不需要动物产品，食用它们实际上严重损害我们的健康和长寿。由动物性饮食改为纯素食饮食就是直接反对虐待和压迫动物。我们每次购物都是在为我们想要生活的世界类型进行投票。因此，如果我们购买动物产品或者经动物试验的产品──就是在表示我们沉醉于生活在一个暴力伤害动物的世界。然而，当我们选择纯素产品的时候，就是在宣告我们反对虐待动物，并希望生活在一个没有暴力的慈悲世界。

ENVIRONMENT
环境

Animal agriculture uses 83% of all global agricultural land, yet produces less than two fifths of the protein we consume and less than one fifth of the calories we consume. Raising animals for meat, dairy and eggs is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, meaning the emissions produced from animal agriculture is more than the combined exhaust of the transportation industry. Switching to a plant based diet would also allow us to feed everyone on the planet whilst also freeing up 75% of agricultural land, which is an area of land equivalent in size to the whole of Australia, China, the EU and the US combined. Land which could then be reforested and restored, allowing us to sequester 16 years worth of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the year 2050.
动物农业占用了83%（大于五分之四）的全球农业用地，却只能为人类生产不到五分之二（37%）的蛋白质食品和提供少于五分之一（18%）的食物热量。饲养动物为人类供应肉类、奶类和蛋类食品造成了全球14.5%的温室气体排放量，这意味着动物农业所产生的温室气体排放量比整个交通运输行业的排放量还要多。全世界实行植物性饮食不仅可以养活地球上的所有人，而且还能腾出75%的农业用地。这些空地的总面积相当于澳大利亚、中国、欧盟和美国加在一起的面积，可以用来重新造林和恢复生态；这样（不断增长植被）到2050年，可以实现的碳封存量（carbon sequestration）约等于（全世界使用化石燃料）16年所产生的二氧化碳排放量。

Although eating meat, dairy and eggs is deemed an acceptable choice by society’s standards, by doing so we are paying for one of the leading causes of ocean dead zones, water pollution, habitat destruction, top soil erosion, species extinction and greenhouse gas emissions. Out of 313 global food systems, the most sustainable diets were the plant based diets, with the least sustainable being diets that favoured ruminant meat and milk. And this applies to organic animal products and grass-fed, “regenerative”, “holistically managed” animal products as well.
尽管按照目前社会的道德标准，食用肉蛋奶被认为是一项可以接受的选择，但人类需要为此付出无数的代价，因为这样的饮食方式是造成海洋死区、水污染、栖息地破坏、表土侵蚀、物种灭绝和温室气体排放的主要原因之一。在313种全球食品体系（方案）当中，最可持续发展的饮食方式是植物性饮食，而最不可持续发展的饮食方式是偏重于反刍动物肉和奶的饮食。这一结论同样适用于食用（所谓的）有机动物产品和草饲、“再生”、“整体管理”的动物产品。

It is also important to note that local animal products are still not more sustainable than plant-based foods, with it estimated that transport emissions for beef are about 0.5% of the total and for lamb it’s 2%, meaning that by far, the biggest issue with food is the farming itself. Furthermore, a study looking at emissions in EU diets revealed that food transport was responsible for only 6% of emissions, whilst dairy, meat and eggs accounted for 83%.
还需要重点注意的是，即使是本地生产的动物产品仍然不如植物性食品更加可持续发展。据估计，在生产供应牛肉的整个过程中，运输牛肉所造成的温室气体排放量只占其总排放量的0.5%左右，而羊肉的这个比例是2%；这意味着，（就温室气体排放而言，）食品方面的最大问题显然在于养殖业本身（，而不是在于食品的运输环节）。此外，有一项研究考查了欧盟（平均）饮食所造成的温室气体排放情况，发现食品运输环节的排放量也只占总排放量的6%，而肉类、蛋类和奶类食品的合计温室气体排放量占据了所有食品的总排放量的83%。（译注：由此可见，其余植物性食品的温室气体排放量是相对很低的。）

Another study focussing on US diets showed that food transport accounted for only 5% of emissions in the average US household, around 0.4 tons of CO2 equivalent. However, substituting calories from red meat and dairy to plant based alternatives for just one day a week would save 0.46 tons of CO2 equivalent, meaning that choosing to eat plant based foods over red meat and dairy just one day a week would achieve the same result as having a diet with zero food miles. And the best thing is, we can choose to eat plant-based foods over animal based foods seven days a week.
另一项研究聚焦美国饮食，考查了平均每个家庭饮食所造成的温室气体排放情况，其中食品运输环节只产生了5%的排放量，即（每年产生）大约0.4吨的二氧化碳当量。然而，在一个美国家庭的饮食当中，每周只需有一天用植物性食品取代红肉和奶制品，一年就可以减少排放0.46吨的二氧化碳当量；这意味着，每周只需有一天选择吃植物性食品代替红肉和奶制品，在减排方面就能实现跟“零食品里程”饮食（所有食品产自本地）一样的效果。而最好的办法是，我们可以每周七天都选择吃植物性食品代替动物性食品。（译注：食用外地产的植物性食品也比本地产的动物性食品更加环保，而且也更加可行，毕竟本地不一定能生产出所有的食品。）

On top of that, a huge meta-analysis of 1530 studies, that looked at all systems of farming, analysed nearly 40,000 farms in 119 countries and is regarded as the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted exploring the relationship between farming and the environment, concluded that a plant based diet is the most sustainable diet and the lead researcher went so far as to say:
此外，还有科研人员对1530项研究进行了广泛的荟萃分析，考查了各种农业系统，分析了119个国家的将近40,000家农场。这个荟萃分析被认为是有史以来为探索农业与环境的关系而作出的最全面分析，最终得出了这样的结论：植物性饮食是最可持续发展的饮食方式。其中的首席研究员甚至还说：

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.”
“实行纯素饮食可能是减少个人对地球影响的唯一最大途径──不仅在温室气体方面，而且在全球酸化、水体富营养化、用地和用水方面都是如此。其效果远远超过减少个人乘坐航班的次数或者购买一辆电动汽车。”

HEALTH
健康

There are many common misconceptions surrounding the necessity of animal products for a healthy diet, many coming from animal agriculture propaganda. But do we really need animal products to be healthy, or do they inhibit a healthy body and mind?
现在还有很多常见的错误观念认为健康饮食必须要有动物产品，其中许多这样的说法来自于动物农业的（虚假）宣传。可是我们真的需要动物产品才能保持健康吗？它们是否阻碍人的身心健康？

When it comes to health, it’s not just that a plant based diet has been shown to be healthy and nutritionally adequate for all stages of life, including pregnancy and infancy, as stated by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
在健康方面，植物性饮食已被证明是有益健康的，能够满足生命各个阶段的营养需要，其中包括妊娠期和婴儿期等──这一结论和美国营养与饮食学会（AND）的声明一致。

It’s that a whole-foods plant based diet has been shown to help the gut microbiome, reduce inflammation, lower high cholesterol and high blood pressure, boost your immune system and also reduce the risk of developing many of our leading chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type two diabetes, strokes, certain forms of cancer such as colon, breast and prostate, and may even protect against cognitive decline.
而且，全食植物性饮食（WFPB）也被证明能够改善肠道微生物组，减少炎症，降低高胆固醇和高血压，增强个人免疫系统，降低罹患许多主要慢性疾病的风险，例如心脏病、2型糖尿病、中风、结肠癌、乳腺癌和前列腺癌等各种癌症，甚至还能预防认知能力下降。

Not only that but people report feeling like they have more energy, that they sleep better and that their digestion, acne and allergies have improved as well. Although the meat, dairy and egg industries tell us that animal products contain essential nutrients that we cannot find elsewhere, this simply isn't true.
此外，（实行植物性饮食之后，）人们还反映说，感觉自己精力增加，睡眠更好，消化能力、痤疮和过敏症状也都得到了改善。虽然肉类、奶类和蛋类食品行业告诉（欺骗）我们，动物产品包含无法从其他地方获得的“必需营养素”，但这个说法根本不是真的。

参考资料：

“碳足迹”踏上了COP26峰会菜单，为啥牛肉和培根还没给撤下来？
https://www.suchaoren.com/wei-sushi-50037

What are the carbon opportunity costs of our food?
https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-opportunity-costs-food

进一步阅读：

简单实用（全面）的吃素方法[1/4]
https://www.suchaoren.com/wei-sushi-49379

简单实用（全面）的吃素方法[2/4]
https://www.suchaoren.com/wei-sushi-49382

简单实用（全面）的吃素方法[3/4]
https://www.suchaoren.com/wei-sushi-49391

简单实用（全面）的吃素方法[4/4]
https://www.suchaoren.com/wei-sushi-49393