世界素食日之际，让我们放弃动物产品的理由

世界素食日之际，让我们放弃动物产品的理由

Happy World Vegan Day!

世界素食日快乐

Friday, November 1 marks 75 years since the founding of The Vegan Society by English animal rights advocate Donald Watson and his associates, who defined and popularized modern veganism.

11月1日，星期五，标志着英国动物权利倡导者唐纳德·沃森和他的同事们成立素食协会75周年，他们定义并推广了现代素食主义。

Vegans follow a plant-based diet, which means they don't eat meat, and don't use or consume animal products.

素食者的饮食以植物为基础，这意味着他们不吃肉，不使用或消费动物产品。

Celebrities like Lewis Hamilton, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande and Venus Williams all stick to a plant-based diet.

像刘易斯·汉密尔顿、麦莉·赛勒斯、爱莉安娜·格兰德和维纳斯·威廉姆斯这样的名人都坚持植物性饮食。

So, why are people going vegan?

那么，为什么人们要成为素食主义者呢?

It's good for the planet

素食对地球有益

Eating less meat has been linked to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

少吃肉与减少温室气体排放有关。

Scientists say we must immediately eat less meat and change the way we manage land in order to halt the climate crisis.

科学家们说，为了阻止气候危机，我们必须立即少吃肉，改变我们管理土地的方式。

A climate change report published by United Nations scientists in August said eating less meat and reducing food waste could slash global greenhouse gas emissions and benefit our health and the environment.

联合国科学家8月份发布的一份气候变化报告称，少吃肉和减少食物浪费可以减少全球温室气体排放，有益于我们的健康和环境。

Meat consumption is a big contributor to global warming -- according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), agriculture is responsible for around a quarter of humankind's direct, global greenhouse gas emissions -- with livestock contributing about 14.5%.

肉类消费是造成全球变暖的一大因素。根据世界野生动物基金会(WWF)的数据，农业排放的温室气体约占人类直接排放的四分之一，其中畜牧业约占14.5%。

Raising animals for food is resource-intensive, requiring the production of feed and fertilizers that result in greenhouse gases.

饲养食用性动物是资源密集型的，需要生产饲料和化肥，这会产生温室气体。

Livestock farming also requires land to be cleared -- according to the WWF, around 17% of the Amazon forest has been lost in the past 50 years, with most losses due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

畜牧业也需要清理土地——根据世界自然基金会的数据，在过去的50年里，亚马逊雨林大约有17%的面积消失了，其中大部分是由于将森林改作养牛场造成的。

Beef and soy are the leading contributors to global deforestation, while the production of meat, dairy, poultry and seafood also contributes to habitat loss and water use, WWF says.

世界自然基金会表示，牛肉和大豆是导致全球森林砍伐的主要原因，而肉类、奶制品、家禽和海鲜的生产也导致了栖息地的丧失和水资源的消耗。

It could be good for your health

这对你的健康有好处

Many people adopt a vegan diet because of its health benefits.

许多人采用素食性饮食，因为它对健康有益。

Sticking to a plant-based diet could help lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, a study released in July suggested.

7月发布的一项研究表明，坚持植物性饮食有助于降低患2型糖尿病的风险。

Animal welfare

动物的福利

Some people choose to be vegan for animal welfare reasons -- according to UK animal rights organization Animal Aid, going vegan "is one of the best things you can do to help end animal cruelty."

有些人选择成为素食主义者是出于动物福利的考虑——根据英国动物权利组织“动物援助”的说法，成为素食主义者“是帮助结束虐待动物行为的最好办法之一”。

Some abstain from eating meat because they disagree with the slaughter of animals. They may choose to adopt a fully vegan diet because they believe the conditions that animals are kept in to produce popular food items -- like meat, eggs, milk, cheese and honey -- contribute to the creatures' suffering.

有些人不吃肉，因为他们不赞成宰杀动物。他们可能会选择完全素食，因为他们相信动物被饲养是为了生产受欢迎的产品——如肉、蛋、牛奶、奶酪和蜂蜜——而导致了动物的痛苦。

Being vegan is easier than ever

成为素食主义者比以往任何时候更容易

Food chains like Burger King have launched plant-based burgers.

像汉堡王这样的食品连锁店已经推出了植物性汉堡。

Veganism may once have been seen as a tricky diet to cater for, but now restaurants are offering vegan dishes, and supermarkets are bursting with plant-based alternatives in developedcountries around the world.

素食主义曾经被认为是一种棘手的饮食，但现在，在世界各地的发达国家，餐馆开始提供素食菜肴，超市里也提供以植物为基础的替代品。

KFC launched a vegan burger in the UK in June, McDonald's started offering meatless burgers in Germany, and in the US, Burger King announced that it was expanding distribution of its popular meat-free Impossible Whopper burger to 100 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

今年6月，肯德基在英国推出了一款纯素汉堡，麦当劳开始在德国推出无肉汉堡，而在美国，汉堡王宣布，将在旧金山湾区的100家门店推广其广受欢迎的不含肉类的巨无霸汉堡。