Should everyone eat a plant-based diet?

As more people consider humans' impact on the planet, producing and eating meat, dairy, and eggs has increasingly become a topic of discussion. With more plant-based options on the market, people are ditching meat and poultry in favor of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Some argue that a plant-based diet is more ethical, more sustainable, and healthier, but others say that meat, dairy, and other animal products provide needed nutrients and some plant-based diets are hard to balance. Is it time to chop meat from our diets?

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Additional resources to think about

Our Food System is Rigged feat. Sheril Kirshenbaum | Hot Mess
This video from Hot Mess discusses the sustainability of how we eat, including the effect of switching to plant-based diets on climate change.

Panel Of Experts Say Plant-Based Milk Is No Dairy Replacement For Kids
In this article from WBUR, Maria Godoy details recommendations from a panel of health experts that kids under the age of five drink dairy milk or fortified soy milk for its nutritional content, and says that some plant-based milks can be high in sugar and lack necessary calcium and vitamins.

Why Meat is the Best Worst Thing in the World
Kurzgestagt takes a look at the statistics behind the agricultural science, sustainability, ethics, nutrition, and resources that go into our food.

Soy, Almond, Coconut: If It's Not From A Cow, Can You Legally Call It Milk?
This story from NPR talks about the legal and political implications of defining "milk."

The Vegan Economy Has Arrived
This video from Bloomberg Quicktake talks about the history and economic growth in the vegan foods industry.

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Who created this message?

What kind of “text” is it?
How similar or different is it to others of the same genre?
What are the various elements (building blocks) that make up the whole?

What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

What do you notice (about the way the message is constructed)?
What’s the emotional appeal?
What makes it seem “real?”
What's the emotional appeal? Persuasive devices used?

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

How many other interpretations could there be?
How could we hear about them?
How can you explain the different responses?

What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?

What type of person is the reader/watcher/listener invited to identify with?
What ideas or perspectives are left out?
How would you find what’s missing?
What judgments or statements are made about how we treat other people?

Why is this message being sent?

What's being sold in this message? What's being told?
Who is served by or benefits from the message
– the public?
– private interests?
– individuals?
– institutions?

5 Key Questions of Media Literacy used with permission from the Center for Media Literacy.
Copyright 2002-2021, Center for Media Literacy, www.medialit.com

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