Aibu to be pissed off that vegetables and nuts aren't vegan?

[autyspauty]

I was watching a clip from QI where they said that avocados and other fruits and vegetables and nits aren't actually vegan because Bees are boxed up and sent to the farms/ orchards etc to pollinate the crops.

I can't believe it.

I'm not even vegan but I do my best to be as eco conscious as I can and there are just so many ways that even a peice of fruit is ladder with tonnes of CO2. Not only do I have to consider the moles my food has travelled to get to the warehouse/ factory to be transported to be packaged and then transported to the shops, but now I have to think about BEES being transported in lorries to pollinate the food before its even fucking grown?

You can't avoid plastic packaging on your food, you can't avoid air miles or road miles on your food but I didn't even think about the fucking road miles on the pollinators to pollinate the food.

There is a photo doing the rounds of a fruit cup picked in Thailand, packed in Venezuela and then shipped to US. Its a joke, the fruit in that cup has travelled more miles than most of the people buying it but you wouldn't even guess about the fucking Bees being shipped over to pollinate in the first place. (countries may be wrong but you get the ideA)

Millions more people could easily and sustainably be vegan

I watched a bee documentary a few years ago, bees aren't even native to the US (who knew?!) so honey bees are boxed and transported en masse around the States to supply honey and for pollination purposes.

Boxes and boxes of them piled up on huge flat beds - lots of them don't survive the journeys and then they have to settle in environments not natural to them.

Well the plastic packaging on all the nice processed vegan food is made from oil which is basically dead animals. There is no pure land.

This, plus being careful about the meat you buy, IF you are financially able to make the choice to buy free range etc. (not everyone is, especially now). Far better than eating highly processed meat substitutes and being all holier than thou about it..

Don't eat then.

When they say not vegan, they mean vegans will not touch stuff like honey because bees are used in its production.

Any one see the large estate that had its bees stolen. The funny part is that they did not take the queen bees so most of the bees just flew back home to their queen.

Millions more maybe. But not the large majority of this country.

The large majority could be doing a lot more to combat climate change though.

That is taking it too far. As long as there is no animal products in the food then I think vegans should be ok.

There are species of honey bees that are native to the Americas. It’s just that the best pollinators are European honey bees because they never abandon their Queen. If the Queen is in a hive and it’s being put on the back of a lorry, they go with her. They can also find their Queen & hive even if displaced and popped down in a new environment. Other bee species are less attached to their Queen and will abandon her or not be able to cope with the stress of being moved around.

This is fact, as was witnessed recently during the Notre Dame fire for the hives kept on the roof to help pollinate the city. None of the bees abandoned their hives & queens even while half the cathedral was in flames.

To be clear...

"Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose"

So you can't be a vegan if you use a smartphone.

Yes, I am.

Are you a vegan @speakout ?

Sorry I haven’t read the whole thread but I don’t believe much to be vegan. What do people think there food is grown in? Most crops are grown i cow, pig, chicken poop which come from animals used for food? Unless you live on processed food that’s been grown in a lab then nothing truly vegan….and who would want to eat lab grown food anyway? 🤔

YABU. Don't let your support for veganism blind you to issues such as the problems caused by monocrops, or the carbon footprint of imported foods.
Veganism is not the only ethical way to live.

The only solution is to eat local and grow your own.

That’s why to me veganism is a philosophy/belief system and it’s a goal not a bar. Something to strive for, not a minimum. So yes, impossible to be 100% vegan on all aspects of your life but it’s the same with being green…impossible to reach 100%. The idea is that doing what you can is still ethically good, desirable and worth doing. It’s a philosophy based on hope and effort, not on despair and giving up.

The thing about the bees in the USA is that the almond farmers pay beekeepers to bring their hives to the almond tree plantations for pollination - but due to the monoculture and high pesticide levels, vast numbers of the bees taken there will die. it’s completely unsustainable and horribly exploitative of a species that could be used to far better use elsewhere and with better results.
great article here: amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe

So if I eat only plant food all week except a Sunday when I have roast meat can I call myself a vegan?
I am striving to eat a high plant based diet.

Do you call yourself a vegan?

Not much consumption is ethical in today's world but I know that what happens to animals in slaughterhouses is horrific and I've not eaten them since I saw footage 20 years ago. I have pets, how can it be okay to do that to a cow but not my dog? That was a no brainer.

We don't eat dairy either but I could not care less about the things you mention because the actual effect is so negligible. You only have to follow your own rules you know.

This.
I reckon it will all be lab grown food before long ( for the masses).
The rich will still enjoy fresh, cultivated food.

Sorry to be a boring beekeeper but…
there were native bees in the America’s but they weren’t honey bees, just bumbles / solitary etc. The European settlers introduced the European honeybee which could be kept domestically.
European honeybees will leave their Queen if she is moved more than 3 feet but less than 3 miles away from the original hive location - if she is, they’ll return to the original hive location. It’s not the Queen as much as the hive that they will return to - unless they swarm.