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)

No- but I don't think people who use smartphones can be vegan either.

I don’t think that’s anything for you to worry about though. Why does it matter?

Wouldn’t the animals run/fly away before the harvester got close to them? Those things are bloody loud... I highly doubt a healthy animal would just sit there and chill if they heard a harvester approaching.

Vegans have to worry about their vitamins being ethical too.

Christ, stop finding issues where there aren’t any.

If by ethical you mean free from animal products then yes.

Thing is, the argument is void anyway because there are MORE crops grown for animal feed than for human consumption... being vegan means less fields / crops / combine harvesters... so if Granny' is really worried about combine harvesters, then that's another reason to be vegan.

Yeah I realise that but I am still fascinated by the whole ‘rabbits/mice/birds/etc are killed by harvesters’ argument that is always trotted out on these threads. Do people really believe that these small prey animals sit and listen to machinery getting louder and louder and just sit there and chill? I mean come on now 😂

I think someone used it as an anti vegan argument once and people started repeating it without actually thinking about it for a few seconds 😂

If the definition of vegan goes towards any food that requires bees to pollinate as not being vegan, then there are loads and loads of food. Regardless of the bees being transported or if they fly by themselves to pollinate.

this related to local produce too.

As you can see from this list, most items you would think are vegan, are not vegan as they rely on pollinators - be it bees etc or people hand pollinating.

There's a famous image of a hare caught in a straw bale.

@MariosMagicMushrooms hare caught in a straw bale

Yes, bees get transported around in the US, and used to pollinate almonds ( and some other crops grown in monoculture systems). This is bad for those bees, and for the entire ecosystem (incl all the other bees, which aren't honey bees). I don't consider almond milk to be an ethical choice for those wishing to follow a vegan diet, and never touch it myself.

As many other PPs have said, far more ethical to choose food that is grown more locally, organically and by small-scale growers. Pollination in the UK is done by all sorts of wild bees and also by species like hover-flies. I would define those foods as vegan, as the bees aren't being deliberately worked in the same way as in the US.
PS: There are some 'veganic' growers in the UK - who use plant-based compost to maintain their soil health, not manure from cows/ chickens etc or blood/ bonemeal.

Only a vegan is allowed to decide wether something is vegan.
A vegan is always right.

Are you a vegan?

Ironically that straw bale was probably on it’s way to be used to line a rabbit cage with 😂

The best thing people can do is eat local produce and eat fruit/veg when it is in season.
Vegan does not mean it's good for environment.

This is true but, globally... meat and dairy is contributing massively to environmental issues. The UN, our own government have all said the same. As far as local produce goes... there can still be issues. In fact, the Tories commissioned a report some years back on U.K. agriculture and sustainability... the findings were so damning they had to censor the results so as to not upset the farming lobby.

Veganism is defined as "as far as practically possible". There's always something you won't be able to avoid.... Medicine especially.

I don't let it stop me trying to be the best vegan I can - you'd go bonkers otherwise.

I don't know whether society has always been like this or if the internet just makes you notice it more but I do seem to read a lot of comments to the effect that if you can't do something 100% there's no point doing it at all - whataboutism I suppose - which is a bit defeatist if you ask me.

I didn't open the image, but I can tell you while baling hay I've seen some gruesome sights. Seagulls sit on the bales eating the victims, which were usually gophers and mice. As a vegetarian I had to look away.

@Longtimelurkerfinallyposts
Pollination in the UK is done by all sorts of wild bees and also by species like hover-flies

Yes majority is wild bees and so on, but domestic pollination is growing due to declining wild bee & pollinator populations. (Thanks to the Tory government for lifting ban on bee killing pesticides)

So in the U.K. pollination is increasingly done by domestic bees kept in hives. Large estates which have working farms especially those managed by the National Trust and still owned & managed by the aristocrats have on-site bee hives and bee keepers to ensure pollination. These bees live on the estates, it is their home, and hives are sited in places where they can easily access pollen.

In addition though, we do have a national pollination service where other crop farmers are matched up with bee farmers who keep bees for honey production and yes, hives are loaded on lorries and taken to pollinate crops.
beefarmers.co.uk/working-with-other-sectors/contract-pollination

There are some 'veganic' growers in the UK - who use plant-based compost to maintain their soil health, not manure from cows/ chickens etc or blood/ bonemeal.

Yes, I’ve seen that much of it is seaweed & algae based. Many organic farmers are using it too because fertiliser not made with animal products (which they avoid because it attracts pests) is often made with fossil fuels…and both are problematic to green initiatives. So this is an area where there is demand from both vegan and organic/green farmers.

www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/almonds-nuts-crazy-stats-charts/

Nuts use a phenomenal amount of water

You don't need to buy apples, huge amounts rotting on the ground around here, you need to get out and find some trees.