Jamie Rubin
- Nov 2, 2020
- 3 min read

Is David Attenborough Vegan?

Updated: Nov 6, 2020

If the Earth cannot support billions of meat-eaters as Sir David Attenborough claims, it begs the question: Does he eat meat or does he practice what he preaches?

David Attenborough, the world-renowned broadcaster and naturalist, released his new documentary on Netflix earlier this month titled A Life on Our Planet. This documentary focuses on all the wonders Attenborough has seen in his career, the destruction our planet has faced from human impact, and an offer of hope for steps to correct our current trajectory to save our planet.

While documentaries have a harder time reaching a younger audience, David Attenborough recently launched his own Instagram page to target this younger demographic. In his first video he said, “I’m making this move and exploring this new way of communication to me because, as we all know, the world is in trouble…”

A Deeper Look into the Man Behind A Life on Our Planet

In the documentary, Attenborough explores the environmental repercussions of a meat-based diet. In an interview with the Radio Times magazine, he stated, “The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters. If we all ate only plants, we’d need only half the land we use at the moment.” However, this begs the question: Is David Attenborough vegan?

“The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters. If we all ate only plants, we’d need only half the land we use at the moment.”

Attenborough has said he does not eat red meat. He claims that this is perhaps due to his subconscious sending warning signals about the current state of our planet. That being said, he does still eat chicken and fish. Cutting out red meat is already a huge step for our environment. It takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce a pound of steak, compared to 468 gallons of water to produce a pound of chicken.

Furthermore, 60 percent of the mass of animals on Earth is taken up by animals we raise to eat: Us humans have really messed up the food chain. David ends the show by pointing out that the planet can’t sustain seven billion humans all eating meat, and that going veggie really will save the planet.

Taking Animal-Free Steps for the Environment

Since the majority of the world eats a meat-rich diet, if everyone took small steps to slowly cut meat out of their diet, we could see drastic improvements to our environment. Vegan living is the ultimate goal, and veganism is a realistic and achievable step many can take now to correct climate change. It can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and our carbon footprint coupled with health benefits, but it definitely comes with its challenges. While meat substitutes and dairy alternatives have become more and more frequent, other aspects of vegan living can be much harder to come by, such as animal-free medicine and supplements. VeganMed strives to support the vegan lifestyle by providing a carefully crafted animal-free marketplace where users can shop worry-free and with the comfort of knowing that they are helping to correct the Earth's current dire path.

Watch David Attenborough’s new documentary, A Life on our Planet, on Netflix.