The little-known Brokpa tribals of Ladakh, who claim to have been vegans for some 2,200 years of their existence, are slowly opting for an alternative diet comprising dairy products, eggs and meat — thanks to climate change.
Climate change has made summers and winters warmer and brought on pests, which have wreaked havoc on traditional crops, forcing the Brokpa to change their lifestyle.
The Nambardar or head of Dha villag, Tsering Namjial, was quoted by IANS as saying, We have had to shift to an alternative lifestyle, not exactly what the Brokpa once used to be. People also consume meat. Some old folks still avoid this, but eggs, meat and milk are on the menu.
Practising old-style Buddhism with the Lha deity at the centre of their faith, some Borkpas still practise veganism and rely on what grows from the earth out of fear of getting polluted.
You don’t need to be vegetarian to care about the climate
It’s a pretty great way of putting your money where you mouth is though
Very true, certainly in the context of purchased food. Hunted food has various merits (in my area it would be controlling the deer population since we killed all their predators, and hopefully eliminating the invasive boar population eventually) but of course that isn’t done anywhere near the same scale as commercial animal farming.