Good for the environment, good for our health. Why are sustainable diets still not the norm?

Abstract or Introduction

How come that vegetarian and vegan lifestyle being mainstreamed all over the Western developed countries notwithstanding, for most people living on a sustainable diet seems to be the least of their worries? Are they merely not concerned for their carbon footprint or water footprint and their effect on the ever suffering environment?

How about their lifespan and well-being? Studies have proved that assuming a balanced plant-based diet does not just prolong one's life but also that vegans are less likely to suffer from lifestyle diseases caused by meat consumption such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer. While part of the reasons for dietary choice might be highly individual and therefore arbitrary, still there are some aspects, some sociocultural meanings attached to it that need to be mentioned and will lay open the most prominent reasons for shying away from one's duty of being the better human beings, being vegan, which includes: human health, environmental sustainability, morality and identity.