Long Beach City Council Candidate Ryan Lum has said the Earth is heading for peril due to the environmental impacts of animal agriculture.

Lum, who is also the co-founder of Happy Healthy Vegan – a YouTube channel with 216,000 subscribers, made the comment on the latest episode of the Plant Based News Podcast.

A ‘threat to our planet’

Speaking to PBN’s co-founder Robbie Lockie, the influencer turned political hopeful said: “Greenhouse gas emissions are the number one threat to our planet – besides other things that animal agriculture is causing like rainforest destruction- animal agriculture is behind all of this.

“It’s the number one cause of greenhouse gas emissions more than transportation combined.”

‘Unprecedented in modern times’

He added: “Our planet is headed for peril. It’s already in Peril. [It’s] hundred degrees in the Arctic Circle right now in. I mean this is unprecedented in modern times.”

On the podcast, the pair also discussed why he went vegan, the highs and lows of vegan YouTube, how attitudes towards eating meat will change post-COVID-19, and much more.

You can listen to the full podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify, or iTunes