Vegancouragement - You Can Be Vegan

Why Vegan?

There are many compelling reasons to become vegan.

A growing number of people are adopting a vegan lifestyle as they learn these reasons.

Ethics

Jump To   ETHICS  HEALTH   EARTH

Ethics:

Eating plants but not animals and refraining from using anything like fur, milk or leather that comes from animals results in enormously reduced suffering and cruelty to animals. Animals are innocent and vulnerable. They do not deserve to be treated the ways they are treated when they are exploited as food or for other reasons.

While we would like to believe that animals who are farmed to become food or other "products" for us to use are treated well, live long happy lives, and die peacefully, the truth is they suffer greatly while alive. And they die when they are mere children. The current system which provides 99 percent of the food most people eat and the animal-based products we use is rife with abuse and pain. This is especially tragic because humans can and do thrive - we actually live more healthy lives - when we take animals off our plates. And any product like food, leather or fur has crulty-free non-animal alternatives that function just as well.

Some people think that as long as animals are not outright killed as they are for meat, it is acceptabe to eat foods like eggs and dairy products. And so some people become vegetarian, still eating animal products but no actual meat. Or because they think fish do not feel pain, which is an erroneous assumption, they eat fish but no other animals. Fish, like all living animals want to live their own lives. Animals feel pain. They suffer. They form bonds with other animals. They have their own communities and social connections that are meaningful to them. Intentionally harming and killing them is wrong.

The misconception about animals not suffering or dying for a vegetarian diet is tragic, since eating foods like dairy and eggs results in actually more suffering for the animals since they are kept in cages and are exploited their entire lives. Then, after a miserable life, they are killed. When they stop producing the milk or the eggs or whatever they are being caged to produce, they are killed because they are not useful any longer. So the vegetarian goal of not killing animals is not happening, at all.

In a nutshell, we can choose foods, clothing, furniture, entertainment and other things we need to live that do not come from caging, exploiting or killing animals. If we can live healthy and happy lives without involving animals, it is the ethical thing to do.

Animals are not the only ones who suffer when people continue to eat meat, eggs and dairy foods. People are negatively impacted in many ways by the presence of animal-based food operations. As one example, millions of people literally go hungry because the grain that could be used to feed them is instead fed to animals who are then slaughtered for a fewer but more affluent number of people in richer areas to eat.

Another human-centered concern is that slaughterhouse workers are among the most vulnerable and oppressed workers. And slaughterhouse workers have some of the highest rates of serious injury. Many of these workers have no other choice but to do the soul-ripping work of repetitive, violent killing, which often results in workers having PTSD and other emotional challenges that come from performing such traumatic, dangerous work. Communities surrounding slaughterhouses usually have higher than average rates of suicide, domestic violence, alcoholism, and substance abuse. And why would this not be so - how can we expect people who must kill and dismember innocent beings all day every day for a living to set those violent behaviors aside when they clock out at the end of a workday?

Regarding nearby local effects of slaughterhouses and factory farms, negative impact also stems from the fact that these places are often situated, by design, in poorer areas. Residents in these areas cannot afford to move elsewhere and so they remain trapped in environments that have astronomically high environmental toxicity, causing suffering, illness and death for human residents in these areas. Animal farms and slaughterhouses create extensive water and air pollution. They have large manure and urine lagoons to capture massive quantities of stinking waste. Often, this waste is sprayed into the air, to distribute it across nearby land. People who have the misfortune of living near these places often cannot go out into their own yards or even open their windows because of the overpowering stench of waste lagoons or the presence of fecal particles sprayed and suspended in the air. And these residents correspondingly have statistically higher rates of illnesses like cancer and asthma from being exposed to these toxins.

Eating animals hurts and kills animals and humans alike.

Ethics are powerful reasons to be vegan. Combined with learning about the personal health and worldwide environmental problems that come from eating and using animals, veganism becomes a win on every level.


Health

Health:

Eating a whole food plant-based diet that focuses on human health can prevent and reverse some of the most debilitating diseases that currently kill and cause illness in millions of people.

When we ingest meat, dairy and eggs on a daily basis, we clog our arteries with cholesterol and saturated fat, even from the leanest meats or the lowest fat dairy products. Meat as well as eggs and dairy products are linked with inflammation, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, some types of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune disorders, acne and more. And many if not all of these kinds of illnesses can either be greatly improved, prevented or cured by taking animals off our plates and eating a healthily balanced whole food plant-based no-oil diet.

Some 80 percent of all antibiotics are fed not to humans, but to farmed animals to prevent the inevitable illnesses that befall animals who are kept in close proximity under highly stressful and often dirty conditions. Antibiotics are also (ab)used in farming to help "fatten up" farmed animals, a situation that is ignoring the ominous threat of creating a situation in which humans can no longer rely upon some of the most life-saving drugs ever invented. With each bite of meat, dairy and eggs, we ingest small quantities of antibiotics that were fed to the animals. Constantly keeping antibiotics in our bodies creates antibiotic resistance, rendering the drugs less powerful over time and eventually useless. Wasting these precious drugs in this manner is creating a very real and extremely serious issue, degrading the effectiveness of antibiotics.

Experts predict that if we continue to abuse antibiotics as we are doing now, the future for humanity is one in which we return to eras of the past during which getting a simple cut on one's leg may result in amputation of the leg due to infection. Or a procedure like dental work or other routine surgical interventions could result in death from untreatable infection because antibiotics have lost their potency.

It is kind to animals to stop eating and exploiting them. It is also kind to ourselves to leave them alone as well.


Earth

Earth:

Animal agriculture is one of the most toxic industries on the planet, causing intense negative impact to the earth. Precious rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming pace, mostly to make room either for livestock grazing or to grow crops not to feed humans but to feed livestock. Gaining our food calories from eating the slaughtered corpses of animals is the least efficient method of providing food in the world.

Animal agriculture uses far more water than growing plant crops for human consumption. Animal agriculture also produces enormous quantities of filthy urine and feces that ends up polluting waterways and creating dead zones in oceans.

Our seas are dying, being systematically destroyed by over-fishing and pollution. If our rainforests and oceans die, we die.

All these issues can be significantly improved by becoming vegan. You can do it!

Check out the STORIES for inspiration and the other links in this site for detailed how-to information on living a healthy, happy, vibrant vegan life!