From my last post, I wanted to follow up on the Animal and Environmental reasons that drive me to strive toward a plant-based lifestyle, veganism, whatever you want to call it. First off, it's an intensely personal decision, and I won't pass judgement on you for the lifestyle choices you make. This lifestyle is my personal decision. It's my decision to try and match what I eat with my morals, to align myself with the person I want to be. So, I promise that's where all this information comes from, I don't wish to offend anyone, but you may be offended, I absolutely cannot help that. I'm trying to live in my truth, and this is where I stand.
But, obviously, I'm not perfect. That's why I started with the first line. It's a line you often hear if you follow the Happy Herbivore on Facebook, and it's the perfect (pun alert) way to describe this lifestyle. Most people are not born vegan. Most of the world (at least where I live) is not vegan or even vegetarian, so guess what? I make a lot of mistakes. I still have leather shoes (though I'll try to get vegan versions when I replace them). I ate a veggie patty the other day that had eggs in it (I only learned about it later), and that's okay. I'm trying to do what I think is right, and I'm not perfect.
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| My dog kids, Louie and Edie |
The reasons - well there are so many, but I'll point you to some resources I've found. For me personally, one of my lightbulbs was when I heard that pigs were as smart or smarter than dogs. That was a big WTF moment. I ate pig. I didn't feel bad about eating pork, but a pig could be smarter than my dogs, and I would never, ever eat them, or any other dog. Well, that takes some logic juggling to get it to fit, and it just didn't work for me. Well, you could say that's their purpose. Yeah, but they didn't evolve in tiny cages, so even its their purpose (which I don't think it is), they don't deserve a lifelong prison sentence. Think about it, it's not good for humans to live in close, tight, enclosed quarters. The mental and physical anguish wouldn't be good for humans, not to mention the environmental implications of all the waste in an enclosed area. So, it wouldn't be good for dogs, and it wouldn't be good for pigs either. And if you're eating that, it may not be good for you either. (Cue the news stories about salmonella or feces in meat.) So, even if you are eating meat, I think there's a clear argument for animal compassion. No, I'm not saying all farmers are evil sadists. Of course not. I'm talking about the broad animal abuses that take place in our mechanized, factory farming system.
This also brings up another important point. What about human suffering? Do you put animals in front of humans? What about all those field laborers who are underpaid, and work in harsh conditions? Of course, I don't put animals in front of humans in general, but specifically I might save my dog before I saved you in a fire (no offense). We have to fight for the rights of humans too. It's all about striving toward your own moral truth. So, buy local, or fair-trade when you can, but sometimes you can't. That's why it's all about progress, not perfection.
So some of the resources that helped changed my mind, from just a health based perspective to a health+animal perspective, were Gary Yourofsky and Coleen Patrick-Goudreau. They have different approaches to a vegan message. Gary turns a lot of people off, but his talks are extremely powerful. Coleen is just lovely, and she has a great, great podcast and she has great books too. So, that's where I recommend you start, if you want to start. These are just people that opened my heart. You absolutely must do what's right for you, but I hope you open your heart to animals, and inch towards that progress, not perfection.
As far as the environmental impacts of eating meat, it's personally not an area I've researched as much, but I highly recommend the movie Cowspiracy. Or check out Diet for a New America by John Robbins. I've also purchased Meatonomics, but I haven't got to yet. It discusses the subsidies and economics around meat and dairy.
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