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| Why Vegan? For Our Health, For The Animals, For The Earth, For Social Justice |
| P.O. Box 126 * Negaunee, MI 49866 * (906) 236-1279 * info@northernvegans.com |
| Definition of Vegan(ism) To begin a discussion of why many are choosing to go vegan and adopt veganism as a diet, lifestyle, philosophy, etc., it may first be helpful to consider a definition or explanation of the word 'vegan'. The term vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944 and was defined as follows: Veganism is a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals. Why Vegan? Understanding that vegans are not monolithic, that we all come from different backgrounds and viewpoints, and that we often have differing opinions on how we express our veganism, there are many reasons why vegans choose to follow this path. |
For Our Health
There is insurmountable evidence that shows a whole foods vegan diet
is a superior diet for health and longevity. Animal products are being
linked to most or all of the major diseases of our times including heart
disease, all types of cancers, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis,
osteoporosis, and the list goes on and on. Whereas, foods from the
plant kingdom have all the essentials for a healthy human existence. It is
the plant foods that contain antioxidants and fiber which animal products
do not and it is the animal products that contain the cholesterol,
hormones, antibiotic residues, and dangerously high levels of saturated
fat and protein that vegetable sources do not.
For the Animals
"Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends" George Bernard
Shaw. Over 10 billion animals are slaughtered every year in the United
States. For obvious reasons, a vegan diet is much kinder to animals, as
vegans choose not to consume animal flesh or enslave animals for their
by-products. When you realize you can live without eating animals and
their by-products and live healthier as a result, you find very little reason
to continue exploiting animals as a food source.
For the Planet/Environment
An animal-based diet is very detrimental to our planet's ecosystem.
Over half of the nation's water resources are used in animal food
production which is the greatest consumer and polluter of our precious
water resources. Livestock produces 130 times the amount of waste that
people do. This waste is untreated and unsanitary. Animal food
production is absurdly inefficient. For example, one pound of beef
requires roughly 2500 gallons of water, whereas one pound of wheat
requires roughly 25 gallons of water. Methane is produced almost
exclusively from animal agriculture which is more responsible for the
warming of the planet than CO2. Methane levels in the atmosphere have
risen much faster than CO2 levels, and methane traps heat far more
effectively than carbon dioxide. An exorbitant amount of energy goes
into animal food production and contributes greatly to our fossil fuel
addiction and CO2 emissions. Here are just some of the environmental
problems that eating an animal based diet contributes to: water and air
pollution, global warming, habitat destruction, rain forest destruction and
fossil fuel dependence.
For Social Justice
An inordinate amount of resources are used globally for animal
agriculture. Raising animals for food is a grossly inefficient use of our
precious resources. Many more human beings could be fed if land were
used to grow foods to feed directly to people rather than feeding it to
animals to then feed to people. Livestock are simply not efficient
converters of protein-it takes roughly 17 pounds of grain to produce 1
pound of beef. Think of how much better we could serve humanity if we
devoted our precious resources to better ends and distributed our
energies more equitably. Veganism is simply another step in humanity's
search for social justice and our expansion of ethical consideration to
those that society once viewed as separate or lesser beings. In this
way, veganism follows the same evolutionary path as did the anti-slavery
and civil rights movement, women's liberation, etc.
There is insurmountable evidence that shows a whole foods vegan diet
is a superior diet for health and longevity. Animal products are being
linked to most or all of the major diseases of our times including heart
disease, all types of cancers, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis,
osteoporosis, and the list goes on and on. Whereas, foods from the
plant kingdom have all the essentials for a healthy human existence. It is
the plant foods that contain antioxidants and fiber which animal products
do not and it is the animal products that contain the cholesterol,
hormones, antibiotic residues, and dangerously high levels of saturated
fat and protein that vegetable sources do not.
For the Animals
"Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends" George Bernard
Shaw. Over 10 billion animals are slaughtered every year in the United
States. For obvious reasons, a vegan diet is much kinder to animals, as
vegans choose not to consume animal flesh or enslave animals for their
by-products. When you realize you can live without eating animals and
their by-products and live healthier as a result, you find very little reason
to continue exploiting animals as a food source.
For the Planet/Environment
An animal-based diet is very detrimental to our planet's ecosystem.
Over half of the nation's water resources are used in animal food
production which is the greatest consumer and polluter of our precious
water resources. Livestock produces 130 times the amount of waste that
people do. This waste is untreated and unsanitary. Animal food
production is absurdly inefficient. For example, one pound of beef
requires roughly 2500 gallons of water, whereas one pound of wheat
requires roughly 25 gallons of water. Methane is produced almost
exclusively from animal agriculture which is more responsible for the
warming of the planet than CO2. Methane levels in the atmosphere have
risen much faster than CO2 levels, and methane traps heat far more
effectively than carbon dioxide. An exorbitant amount of energy goes
into animal food production and contributes greatly to our fossil fuel
addiction and CO2 emissions. Here are just some of the environmental
problems that eating an animal based diet contributes to: water and air
pollution, global warming, habitat destruction, rain forest destruction and
fossil fuel dependence.
For Social Justice
An inordinate amount of resources are used globally for animal
agriculture. Raising animals for food is a grossly inefficient use of our
precious resources. Many more human beings could be fed if land were
used to grow foods to feed directly to people rather than feeding it to
animals to then feed to people. Livestock are simply not efficient
converters of protein-it takes roughly 17 pounds of grain to produce 1
pound of beef. Think of how much better we could serve humanity if we
devoted our precious resources to better ends and distributed our
energies more equitably. Veganism is simply another step in humanity's
search for social justice and our expansion of ethical consideration to
those that society once viewed as separate or lesser beings. In this
way, veganism follows the same evolutionary path as did the anti-slavery
and civil rights movement, women's liberation, etc.
| Veganism simply makes sense on every conceivable level. It is a tool by which we can live a more harmonious existence and help bring about a world with less suffering, better health, cleaner environment, and an end to prejudice. Weighing all these issues and considering the consequences of an animal-based lifestyle, logic and our hearts tell us there is a better way- GO VEGAN! |