Hi folks
I received this message from a friend of mine:
“Veganism.
I'm sorry but you really need to get off your soap box.”
My initial thought was to reply just to that one person, giving the reasons for my activism - but then I thought, perhaps there are others in my circle thinking the same thing, and I should indeed pull my horns in.
So I feel I need to get my motivations out there.
Just why would I like people to adopt a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet - and indeed go vegan, which means no leather, fur, etc?
There are 3 reasons, in fact, each one of which is sufficient, in my eyes, to encourage someone to go vegan:
Global warming/climate change
Animal welfare
One’s own health
The first is the most important: if we do nothing global warming will overwhelm us. It affects all of our futures, especially those who come after us- our children and grandchildren.
The second is intimately linked to the first - since raising livestock is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Estimates range from it contributing about 30-50% of global warming emissions (GWE).
But we have to ask ourselves, 'Given the inherent cruelty in the livestock industry, is it moral to consume meat and meat products?'
Listen to the words of Gary Yourofsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K36Zu0pA4U
Some quotes:
http://www.gary-tv.com/garymain/opinions/quotes/
The top ten vegan documentary films:
http://www.vegansouls.com/vegan-documentaries
But we have to ask ourselves, 'Given the inherent cruelty in the livestock industry, is it moral to consume meat and meat products?'
Listen to the words of Gary Yourofsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K36Zu0pA4U
Some quotes:
http://www.gary-tv.com/garymain/opinions/quotes/
The top ten vegan documentary films:
http://www.vegansouls.com/vegan-documentaries
The third reason. Adopting a WFPB diet will immediately start to reverse the heart disease you undoubtedly have ATM:
“Prevent and reverse heart disease”
As a side effect it will lessen your chances of getting any of the other 14 killer diseases suffered in a Western/developed society. If we all did this it would hugely take the pressure off the NHS, and the care system, and extend our healthy lives (meaning we may not live longer, but we will be healthier for longer before falling off this mortal coil.)
When I first became vegan I was much more reticent than I am now, but now that global warming can not be ignored any longer, I feel I have to speak out on that issue.
And, with the number of land animals slaughtered every year reaching over 50 billion - plus incalculable numbers of sea creatures:
I’ve begun to think that simply being vegan is no longer enough - I need to become more pro-active.
I was a big meat-eater right up until the age of 63, when BSE and CJD were around. It was trying to avoid this disease that caused me to give up eating meat. I was a vegetarian for a couple of years after that - but gradually the blinkers came off and I began to see the cruelty which is a necessary concomitant of the dairy industry. Around this time there was a TV film describing what happens to male chicks at birth. They’re disposed of immediately - by gassing, suffocating or simply being tossed in a grinder. I could no longer eat eggs after that.
Now that I’ve been researching the enormous health benefits that a vegan diet brings, I find it quite ironic that, simply by avoiding harm to animals, my action has resulted in being the best thing I could have done for my own health. And I’m also doing less harm to the planet.
Truly a win-win situation.
There's one other thing - we humans did not develop as meat eaters! We belong to the group of primates - we're great apes - and share all the characteristics of a herbivore with them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee25u3YccHk&t=10s
Instead of this simply being a statement of my position, I'd like to have a dialogue. These are my reasons (plus those below) for adopting a WFPB diet and living a vegan lifestyle. Along with Gary Yourofsky, I've thought long and hard about arguments against veganism - and I can't come up with any:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LKPgRix-A4
Maybe you can.
There's one other thing - we humans did not develop as meat eaters! We belong to the group of primates - we're great apes - and share all the characteristics of a herbivore with them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee25u3YccHk&t=10s
Instead of this simply being a statement of my position, I'd like to have a dialogue. These are my reasons (plus those below) for adopting a WFPB diet and living a vegan lifestyle. Along with Gary Yourofsky, I've thought long and hard about arguments against veganism - and I can't come up with any:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LKPgRix-A4
Maybe you can.
1st January 2017
Hi folks
I figure if I’ve got all this info, I should share it with my friends. But please don’t take all this as definitive - I urge you to do your own research.
If you agree with the 97% of scientists that global warming is caused by human activity and is the greatest threat humanity faces, then one simple action that everyone can take - is to go vegan!
Here are 2 important speeches pointing out the inherent cruelty of raising livestock:
The speech YouTube didn’t want you to see:
Here’s James Aspey with a ten minute video, which has been described as the “Best video you’ll ever see.”
“If we aren’t eating animals for our health - and we don’t need to kill and eat them to be healthy, what are we doing this to them for?”
“We have core values of veganism, before we were vegans. We have veganism in our heart. If you agree that causing unnecessary harm to animals is wrong, then by that belief, by your own belief, you are obligated to become vegan. Because anything less than being vegan is going in conflict with your core value of non-violence to animals.” James Aspey
Still not convinced?
The environment:
Your health:
Reversing coronary artery disease (CAD) - Dr Esselstyn
Animal welfare:
Geez, where do I start?
Chickens:
Beef: Not as cruel as the dairy industry, by a long chalk - but they still end up having their lives cut short. (Need citation for this)
Dairy:
“The Perils of Dairy”
“What the Dairy Industry Doesn't Want You to Know”
Eggs:
“What’s wrong with eggs?”