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My Reasons For Being Vegan: The BIG Picture

by Simon on December 12, 2009

Most of the time, when people ask me why I’m a vegan, I’m happy to stop and answer their questions.

But, of course, there are occasions when I can’t get into a long conversation.

In those situations I sometimes feel I’ve missed an opportunity to possibly help someone take a look at their own life choices… and maybe consider trying out a vegan lifestyle for themselves.

So, with this in mind, I found the following video to point interested folks towards when I cannot stop to chat. It fairly well sums up what I think is the “big picture” reasons for becoming vegan.

The video is titled, VEGAN. For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals by NonViolenceUnited.org .

The closing lines of the video speak volumes to me:

Each of our choices in the past helped built the world we live in today. And each of our choices from this moment forward will help build the world of tomorrow.

There is a way to build a better world.

A world in which we would all like to live.

A world driven by the innate goodness of people and their values of justice, kindness and compassion…

… for other people, for the planet, for the animals.

Vegan.

Every day you are invited to make choices.

Live your values. Change the world.

It’s that simple.

Is this simply a Utopian vision of the world?

Maybe… but one, I truly believe, is worth working towards nevertheless.

Could you choose to live in such a world? Watch the video and decide for yourself.

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Tagged as: A Better World, Agriculture, Animal Cruelty, Animal Rights, Animals, Compassion, Environment, Ethics, Factory Farming, Food, Food Politics, Justice, Kindness, Meat Industry, Non-violence, People, Planet, Self-awareness, Vegan, vegetarian

  • http://www.aranyagardens.co.uk Aranya

    Yes, this is a pretty good video in terms of covering the main points of the argument for the vegan diet. The leaving the taps on argument is pretty powerful on its own!

    The key issues for me in making the change myself were the following:
    ~ That we are the only species to continue to consume any kind of milk beyond weaning (not even our own!).
    ~ That the strongest wood glue is made from casein (from milk).
    ~ That the most powerful wild animals (e.g. elephants, gorillas, buffalo, horses etc.) all build their powerful bodies by eating plants.

    But simply switching to eating just plants and not addressing the horrific way in which we grow them, will only delay the coming crisis. The world could feed far more of us, but that would mean an even higher world population. Even organic farming is only a step in the right direction; mostly it still relies heavily upon the use of machinery and diminishing fossil fuels.

    No, an integral part of the change would have to include a complete overhaul of the way we grow the food we need. For us to respect the Earth as a whole (which for me is already an integral part of the Vegan ethic), we need to also rebuild the soils that grow our food as part of the change. Otherwise, that food is devoid of life and nutrition in the same way most soils currently are.

    So how can this be achieved? Well, we already know how, and the good news is that we can all start at home. Permaculture is the other part of the solution and I feel it is so important that I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to inspiring and teaching others about it.

    But can we really survive and thrive on a vegan diet? Of course! I have been doing so for the last 25 years. And it’s easy! OK, once you get the hang of it… :)

  • Simon

    Thanks Aranya for your thoughtful response to my post. You’re absolutely right, we really need to always remember the bigger picture of not only what we eat but also food production methods and how it finally arrives at our table.

    Veganism, for me, entails taking a holistic approach to the way I live. Thanks again for your comments.

    Simon

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