Veganism

Some Thoughts

To begin, I'm not writing this with the expectation that it's going to single-handedly convince anyone of the validity and importance of veganism. I don't think that's a reasonable thing to expect and I think the theory and philosophy is bigger and more complex than I can offer in a short blog post. Instead I hope that this page will encourage people to at least a few minutes to learn about animal agriculture as well as the philosophy of veganism. I recommend this article and this documentary.

I became a vegetarian in 2022. I had been sympathetic to the idea for a while but had been putting it off, I guess. I didn't really think about veganism much, but in 2021 or 2022 I started hanging out in a couple discord servers related to ecology and anti-oppressive politics, and was forced to confront the fact that my actions did not match what I believed in. I supported the rights and welfare of non-human animals, and I knew that the meat industry was cruel (although I didn't understand the extent), so why was I still participating in it? I told myself that my individual actions didn’t matter, that they wouldn’t have a real effect, but I realized I was just making excuses for myself. I couldn't justify eating meat to myself any longer, so I stopped, and more recently began educated myself more about veganism and cut out all animal products.

There are many reasons to avoid consuming animal products but the reason at the core of veganism is ethical. Veganism is the belief that non-human animals deserve ethical consideration as the sentient beings they are. Consequentially, we avoid participating in systems of animal cruelty and exploitation to the greatest extent that we can. There are also environmental considerations. Energy use, land use, pollution, fishery collapse - in short, animal agriculture is much more harmful to the enviroment than plant agriculture. In order to mitigate and adapt to climate change, an extreme reduction in the consumption of animal products is necesary. This ecological damage hurts humans as well, disproportionately affecting people of color and people living in rural areas. Related to enviromental concerns are concerns related to disease. Oddly, I rarely see people mention this, but animal agriculture is a major source of disease outbreaks. Antibiotic resistance and avian flu (including new strains of avian flu that are now being transmitted between mammals) are two serious problems, and climate change is only going to make things worse. Disease is especially likely to affect slaughterhouse workers, who are also at high risk of both physical injuiry and psychological trauma on the job.

A lot of people will argue that going vegan does not pose a threat to capitalism, which will simply find new products to sell us, products that are still created by exploiting the planet and its living creatures. There's a bit of truth there. On its own, a plant-based diet does not pose a challenge to capitalism. We should be careful not to get complacent, not to overestimate the effect of lifestyle changes, not to allow our movements against oppression to be watered down into something that no longer challenges the establishment. But veganism is more than a diet, it’s the belief in the moral worth of all sentient beings. It's about creating the world you want to live in, acting in accordance with what you believe, and taking charge of the future. I am a firm believer that real, lasting change comes from the bottom up. By living vegan you are showing others that you stand in support of animals, and that, to the extent that you can, you will refuse to participate in a system of abuse and exploitation. There's no way to completely avoid participating in harm, but each moment of each day we have the choice to act as ethically as our situations allow us.

Resources

Last updated: September 30 2024