Why You Should Adopt a Vegan Lifestyle

Thanks to the explosion of social media, veganism has emerged in mainstream culture, which is a beautiful sight for sore eyes. What was once a niche demographic is becoming ever more accessible, and the community has grown insurmountably. Further, it has never been easier to adopt a vegan lifestyle, especially in Western society, and the number of vegan products becoming available is endless and continues to increase.  

Of course, why would someone consider adopting a vegan lifestyle in the first place? 

While the original ideology of veganism pertains to animal rights and welfare, more and more people are adopting a vegan lifestyle for reasons outside of animal ethics. This is because several ethical concerns and philosophies happen to intersect with adopting a vegan lifestyle. So while the original definition of veganism is denoted as: “ a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms, it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals." it will be interesting to see if and how the vegan community grows or accepts these intersecting ideologies, which ultimately, does reduce animal suffering even if their main driving factor to be vegan is not for animal ethics.

With that being said, while there are many reasons to encourage someone to become vegan, I am only going to cover a few here, but is not an exhaustive list. If this is something that you are interested in or curious about, I strongly encourage you to take the time and do further research. 

Without further ado, here are a few core reasons to go vegan. 

Compassion for all sentient beings

When we lead with compassion, we see the world differently and can make meaningful changes, positively impacting others. I am an avid believer that the average person overall has good intentions, and in general, does not want to cause unnecessary pain or suffering to others - animals included. However, leading with compassion for all beings means that one must accept that other sentient beings can also suffer and experience pain, but further emotional and mental experiences beyond suffering. 

Similar to humans, many species create communities, hierarchies, social bonds, and ways in which they communicate with each other. While there are many ways in which we are similar, it is complicated because there will always be an inherent disconnect due to our inability to communicate on the same level. However, we should not use this barrier to our benefit or as an excuse not to lead with compassion. We should not use it as an excuse to continue causing pain and suffering through our daily actions and purchases.  

If you have the privilege of living in a Western or developed society where many vegan, cruelty-free alternatives are available, leading with compassion is an ever increasingly easy choice. 

The environment

This is where we see the intersectionality of two ethical concerns: the environment and animal welfare. Regardless if you believe in global warming, there is no denying the importance of the air that we breathe, the water we drink, and the quality of these things to our survival. No daily choice that we make has a more significant impact on the environment than limiting our consumption of animals and their by-products. 

About half of the habitable land on this planet is used for agriculture, 77% of which is used to raise land animals, raising close to 70 billion land animals per year. Let us not forget the number of fish farmed per year (we do not know the number of fish, aside from tonnage), making animal and aquatic agriculture a leading contributor to environmental degradation. These industrialized farming practices continue to lead to land and water degradation, loss of biodiversity, coral reef degeneration, deforestation, and air pollution.  

Animal consumption contributes to worldwide malnourishment

As stated in the point above, close to 70 billion land animals are raised and slaughtered each year, while the human population is less than 8 billion. While we have found a way to produce enough crops to feed tenfold the human population, we have somehow been able to justify still having impoverished and starving communities throughout the world. Meanwhile, as people continue to starve and go malnourished, the demand for fish and animal products is only continuing to increase globally. 

How is it that we can continue to justify there being starving and malnourished communities? Even if you do not connect with the animal welfare aspect of veganism, should we not consider the wellbeing of our fellow humans?

Does anymore need to be said? 

Align your diet with your beliefs 

If you are someone who identifies as an avid animal lover but still consumes animal-based products, then perhaps, you might not be living fully in line with your beliefs. What you are communicating is that certain species have more inherent value than others, thereby justifying the various industries that continue to exploit animals.

I will be the first to admit that I was guilty of this myself, as I had first adopted a vegetarian lifestyle for animal ethics. It was not until I realized that by still consuming dairy, eggs, and other animal by-products that I was still contributing to animal pain and suffering. Once I came to that realization, I decided to shift to a vegan lifestyle so that I could live in line fully with my beliefs.

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Of course, it is important to acknowledge that in many ways, having the ability to adopt a vegan lifestyle is a privilege and is not necessarily an accessible lifestyle to all. Therefore, it is important to note that by consuming fewer animal products, you are making a difference in the lives of the animals, but also the environment. Even making the decision of supporting a local farmer who advocates for animal welfare and allows the animals to live in harmony with the land before they are slaughtered, is still a better choice than commercially farmed animals. The same goes for hunting; there is a clear difference in the quality of the lives that the animals experienced during their time on this earth and that should matter.

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As always, I hope that you have found this to be helpful and informative. I should also reiterate that veganism is about causing the least amount of harm as possible, as there are limits to a vegan lifestyle. For more information on that, along with some examples of such limitations, check out this post for further details.