going vegan!

Hi everybody! I'm making this video because I feel so inspired about something I discovered recently, and I feel I need to share about this!

So a few weeks ago, an Instagram post by @earthlinged suddenly triggered a thought in my mind: if I am being a vegetarian for animal welfare, why am I still eating eggs and dairy products which are part of the meat industry? Was I really concerned about animal welfare as I’d like to tell myself? But still, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t convinced of the need to go vegan. So I decided to do more research.

How big of an impact on the meat industry will I be making? What nutrient deficiency might I be at risk of? What’s so bad about eating eggs if the chickens aren’t even born yet, what’s so bad about drinking milk from cows that produce milk anyway?

This is not a post to convince anyone to be vegan. Growing up, I wasn’t an avid animal lover. Even when I first leaned towards the vegetarianism, it was not even for altruistic reasons, but rather because I was in a stage where I feared all food in general. I acknowledge that me giving up meat, is much easier than, my steak-loving brother giving up meat. And now, being completely new to veganism, I’m really in no position to ask anyone to be vegetarian, or vegan.

Indeed, if anyone had attacked my diet in the past I would have been very, very salty and probably hold a longstanding grudge against that person. As an environmentalist I am strongly against any sort of green-shaming and this pretense of a moral superiority in the environmental movement. Perhaps this was why I had always shied away from vegan debates: I’d assumed they were mostly accusations about killing animals; and I thought that was unnecessarily polarising, even damaging.

Truly, this post is about me simply hoping to share with you the questions and inner conflict I experienced that drew me into veganism, and perhaps you can ask yourselves these questions too and make your own final decision.

The first question is, why are the lives of some animals more precious than others? We feel outrage at the Yulin dog festival in China, kangaroos being killed in the Australian forest fire, or rhinos being poached in South Africa. So why do we not feel the same way for cows in a dairy farm, or chickens in the slaughterhouse? Why the distinction? What gives us the right to decide who lives and who dies?

The second question is, why do we feel pain when we see an animal in pain? Why do we feel uncomfortable watching the process of how animal products turn up on our plate, but still eat the meat anyway? We are not violent people by nature. Harming animals goes against our innate compassion as human beings. So why do we accept the violence of other humans on our plates? By eating meat, we are, unknowingly or knowingly, requesting for the continuation of this practice.

The third and final question is, is enjoying food for a few minutes more important than the life of an animal? How do we really justify the unnecessary loss of animal life? And given that the meat industry accounts for 60% of greenhouse gases from food production, is that few minutes more important than the life of our planet?

All these questions, I couldn’t find answers. Being vegan isn’t a solution to all the environmental problems, but I think no environmental solution can be complete without it. From protecting animal wellbeing to shaping our mindsets to be kinder towards the environment and the lives within, veganism taking a stance against a polluting industry, veganism is about saying enough is enough.

Yes, I know there are going to be new challenges. I need to ensure I get enough vitamin B12, iron, zinc, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. But there are plant sources and supplements available, and there’s nutrition apps to ensure you aren’t missing out on essential nutrients. And, most of all, if taking this extra effort means one more animal life saved, don’t you think it’s worth it?

While I say this, I must repeat: eating meat does NOT mean you are a bad person, it is simply absurd and illogical to connect the two. I know that not everyone is ready for a switch, and that's perfectly okay! I wasn't ready in the past, and I thought I would never go vegan. But we all start somewhere, and at some point in our lives we must, at the very least, question the way our societies have conditioned us to think, as well as question the cultural practices that may in fact be obsolete.

And that trigger, I think, is essential if we want to reimagine a world that is immensely sensitive of humankind's impact on the environment; a world that doesn't see pollution as necessary for survival; a world that treasures all lives and the freedom within.