"You cannot call yourself an environmentalist and eat meat. Period." -Howard Lyman
Allow me to honest with you: I'm a little afraid to write this article. I hemmed and hawed over it for a long time, worrying about what it would make people think of me. "Another whiny, tree-hugging vegan," I can already hear everyone say, rolling their eyes. Prior to becoming one, I thought the exact same thing. Even when I was just a vegetarian, I considered myself to be an entirely different category, fearing I would be talked about the way I had heard people talk about vegans- until I delved a little deeper into the issue, and found the truth.
Obviously, I cannot give a full dissertation on how important it is to go vegan in the space of 500 words, but allow me to give a quick overview.
I gave up meat about a year ago after doing some research and finding out that the biggest environmental hazard wasn't oil pipelines, or transportation- it was the meat and dairy industry. Despite knowing that dairy was as much of the problem as meat was, I refused to give up milk, cheese, and eggs for a long time. I insisted that free-range eggs were fine and good- until I found out that free range is a myth. This past summer, I decided to delve deeper into the issue, so I watched a few documentaries (Earthlings, Vegucated, Forks OVer Knives, and Cowspiracy)- and what I found blew my mind. Animal agriculture is the single biggest contributor to global warming, the leading cause of water depletion (looking right at you, CA drought), and other environmental concerns.
It's even bad for human health. Multiple studies have shown how meat and dairy are killing us and how a vegan diet is better for overall health, yet many choose to ignore these irrefutably proven claims (before you say what you're about to, yes, you CAN get enough protein).
One thing was for sure: knowing what I knew, I couldn't go back to eating meat, and I certainly couldn't enjoy dairy anymore. How could anyone not know about this? How, in the year 2015, was everyone remaining so ignorant about such an earth-shattering issue?
Despite irrefutable evidence that meat and dairy consumption are bad for the environment and for our health, veganism is not a popular opinion in most Western societies. I got a fair amount of backlash from my family and peers for giving up meat, when I announced I was taking the next step and cutting out dairy and eggs as well, a family member literally told me I would become a "social pariah" and forbade me from telling anyone I was vegan. I showed people the evidence, and they either snorted at it, or said that they knew, but didn't want to do it. Even my most liberal, global issue-loving friends wanted nothing to do with being vegan, even when I showed them it's actually fairly easy.
While there are many benefits to a vegan diet, the biggest is environmental. Many group it with the "gluten free" craze that has swept the nation, despite having no benefits UNLESS one is actually allergic or suffers from Celiac disease, or the problematic paleo diet, neither of which are fair or apt comparisons.
Veganism is not a "fad diet." It is a social, political, and environmental movement, and the biggest thing you can do to save the planet as well as your health.
