Living vegan is by far the most powerful, practical and straightforward way to make a positive difference in the world that we have ever found - the single best way we know of to be the change we want to see in the world.
What is Veganism?
A way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and feasible, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
Why Veganism?
For Animals
We came to recognise on a deep level the simple truth that each animal - including the ones used for food in our culture - is an individual with feelings, thoughts and families - each animal is someone, not something. We are unconsciously taught by society not to see this truth. When we learned more and realised the implications of this understanding, we became very disturbed by the depth and breadth of damage caused by our collective treatment of animals (except - for the most part - the few lucky species we think of as being like family). Once we understood, we had no choice but to boycott this way of treating animals and to share that understanding with others, to the best of our ability.
Each animal deserves the freedom to live their life without being treated as an object by humans (just as each person deserves the same freedom).
Animals are here with us, not for us.
Every year, human beings kill more animals than the entire number of humans ever to have existed in history [1, 2].
Every year.
The vast majority of farmed animals worldwide have lives that we would not wish on our worst enemies, suffering terribly in factory farms. Humans have created hell on Earth for these animals.
Even the best conditions for farmed animals involve significant cruelty and end in a terrifying ride to the slaughterhouse where they see their companions killed in front of them and they try to get away, killed when they are still babies or adolescents.
The basis for living a good life is treating others with respect. Animals count as others. They are conscious beings [3] (unlike plants). We try to put ourselves in their place and ask ourselves how we would want to be treated.
Critically, for those of us privileged enough to live in a developed society, the vast majority of us can survive and thrive without relying on the breeding and killing of animals.
So we do our best to boycott the use of animals because we know we would not want to be in their place, and the more people who boycott the systems that use them, the lower the demand and the fewer domestic animals will be bred into existence. We want to see a world where land is returned as close as reasonably possible to its native ecosystem and animals are free to live their lives in the wild. The practices of farming animals and fishing are wasteful and destructive of natural resources: as we transition to exclusively plant-based farming, we will free up land, have cleaner water and by focusing on organic permaculture principles, we will also have better soil quality and truly sustainable farming.
Why not vegetarian, then?
Because dairy, eggs, leather and other animal products that vegetarians use still involve harm, suffering and the killing of animals (even when the animals are from free range/organic/'humane' farms), and the scale is mind-boggling. As an example, for dairy alone in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017, 1.676 million calves were separated from their mothers at only a few days old and were sent off to be killed [4]. This happens because they are considered a 'waste product' (the vast majority killed are male calves, who do not product milk and are therefore considered 'useless' after they have started their mother’s milk production by being born).
Each animal deserves the freedom to live their life without being treated as an object by humans (just as each person deserves the same freedom).
Animals are here with us, not for us.
Every year, human beings kill more animals than the entire number of humans ever to have existed in history [1, 2].
Every year.
The vast majority of farmed animals worldwide have lives that we would not wish on our worst enemies, suffering terribly in factory farms. Humans have created hell on Earth for these animals.
Even the best conditions for farmed animals involve significant cruelty and end in a terrifying ride to the slaughterhouse where they see their companions killed in front of them and they try to get away, killed when they are still babies or adolescents.
The basis for living a good life is treating others with respect. Animals count as others. They are conscious beings [3] (unlike plants). We try to put ourselves in their place and ask ourselves how we would want to be treated.
Critically, for those of us privileged enough to live in a developed society, the vast majority of us can survive and thrive without relying on the breeding and killing of animals.
So we do our best to boycott the use of animals because we know we would not want to be in their place, and the more people who boycott the systems that use them, the lower the demand and the fewer domestic animals will be bred into existence. We want to see a world where land is returned as close as reasonably possible to its native ecosystem and animals are free to live their lives in the wild. The practices of farming animals and fishing are wasteful and destructive of natural resources: as we transition to exclusively plant-based farming, we will free up land, have cleaner water and by focusing on organic permaculture principles, we will also have better soil quality and truly sustainable farming.
Why not vegetarian, then?
Because dairy, eggs, leather and other animal products that vegetarians use still involve harm, suffering and the killing of animals (even when the animals are from free range/organic/'humane' farms), and the scale is mind-boggling. As an example, for dairy alone in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017, 1.676 million calves were separated from their mothers at only a few days old and were sent off to be killed [4]. This happens because they are considered a 'waste product' (the vast majority killed are male calves, who do not product milk and are therefore considered 'useless' after they have started their mother’s milk production by being born).
For People
Health
It is possible to survive and thrive eating a vegan (100% plant-based) diet. Most people feel confused about nutrition and health, and it is no wonder when popular media is constantly broadcasting conflicting claims about health and nutrition, and when even recommendations from health authorities appear to keep changing over time.
The easiest way to get to the root of this and dispel the confusion is to look at the populations around the world where it is very common for people to live into their 80s, 90s and 100s and still be full of energy and healthy - areas called 'Blue Zones'. Those populations have many common behaviours, and the two related to food are: they regularly eat legumes (beans, peas, lentils, etc.); and their diet is rich in whole plant foods (high in complex carbohydrates), eating very limited or no animal-based foods. A significant population within the Blue Zones are the 7th Day Adventist vegans, who are exceptionally healthy.
Whole-foods, plant-based eating is also an easy way of eating healthily because there is no need to count calories, count carbs, etc. The food is naturally low in calories and high in nutrients, so the rules for eating are simple:
1. Eat lots of whole starchy vegetables/grains (potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rice, etc.)
2. Eat a variety of other whole plant foods (vegetables, grains, legumes and fruits) in various colours
3. Limit highly processed plant foods (junk foods, sugar, salt, oil, white flour and food/drink made from these)
4. Eat until you are comfortably full
For safety's sake, it is also important to take a vitamin B12 supplement or eat vitamin B12 fortified foods more than once a day. Notes:
a. Vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria.
b. The consequences of B12 deficiency are very serious, supplements are cheap and easy, and people eating animals/animal products are also at risk of B12 deficiency, so the benefits of supplementing far outweigh the costs.
A whole-foods, low-fat, plant-based diet has been scientifically proven to reverse heart disease [1, 2] (the number one killer of humans worldwide), and there is good evidence that eating this way can significantly reduce the risk of getting other chronic diseases (such as type-II diabetes and at least some types of cancer), can stop the progression of many of our leading killer diseases and can reverse some of them. It also lowers risk of food poisoning from food-borne illnesses, since the vast majority of cases are caused by pathogens that are primarily carried by animal foods.
Animal farming (especially factory farming) is probably the main driving force behind antibiotic resistance, with more than half of antibiotics sold going to livestock in the US and UK. Irresponsible use of antibiotics is common in animal agriculture: to speed up growth of healthy animals and to keep animals alive when kept in terrible conditions on factory farms. Antibiotic resistance threatens to undermine even the most common, simple surgical procedures we have come to rely on in our medical system, and this represents a grave threat to future public health.
Factory farms are also breeding-grounds of human-infecting diseases (such as 'bird flu' and 'swine flu'). As long as factory farms continue to exist, they will pose a significant risk of generating a new disease pandemic.
the other main source of risk of pandemic diseases is from natural habitat destruction and the wild animal food trade - such as what led to our worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.
Hideous industrial practices such as feeding herbivorous animals ground-up animals to eat (including their own species, and including feeding fish to cows!) are now common around the world (in Aotearoa New Zealand where we live, it's illegal to feed ruminants to other ruminants, but legal to feed them to other animals such as pet rabbits!). These practices lead to terrible brain diseases like 'mad cow' disease and its human equivalent Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - a universally fatal disease thought to be spread by 'prions', which cannot be destroyed by normal methods of sterilisation (such as cooking, heating, washing, etc.)
A life of good health is a much more enjoyable life, and ill health is a terrible burden to carry. We can eat delicious food and still have good health. Eating entirely plant-based with plenty of whole foods is great for human health as long as we follow a few easy guidelines. There is so much support online and via support groups for transitioning to this way of eating and living (free support programmes, recipes, etc.) that it's easier than it ever has been!
Justice
Global inequality and world hunger: one in nine people in the world go to bed hungry every day, and one in three suffer from malnutrition [3]. Issues of inequality are at the heart of this, and inefficient use of our land and other natural resources by farming animals is a significant factor. We have enough land to grow plants to feed everyone in the world, now and into the future, but a large portion of the grain currently grown goes to livestock instead of being used to feed people directly [4]. Affluent countries moving to eating plant-based is a pre-requisite to solving world hunger. Other problems of inequality and corruption would also have to be solved to ensure everyone has enough to eat, yet eating animals is a core part of our world's inequality and must be solved before we can have a more equal and just world for people.
Peace: systematised violence leads to more violence. A 2009 US study of the effect of having slaughterhouses in communities indicate that slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes and arrests for sexual crimes in comparison with other industries [5]. Slaughterhouses are also very dangerous places for their workers. We do not need buildings designed for killing - houses of slaughter - at all: people and other animals would be much better off without them.
It is possible to survive and thrive eating a vegan (100% plant-based) diet. Most people feel confused about nutrition and health, and it is no wonder when popular media is constantly broadcasting conflicting claims about health and nutrition, and when even recommendations from health authorities appear to keep changing over time.
The easiest way to get to the root of this and dispel the confusion is to look at the populations around the world where it is very common for people to live into their 80s, 90s and 100s and still be full of energy and healthy - areas called 'Blue Zones'. Those populations have many common behaviours, and the two related to food are: they regularly eat legumes (beans, peas, lentils, etc.); and their diet is rich in whole plant foods (high in complex carbohydrates), eating very limited or no animal-based foods. A significant population within the Blue Zones are the 7th Day Adventist vegans, who are exceptionally healthy.
Whole-foods, plant-based eating is also an easy way of eating healthily because there is no need to count calories, count carbs, etc. The food is naturally low in calories and high in nutrients, so the rules for eating are simple:
1. Eat lots of whole starchy vegetables/grains (potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rice, etc.)
2. Eat a variety of other whole plant foods (vegetables, grains, legumes and fruits) in various colours
3. Limit highly processed plant foods (junk foods, sugar, salt, oil, white flour and food/drink made from these)
4. Eat until you are comfortably full
For safety's sake, it is also important to take a vitamin B12 supplement or eat vitamin B12 fortified foods more than once a day. Notes:
a. Vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria.
b. The consequences of B12 deficiency are very serious, supplements are cheap and easy, and people eating animals/animal products are also at risk of B12 deficiency, so the benefits of supplementing far outweigh the costs.
A whole-foods, low-fat, plant-based diet has been scientifically proven to reverse heart disease [1, 2] (the number one killer of humans worldwide), and there is good evidence that eating this way can significantly reduce the risk of getting other chronic diseases (such as type-II diabetes and at least some types of cancer), can stop the progression of many of our leading killer diseases and can reverse some of them. It also lowers risk of food poisoning from food-borne illnesses, since the vast majority of cases are caused by pathogens that are primarily carried by animal foods.
Animal farming (especially factory farming) is probably the main driving force behind antibiotic resistance, with more than half of antibiotics sold going to livestock in the US and UK. Irresponsible use of antibiotics is common in animal agriculture: to speed up growth of healthy animals and to keep animals alive when kept in terrible conditions on factory farms. Antibiotic resistance threatens to undermine even the most common, simple surgical procedures we have come to rely on in our medical system, and this represents a grave threat to future public health.
Factory farms are also breeding-grounds of human-infecting diseases (such as 'bird flu' and 'swine flu'). As long as factory farms continue to exist, they will pose a significant risk of generating a new disease pandemic.
the other main source of risk of pandemic diseases is from natural habitat destruction and the wild animal food trade - such as what led to our worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.
Hideous industrial practices such as feeding herbivorous animals ground-up animals to eat (including their own species, and including feeding fish to cows!) are now common around the world (in Aotearoa New Zealand where we live, it's illegal to feed ruminants to other ruminants, but legal to feed them to other animals such as pet rabbits!). These practices lead to terrible brain diseases like 'mad cow' disease and its human equivalent Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - a universally fatal disease thought to be spread by 'prions', which cannot be destroyed by normal methods of sterilisation (such as cooking, heating, washing, etc.)
A life of good health is a much more enjoyable life, and ill health is a terrible burden to carry. We can eat delicious food and still have good health. Eating entirely plant-based with plenty of whole foods is great for human health as long as we follow a few easy guidelines. There is so much support online and via support groups for transitioning to this way of eating and living (free support programmes, recipes, etc.) that it's easier than it ever has been!
Justice
Global inequality and world hunger: one in nine people in the world go to bed hungry every day, and one in three suffer from malnutrition [3]. Issues of inequality are at the heart of this, and inefficient use of our land and other natural resources by farming animals is a significant factor. We have enough land to grow plants to feed everyone in the world, now and into the future, but a large portion of the grain currently grown goes to livestock instead of being used to feed people directly [4]. Affluent countries moving to eating plant-based is a pre-requisite to solving world hunger. Other problems of inequality and corruption would also have to be solved to ensure everyone has enough to eat, yet eating animals is a core part of our world's inequality and must be solved before we can have a more equal and just world for people.
Peace: systematised violence leads to more violence. A 2009 US study of the effect of having slaughterhouses in communities indicate that slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes and arrests for sexual crimes in comparison with other industries [5]. Slaughterhouses are also very dangerous places for their workers. We do not need buildings designed for killing - houses of slaughter - at all: people and other animals would be much better off without them.
For Our Environment
Every person, animal and life form that we know of depends on the same thing: Earth, our shared home. As a species, we are rapidly depleting our natural resources and trashing our environment in a way that is expected to have severe impacts on all of us within the next few decades.
One of the largest causes of environmental destruction is due to our society's unnecessary cultural habit of eating animals and animal products [3, 6], and this cause goes largely unseen. Animal agriculture (farming and fishing) is the leading cause of:
Species extinction [1, 2]
Ocean dead zones
Rainforest destruction
Water pollution
Land Use [3]
Animal agriculture is the second leading cause globally [4, 5] of:
Greenhouse gas emissions
- Contributing more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined exhaust of all transportation worldwide [5]
- Single largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions here in Aotearoa New Zealand (approximately 40% of our total emissions)
We want a peaceful world where our daughter and every other child will grow up with access to fresh water, healthy soil and air, wild animals and native trees and plants. Where they have unpolluted food to eat, water to drink and air to breathe.
One significant conclusion from a United Nations Environment Programme report is that "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth [and] increasing consumption of animal products." and "A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products." [7]
A good overview of this serious problem (and a major part of its solution) is given in Dr. Richard Oppenlander's address to the European Union:
One of the largest causes of environmental destruction is due to our society's unnecessary cultural habit of eating animals and animal products [3, 6], and this cause goes largely unseen. Animal agriculture (farming and fishing) is the leading cause of:
Species extinction [1, 2]
Ocean dead zones
Rainforest destruction
Water pollution
Land Use [3]
Animal agriculture is the second leading cause globally [4, 5] of:
Greenhouse gas emissions
- Contributing more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined exhaust of all transportation worldwide [5]
- Single largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions here in Aotearoa New Zealand (approximately 40% of our total emissions)
We want a peaceful world where our daughter and every other child will grow up with access to fresh water, healthy soil and air, wild animals and native trees and plants. Where they have unpolluted food to eat, water to drink and air to breathe.
One significant conclusion from a United Nations Environment Programme report is that "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth [and] increasing consumption of animal products." and "A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products." [7]
A good overview of this serious problem (and a major part of its solution) is given in Dr. Richard Oppenlander's address to the European Union:
To Live According to Our Values
Some of the values we do our best to live by are:
Authenticity
Peace
Kindness
Fairness
Respect
Awareness
Proactivity
Connection
Purpose
We try to live a good life - for ourselves, and for others.
To truly live these values we realised we needed to widen our circle of compassion to include all conscious beings.
In the following talk, Dr Melanie Joy explains why living in alignment with our values is only possible through a conscious process of becoming aware of the invisible beliefs that shape our lives, and then choosing beliefs aligned with our values even if they conflict with the dominant beliefs of our culture:
Authenticity
Peace
Kindness
Fairness
Respect
Awareness
Proactivity
Connection
Purpose
We try to live a good life - for ourselves, and for others.
To truly live these values we realised we needed to widen our circle of compassion to include all conscious beings.
In the following talk, Dr Melanie Joy explains why living in alignment with our values is only possible through a conscious process of becoming aware of the invisible beliefs that shape our lives, and then choosing beliefs aligned with our values even if they conflict with the dominant beliefs of our culture:
Enjoying Food
It's easy nowadays to have a huge variety of delicious vegan food - there are so many great recipes online (try searching online for 'quick, easy, cheap vegan recipes'). It can also be a cheaper way of eating if you prepare the food yourself (rather than buying expensive 'substitute' foods). It's important to understand that eating healthy can also mean eating food that tastes great. However, our typical high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar diet numbs our taste palate to anything else, and it takes a few weeks to adjust when making any significant change to the kinds of food eaten. After eating whole plant foods for a while, a delicious variety of nuance becomes available in every bite, even in foods that used to taste bland.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of things we eat - we love food and eat a wide variety of tasty meals regularly:
Here are a few examples of the kinds of things we eat - we love food and eat a wide variety of tasty meals regularly:
Want to Make a Difference?
Do you care about?:
Animals
Environment
Health - your own and the health of those you love
Peace
Social Justice
Enjoying Food
Then we encourage you to try it out for yourself here:
Try Vegan
(Vegan Society of Aotearoa New Zealand)
Animals
Environment
Health - your own and the health of those you love
Peace
Social Justice
Enjoying Food
Then we encourage you to try it out for yourself here:
Try Vegan
(Vegan Society of Aotearoa New Zealand)
Concerns or Questions?
Questions or objections about veganism might come to your mind, such as "where do you get your protein from?", "but you can't get enough <nutrient> on a vegan diet", "but we are omnivores", "but animals are here for us", or many others. All of these have logical, evidence-based answers. If you have questions or reservations about veganism please contact us. We are glad to discuss these in detail and will do our best to answer them to your satisfaction and reassure you about any concerns you have.
John & Michelle — Gentle Revolutionaries
References
For Animals
- Estimated number of humans who have ever lived throughout history: 117 billion (2/1/2024) - Population Reference Bureau
- Estimated number of fish caught each year by humans in fishing: between 970 billion and 2.74 trillion - "Estimating the Number of Fish Caught in Global Fishing Each Year" - A Mood and P Brooke, July 2010
- "[...] the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.” - "The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness" - Philip Low, Jaak Panksepp, Diana Reiss, David Edelman, Bruno Van Swinderen, Christof Koch - July 2012
- 1.88 million calves killed in the 2020 calendar year in New Zealand - Statista
For People
- In a study of 198 patients with cardiovascular disease, those who adhered to a whole foods, 100% plant-based diet (for an average duration of 3.7 years) were approximately 100 times less likely to have a subsequent adverse event - "A way to reverse CAD?" - Esselstyn CB Jr, Gendy G, Doyle J, Golubic M, Roizen MF, July 2014
- A randomised controlled trial showed that heart disease was reversed after 1 year and further reversed after 5 years in the group eating a whole-food, low-fat vegetarian diet and practicing other healthy lifestyle behaviours, whereas in the control group, heart disease continued to worsen and more than twice as many cardiac events occurred - "Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease" - Dean Ornish, MD; Larry W. Scherwitz, PhD; James H. Billings, PhD, MPH; et al, December 1998
- World Food Programme - Zero Hunger
- Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare - Emily S Cassidy, Paul C West, James S Gerber and Jonathan A Foley, August 2013
- Slaughterhouses and Increased Crime Rates - Amy J. Fitzgerald, Linda Kalof, Thomas Dietz, June 2009
For Our Environment
- "In general, scientists agree that habitat destruction is currently the primary lethal agent [driving species exctinction globally] (Ehrlich 1988, Wilson 1992)" - Quantifying Threats to Imperiled Species in the United States - David S. Wilcove, David Rothstein, Jason Dubow, Ali Phillips, Elizabeth Losos - August 1998
- "Livestock production is the single largest driver of habitat loss, and both livestock and feedstock production are increasing in developing tropical countries where the majority of biological diversity resides." - Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption - Brian Machovina, Kenneth J. Feeley, William J. Ripple - July 2015
- "Food production is the most significant influence on land use and therefore habitat change, water use, overexploitation of fisheries and pollution with nitrogen and phosphorus. In poorer countries, it is also the most important cause of emissions of greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O). Both emissions and land use depend strongly on diets. Animal products, both meat and dairy, in general require more resources and cause higher emissions than plant-based alternatives." - UNEP (2010) Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials, A Report of the Working Group on the Environmental Impacts of Products and Materials to the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. Hertwich, E., van der Voet, E., Suh, S., Tukker, A., Huijbregts M., Kazmierczyk, P., Lenzen, M., McNeely, J., Moriguchi, Y.
- "The Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use sector is responsible for just under a quarter [...] of [human-caused greenhouse gas] emissions mainly from deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient management (robust evidence; high agreement)" - Smith P., M. Bustamante, H. Ahammad, H. Clark, H. Dong, E.A. Elsiddig, H. Haberl, R. Harper, J. House, M. Jafari, O. Masera, C. Mbow, N.H. Ravindranath, C.W. Rice, C. Robledo Abad, A. Romanovskaya, F. Sperling, and F. Tubiello, 2014: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU). In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
- Electricity and Heat Production - 25%; Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use - 24%; Transportation - 14% [based on global emissions from 2010] - Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data - United States Environmental Protection Agency
- "Agriculture and food is another societal area responsible for very large impacts on the environment. More than fossil fuels, agricultural activities directly influence ecosystems by occupying large land areas and using huge quantities of water." - UNEP (2010) Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials, A Report of the Working Group on the Environmental Impacts of Products and Materials to the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. Hertwich, E., van der Voet, E., Suh, S., Tukker, A., Huijbregts M., Kazmierczyk, P., Lenzen, M., McNeely, J., Moriguchi, Y.
- UNEP (2010) Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials, A Report of the Working Group on the Environmental Impacts of Products and Materials to the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. Hertwich, E., van der Voet, E., Suh, S., Tukker, A., Huijbregts M., Kazmierczyk, P., Lenzen, M., McNeely, J., Moriguchi, Y.