6 Reasons Why Now Is the Time to Go Vegan

Jan 04, 2021

"A year from now, you will wish you had started today."
–Karen Lamb

1. The Pandemic

Perhaps I'm feeding a fed horse by stating again that COVID-19 was likely released into the world because of animal exploitation practices, as with many other diseases -- swine flu, Ebola, HIV, and other coronaviruses like MERS and SARS. However, this cannot be overstated if we want to reduce the likelihood of another pandemic occurring; we must cease animal-related practices in which animals are held in confined, unsanitary places and in which humans interact with animals who could transmit diseases to them.

Fight the Virus with Diet

However, since the pandemic is already here, saying, "I told you so," won't help anyone now. What we need to do is protect ourselves from infection as much as possible. While wearing masks, keeping up good personal hygiene, and social distancing are undoubtedly essential, it's also important to protect your immune system so you will be better equipped to fight off a virus that is very much trying to kill you.

Since dietary choices -- following the Standard American Diet (SAD) -- have a causal relationship with the development of and fatalities from the leading causes of death -- heart disease; lung diseases; brain diseases; kidney diseases; diabetes; hypertension; liver diseases; infections; Parkinson's; breast, blood, prostate, and digestive cancers; and even suicidal depression -- we know that eating a diet that incorporates animal products is one of the surest ways to harm your health. Luckily, a diet rich in healthy plant foods has been proven to have the opposite effect, bolstering your body's defense systems against diseases that want to bring you down.

*Resources: "Animal Origins of Deadly Disease Outbreaks," How to Survive a Pandemic by Dr. Michael Greger, How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger, Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It by Dr. Garth Davis, Your Body In Balance: The New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health by Dr. Neal Barnard, What the Health, Forks Over Knives, Naked Food

2. The Animals

Every year, 2.7 trillion -- trillion -- nonhuman animals are killed by humans. To put that number into a bit of perspective, in the entire history of the world, only about 100 billion humans have ever lived. So, multiply the whole history of humanity by 27 and that's how many lives we take every single year -- and it's all completely unnecessary.

The Breakdown

Out of this staggering number, at least 70 billion are land animals, the vast majority being chickens used for flesh and eggs. (There are about 19 times more chickens killed in the US each year than all other land animals combined.) However, though these killings are nothing to scoff at, the real numbers come from the fishing industry. Fishing is so prolific that it's estimated the oceans could be virtually fish-free in less than 30 years.

There are very few regulations on this industry (and most regulations are nearly impossible to enforce), and these operations are designed to kill indiscriminately. For every one pound of fish caught and killed, there are an additional five pounds of collateral damage. Take tunas, for instance (who are essential predators in their ecosystem, like lions of the ocean, and are nearly extinct because their flesh is so prized); for every single pound of a tuna's flesh, there are five pounds of other dead animals -- dolphins, sea birds, turtles, seals, whales, sharks and other fishes, etc.

The Fallacy

Humans are only one species in the animal kingdom. We, like our nonhuman kin, can experience physical and emotional pain, joy, grief, anger, boredom, pleasure, and frustration. We, like our nonhuman kin, can communicate with other members of our species using language only understood by ourselves. We, like our nonhuman kin, seek to live freely and avoid harm and death at all costs. We're not so different from other animals when it comes to the things that really matter.

Veganism is simply acting on the recognition that these beings are sentient and deserve the right to live without human interference, to have autonomy over their own bodies, and to be protected as much as possible from human-caused threats. We take what we already know and believe about certain animals -- their intelligence, their emotions, their feelings -- and expand that to include all animals. There is no justifiable reason to use and abuse individuals without their consent when the world is full of other, more compassionate options.

*Resources: Check out the US Animal Kill Clock for real-time slaughter numbers and further information, along with What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins by Jonathan Balcombe, Earthlings, Dominion, Land of Hope and Glory

3. The People

There are millions of people impacted by animal use. Here are just a few to consider:

Farm and slaughterhouse workers -- who are disproportionately low income, persons of color, immigrants, veterans, differently-abled, etc. -- who are some of the most likely to suffer fatal injuries on the job, as well as become at risk for violent behavior (outside the workplace, as these are inherently places of violence) and substance abuse.
Those living in agrarian, developing nations who cannot even feed their children because the crops they grow are fed to animals eaten in first-world countries.
Yourself or your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and other acquaintances who have been diagnosed with or have died from one of the 15 leading causes of death, 14 of which can largely be prevented and/or reversed with a balanced plant-based diet.
The students in medical school who are taught that the only way to learn how to save human lives is to perform cruel experiments on innocent animals.
Employees at SeaWorld and other marine parks who risk their lives every time they enter the pools with frustrated, caged animals who'd prefer to be free.
People living in rural and/or low-income areas where factory farms or slaughterhouses set up shop next door, contaminating the air, earth, and water with tons upon tons of waste, often leading to serious health issues (ranging from asthma to cancer). Additionally, they experience the unsettling sounds, smells, and sights of thousands of distressed animals suffering ceaselessly.
Animal agriculture executives and lobbyists who profit immensely from government subsidies and bailouts while their employees are barely scraping by and the animals are being sliced apart.

*Resources: National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2019, Food Choice and Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and Taking Baby Steps Won't Work by Dr. Richard Oppenlander, The Walrus and the Whistleblower, Test Subjects, Blackfish, The Pornography of Meat by Carol J. Adams, There Was a Killing

4. The Lifestyle

Going vegan is an awakening. It opens your eyes to suffering intentionally hidden out of sight by those responsible for forcing us to commit unspeakable atrocities, a genocide against nonhumans. Though at first you may feel trapped in darkness, seeing only the bad in the world, you will learn to see the light that creates the shadow.

Your circle of compassion will expand to include all beings, human and nonhuman, and you will find joy just by being alive, knowing that you no longer contribute to such suffering every day. A weight will be lifted off your shoulders -- a weight you didn't even realize was dragging you down -- and you will find a new sense of freedom, a lightness in your life. There will be struggles, undoubtedly so, but there will also be great gratification in your life and hope for a cruelty-free future.

Fearing Change

Perhaps you don't believe it's really possible that your perspective of the world will change that much, that veganism could possibly alter your life so greatly, but you won't know until you give it a try. Or perhaps you're content with your life as it is now and don't want it to change, but veganism won't alter who you are fundamentally unless you want that to happen. You are still in control of your own thoughts and choices, but your circle of compassion will just grow a little bit bigger by including other species within it.

5. The Planet

Remember that 2.7 trillion number? What if I told you all that carnage was actually hurting us in even more ways than simply destroying our bodily health? Every hour, over four million tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are released by livestock alone. About 37 percent of anthropogenic methane (which has a global warming potential 86 times greater than CO2) emissions are also due to livestock, and with a half-life of only about seven years, eliminating animal agriculture would be far more beneficial in the immediate future to slow the climate's warming process. (However, it's believed that 37 percent is actually lower than the true number because many researchers have ties to the industry and, therefore, misrepresent the numbers because they have an incentive to downplay the industry's impact on the planet.)

Water & Land Destruction

Animal agriculture -- primarily cattle and crops fed to cattle -- is responsible for over 90 percent of Amazon deforestation, as well as the loss of species and indigenous peoples who reside in the rainforest. 90 percent of Brazilian cattle -- which the US imports -- are raised on cleared rainforest land.
Consuming an animal-based diet requires 18 times more land and 13 times more water than a plant-based diet, due to the fact that there are tens of billions of farmed animals who consume far more plants than humans, which require millions of gallons of water, and drink far more water. (For example, just one pound of flesh from grass-fed cows requires 30 pounds of feed.)
Seven football fields' worth of land is cleared every minute for livestock.
Nearly half the planet's total landmass (and one-third of all ice-free land) is used for livestock, and about 43 percent of all land in the continental US is used for animal agriculture. (Agriculture uses 55 percent of the land, of which 78 percent is for animal agriculture.)
45 percent of all freshwater use in the US is for animal agriculture, and there is expected to be a 40 percent shortage of freshwater worldwide by 2030.
Animal agriculture is the leading contributor to ocean dead zones, which are doubling every decade.
About 30 to 50 percent of all anthropogenic GHG emissions are directly caused by animal agriculture practices.
26 to 78 million tons of aquatic creatures are killed as bycatch every year, and all of the world's primary fishing stocks are overexploited or on the verge of collapse, with more than 90 percent of all large predatory fishes -- sharks, cods, halibuts, swordfishes, tunas -- gone.
Overfishing is the primary cause of coral reef deaths.
Industrial fishing operations are responsible for 46 percent of all plastic in the ocean, whereas every plastic straw in the world accounts for less than one percent.

*Resources: Food Choice and Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and Taking Baby Steps Won't Work by Dr. Richard Oppenlander, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, Endgame 2050, Let Us Be Heroes, Takeout

6. The Future

We don't have time to wait for others to change. We have to act now, and we have to act in a way that benefits everyone, not just ourselves. Every day, billions of lives are lost, and we are each responsible for the part we play in that. If we want a better future -- or want to have a future at all -- we must recognize that our actions today are what create a future tomorrow.

Each time we purchase a can of tuna at the store or buy a ticket to the zoo, we are giving our personal stamp of approval to those businesses that profit from animal abuse and cause the destruction of our only home. Each time we purchase a can of plant-based tuna or buy a ticket to an animal sanctuary, we are rejecting institutionalized norms of animal cruelty. While we may each be just one individual, together we can create a better, more compassionate world.

be conscious, be kind, be vegan