Hi everyone,
I have finally transitioned to veganism after a 5-year step by step journey from a junk-food omnivore diet. Last year I went to a few talks organised by vegan activists.
Although I agree with many arguments (ethics, animal, rights, health....) around the topic, I had the impression that during most of these sessions the participants were more or less praising themselves for their righteous path. The majority of the participants were vegans, so they did not have to convince each other.
I heard phrases like "In a vegan world, animals and humans live peacefully side by side." This claim is something that made me think a lot. How does vegan coexistence look like? We have domesticated so many animals that they are dependent on us. In turn, we are dependent on animals to do "their thing" for a healthy balanced environment. Animals and humans do interfere with each other's life, even if we do not eat them or make them into products. Examples would be animal population control, protection of our plant-based food sources and protection from potentially dangerous animals. There is, of course, also the pet issue...
I have not stumbled upon any vegan vision so far that I would consider the next step, after not consuming animals. We live in a world dominated by capitalism. Whether I like it or not, many developments around me only happen because there is a direct profit to be made. I do not see an approach for coexistence that does not require an immense effort. Who will pay and why? For myself, the benefits are evident, but I do not see a business model that can be sold to a capitalist establishment.
The intention of my post is not a huge discussion about capitalism, pet-keeping etc. in this forum, although I would appreciate your opinions.
Maybe someone can recommend authors or activists that are more focused on the issues I described. I apologise for being too lazy to do my own in-depth literature research. I am sure there are a lot of experts around here who can easily point in the right direction.
Thanks.
JR
I have finally transitioned to veganism after a 5-year step by step journey from a junk-food omnivore diet. Last year I went to a few talks organised by vegan activists.
Although I agree with many arguments (ethics, animal, rights, health....) around the topic, I had the impression that during most of these sessions the participants were more or less praising themselves for their righteous path. The majority of the participants were vegans, so they did not have to convince each other.
I heard phrases like "In a vegan world, animals and humans live peacefully side by side." This claim is something that made me think a lot. How does vegan coexistence look like? We have domesticated so many animals that they are dependent on us. In turn, we are dependent on animals to do "their thing" for a healthy balanced environment. Animals and humans do interfere with each other's life, even if we do not eat them or make them into products. Examples would be animal population control, protection of our plant-based food sources and protection from potentially dangerous animals. There is, of course, also the pet issue...
I have not stumbled upon any vegan vision so far that I would consider the next step, after not consuming animals. We live in a world dominated by capitalism. Whether I like it or not, many developments around me only happen because there is a direct profit to be made. I do not see an approach for coexistence that does not require an immense effort. Who will pay and why? For myself, the benefits are evident, but I do not see a business model that can be sold to a capitalist establishment.
The intention of my post is not a huge discussion about capitalism, pet-keeping etc. in this forum, although I would appreciate your opinions.
Maybe someone can recommend authors or activists that are more focused on the issues I described. I apologise for being too lazy to do my own in-depth literature research. I am sure there are a lot of experts around here who can easily point in the right direction.
Thanks.
JR
