Why Just About Anyone Can and Should Adopt a Vegan Lifestyle

Last week, a coworker of mine told me that he had made the decision to become a vegan. As I was excitedly congratulating him and offering up my favorite vegan cookbooks, he told me that he had made the choice after reading The China Study. He simply said, "everyone should read it", and told me he was baffled as to why no one had told him about the book, and the documented scientific benefits of a vegan diet, sooner.

In the years that we've been vegan, my wife and I have had long discussions about how best to advocate veganism. Doing so is certainly no picnic. It's entirely too easy to sound preachy, arrogant, morally superior, or otherwise off-putting. I've been accused of each of these. Sometimes it is actually true, and sometimes it's simply because people get extraordinarily defensive when their dietary habits are challenged. Regardless, being vegan and advocating veganism in a very non-vegan world presents us herbivores with a broad set of challenges.

My co-worker's choice to make the lifestyle change to veganism was different than most: he chose to become a vegan largely for health reasons after reading The China Study. Many if not most vegans make the change out of a concern for animals. Still others cite the environmental benefits of a plant-based diet as the primary reason for leaving meat behind.

My rather simple idea that I will elaborate on below is that each of these three reasons is a fantastic argument in favor of veganism, but my concern is that no single reason standing on its own will be enough to convince most people to consider the change. Indeed, no single argument was sufficient to convince me to become a vegan. In my experience, most vegans tend to advocate veganism from the one angle that is most important to them (again, usually the animal rights angle) no matter who they're talking to or how effective that single argument is. In the essay below, I'll explain why I think the entire "Vegan Triangle" is important to remember when discussing veganism. In doing so, I hope to shed some light for non-vegans on why even reasonably sane people like me have found veganism a powerful and enriching personal and political lifestyle choice, and why it might just be the same for you.

The Vegan Triangle

The Vegan Triangle has, of course, three corners. In these three corners are the three most compelling reasons to consider a vegan diet: personal health, environmental benefits, and for the sake of animals.

No corner itself is sufficient to convince most people that veganism is preferable to an omnivorous diet. (For some, one corner, usually the "Animals" corner, is enough, but this likely isn't true for the vast majority of people.) When taken as a whole, and when each corner is permitted to interact with and inform other corners, veganism becomes a clear, natural, and compelling personal choice.

Only three assumptions need to be true for any individual for the Vegan Triangle to prove compelling:

• The person must value their own health.
• The person must believe that human activity can cause and likely is causing harm to our planet.
• If asked, "Do you enjoy torturing or killing your pets?", the person must say, "No." (without needing too much time to think about it).
  

I'll begin by looking at a broad overview of each of the three corners, and then I'll examine how they interact and fit together.

The Health Corner

The Health Corner of the Vegan Triangle presents two major issues to consider:

1. Animal products do not exclusively provide any nutrient that humans need to survive and thrive. Not one. Protein? Plants. Calcium? Plants. Omega-3s? Plants. Plants contain 100% of the nutrients you need to maintain a healthy diet by any standard. (Yes, the sun gives us vitamin D, and the sun is not a plant, but you get the idea.)
   
2. Not only are animal products completely unnecessary for a healthy diet, they are very often if not usually antithetical to health in any form and in any amount.
   

I'm not a nutritionist, and it is outside the intended scope of this essay to detail the scientific basis for these facts, but I implore you to read The China Study, or simply do some surfing on the internet to read the details (my pal Colleen at Green Options can help).

Why the Health Corner isn't enough: If an otherwise "healthy" person approaches veganism from only the health perspective, that person will undoubtedly and rightly think, "Okay, I'll be a vegan most of the time, but if I ever want to 'cheat' a little, it isn't a big deal if I do so in moderation." This is perfectly logical thinking. In order to be convinced that a pure vegan diet is preferable, this person will need to be exposed to the other two corners of the triangle.

The Earth Corner

I'll keep this simple, too: the University of Chicago says that the most important thing an individual can do to live a more sustainable life is to leave meat off of their plate. Not buy a hybrid. Not take public transportation. Not install solar panels. Simply eating plant-based foods is their answer, and preferably plant-based foods that are locally grown and minimally transported.

Why? According to the U.N., raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined (not to mention the soil and water degradation caused by the meat industries). Eating animals and animal-derived products is a monumentally environmentally destructive act, even if some environmental activist leaders like to pretend that isn't the case.

Why the Earth Corner isn't enough: The Earth Corner isn't a compelling enough reason to consider veganism for most people for the same reason that the Health Corner isn't enough. It is too easy to assume, incorrectly, that consuming animal products in moderation is the ethical and moral choice for an environmentalist. This type of thinking has also opened the door for the recent emergence of industrialized "happy meat", which I'll discuss later.

The Animals Corner

You may have asked yourself during the previous "Why isn't it enough?" sections, "So what? Why can't people eat animals just in far more moderation? They can still be healthy and we can raise animals for food in more eco-friendly ways because we won't need nearly as much of it." Again, this would be a perfectly logical argument, but the reason why the argument is flawed can be summed up in three words: the animals themselves.

The literature available on animal rights is vast, and I encourage you to seek some of it out (Introduction to Animal Rights is a personal favorite). I'm choosing not to go too heavily into detail here on animal rights for a few reasons: I am not an animal rights theory expert, I am not sufficiently competent in my understanding of the various strains of animal rights theory ("welfarists" vs. "abolitionists", etc.) to feel comfortable explaining them, and because I simply do not consider myself to be an animal rights activist, nor an animal rights philosopher.

With that said, and with the promise to animal rights folks that I will discuss more aspects of this philosophy later in this essay, the most compact yet descriptive definition of "animal rights" that I've come across is this: the rights of animals to exist without being exploited by humans. Animal rights activists call the belief that humans hold complete dominion over other animals "speciesism" (which, of course, is designed to conjure up other words like "racism" and "sexism"). To harm, exploit, or kill an animal for human ends is as deeply immoral and unjust as harming, exploiting, or killing another human. Any dog or cat lover should immediately be able to see why this philosophy isn't nearly as "radical" and some make it out to be.

Why the Animals Corner isn't enough: Animal rights activists will surely scream, "It should be!", and I would generally agree with them. Unfortunately, it's not for most people, just like it wasn't enough for me. That's just a fact, like it or not, morally defensible or not (though I've become a stronger proponent of animal rights in the years that I've actually been vegan). For most of us, the other corners of the Vegan Triangle, and maybe some others not explored here, are essential for becoming convinced of the necessity of a completely vegan lifestyle.

Putting it All Together

Many vegans may cringe when they read that last paragraph because most vegans are vegans for animal rights reasons. Their Vegan Triangle might look more this:



Health and the earth-friendliness of a plant-based diet may simply be happy byproducts of their veganism. For me, it's largely the opposite. Health and the environment played much more critical roles in my choice to eat a completely plant-based diet. My Vegan Triangle (when I became a vegan, at least) looked like this:



And yet, even for a non-animal rights fundamentalist like me, animal rights provided the final link to why I eliminated animal products from my diet (and, as much as is possible, from the rest of my life).

The vast majority of people would agree that animals should not be tortured. Most would also agree that animals should not be made to suffer needlessly. Furthermore, most would agree that, as a general rule, animals should not be killed needlessly.

We established while discussing the Health Corner that humans do not need animals in our diets to survive and thrive. Because we do not need them, we should not kill or inflict suffering on them. Ever. To do so is a needless violent act, and one that I cannot morally justify because I am aware that I simply do not ever need to kill or inflict pain on an animal to survive and lead a normal, happy, healthy life. Not only that, but the earth cannot sustain the level at which we raise animals for food or anything close to it. Because I cannot morally justify it, and because it is one of the most environmentally harmful human practices, it is an immoral and unjust act for me to directly or indirectly cause the suffering or death of an animal, or to directly or indirectly participate in the industrial paradigm of raising animals for food.

Those who are more heavily swayed by the animal rights argument will take this further. Whether this is right or wrong is essentially immaterial for our purposes here, because we are examining veganism through the entire Vegan Triangle and through multiple convincing lenses, making any further exploration unnecessary. In fact, that's what I'm trying to draw attention to: you do not have to be an animal rights activist to find the arguments for veganism compelling (though again, I do encourage you to seek out animal rights literature, as it will further inform and enlighten the positions I've taken here.)

At this point, many will ask, "But what about animal products when the animals don't die?" In essence, this is a question about vegetarianism versus veganism.

Those who know me well know that I have precious little patience for vegetarianism (which I will broadly define as consuming eggs and dairy but not "meat", though there are about as many definitions of vegetarianism as there are vegetarians). Vegetarianism, when explored through the entire Vegan Triangle, makes little sense, and I firmly believe (maybe too firmly) that the vast majority of vegetarians are simply not yet fully informed future vegans.

From the Health Corner point of view, dairy and eggs are just as unnecessary and just as potentially unhealthy (if not more so than many forms of animal flesh). Cow's milk is for baby cows, just like human breast milk is for baby humans. This is why you stopped drinking it when you were about 26 inches tall, and why the thought of drinking breast milk as an adult probably disgusts you. Why don't we feel similarly disgusted about cow's milk? And eggs? Eggs are saturated fat and cholesterol filled coronary balls. Anything that's "good for you" in an egg can be found in plants with none of the side effects such as, "Whoops, my heart stopped."

From the Earth Corner point of view, raising billions of cattle for milk is no less environmentally destructive than raising them for meat.

From an animal rights perspective, dairy cattle and laying hens are among the most abused animals on the planet. Dairy cattle are kept constantly impregnated in order to keep them lactating (do human women lactate anytime other than when they have a baby?) The calves that are born to dairy cattle are usually sent to the slaughterhouse for food. In every glass of milk that you drink, there might as well be veal passing your lips. The veal industry only exists because there is a dairy industry.

The hens and chickens? If you're curious, watch the short video called Meet Your Meat, or find a copy of the full-length documentary Earthlings (on YouTube in parts one, two, and three). If you aren't curious, why is that?

The same arguments that apply against vegetarianism apply against "happy meat" as well: so called "free range" and/or "cruelty-free" and/or "organic" meat. We do not need it, the earth cannot sustain it to any great degree, and the animals are still exploited and die unnecessary deaths. "Happy meat" is one of the largest threats to a larger vegan enlightenment because it falsely allows consumers to feel good about meat and animal consumption.

Final Thoughts

If you are among the many of us who agree with the general principals and philosophies presented here (being healthy, trying to live a sustainable lifestyle, and treating animal life with the same reverence as we treat human life are all essential and virtuous), then veganism is a logical, moral, and, yes, even a necessary lifestyle choice to make.

The Health Corner of the Vegan Triangle tells us that meat and other animal products are 100% non-essential to our health and well-being. The Earth Corner reminds us that ending our participation in the industrial production of animals for food is perhaps the largest single step that any individual can take right now to begin leading a more sustainable lifestyle. The Animals Corner, at a minimum, informs us that since animal consumption is wholly nonessential to our health and well-being, it is immoral to claim dominion over them, all the while causing them unnecessary pain, suffering, and too often unnatural and brutal deaths.

We've seen that the shape of the Vegan Triangle is different for each individual. Some will simply become aware of the horrific treatment of animals in the industrial food chain and end their participation in that system. Some will choose veganism after reading a book like The China Study or getting advice from a doctor about the innumerable benefits of a plant-based diet. Some will come to realize that driving a Prius and turning the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer is surely not enough, and will choose a plant-based diet so that future generations may have the opportunity to make the same choice.

Some of us, and likely most of us, will need to draw from each of these arguments to gain a full appreciation for the merits of a vegan lifestyle. It's not about animals. It's not about health. It's not about the earth. It is about allowing the aggregation and interaction of each of these ideas to lead to a peaceful, joyous, and entirely uplifting conclusion: go vegan.

(Download a PDF of this this essay to share with family and friends: VeganTriangle.pdf)


Note: I meant to mention somewhere in this essay that my Photoshop skills are laughable at best. I'll happily send a free copy of The China Study to anyone who wants to take a few minutes to redo the Vegan Triangle graphics for me. Email me if you're interested, and thank you!

Labels: Best of The Higher Pie, Vegan

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