As now we are well into the new millinium,there are a few things that we can do differently.One of the biggest ways to save the earth is going vegan-being a vegetarian is great BUT you're still promoting the pain and suffering of millions of animals.See,as long as you still eat cheese or drink cow milk,well you might just as well eat meat.What I mean is that you're only half way there!We can totally adopt a vegan lifestyle with alittle effort.I know it seems hard at first,but start with incorporating new veggies into your life,then slowly(or fast)stop eatting meat,then the last phase-no more dairy.See,animals on a farm have a horrible lot in life.Not only do these farms produce so much pollution,the animals live a life only to produce more.More milk,more eggs and tender beef.A mother cow has no time with her young as the males are taken away upon birth to eventally become veal locked in a crate they can't even turn around in!And chickens,well they get their beeks burned off shortly after being born.All these animals pumped with hormones,why,to always produce more.
I do,however,think that we can be a bright bunch of people in that we can change our ways for all invovled,rememebering that there is no"free range" for these animals and that we can make the change!!So,come everyone and believe me when I say-this is way of the new world and stomp out those bad habits of all that came before us and we ourselves.
And this is the importance of being vegan.
Gorgeous
We buy meats, cheese and milk that are fed organic vegetarian diets, humanely raised and (for most of the products we can get) on environmentally sustainable family farms. I'm comfortable with that.
I think adults can make the choices they are comfortable with, but it pains me to see people pushing vegan lifestyles on everybody. Here are some links to stories of parents who have starved their infants to death on vegan diets in recent years - 1, 2, 3. If that can kill an infant, I have to wonder how healthy it is for young and growing children.
I think it's great that you've made an educated decision for yourself about what you're comfortable with. And, I hope that we can respect each other's abilities to think and make choices for ourselves.
1Well, darn. I was flagged. Probably for some links I tried to put in. Well, the gist of what I said was this...
We buy meats, cheese and milk that are fed organic vegetarian diets, humanely raised and (for most of the products we can get) on environmentally sustainable family farms. I'm comfortable with that.
I think it's great that you've made an educated decision for yourself about what you're comfortable with. And, I hope that we can respect each other's abilities to think and make choices for ourselves.
2I agree 100% with you.
And I also think is bogus to eat organic beef, whats the point? (In regards to the comment above me)
3Well, so much for respecting individual choices.
There are a lot of points for eating beef raised on organic, vegetarian diets. If you're interested in hearing an opinion other than your own, I'd be happy to elaborate. If it's a rhetorical question, I'll carry on respecting your choice and hope you come around to doing the same for others.
4Great choice you made; I hope you keep it up.
5organic meat is really only the lesser of two evils. it is still violent, painful, murder, and these "organically raised" animals are often slaughtered at the same slaughterhouses and under the same conditions as conventional farm animals. organic has rules about whether the animals are given growth hormones and such, but it does NOT regulate their treatment, their time outside under the sun, and so forth. i think most people just buy organic for their own personal health reasons because it makes no real promises on the treatment of the animals. and considering they're brought to the same slaughterhouses, cross-contamination can happen anyway.
and the thing about killing babies on a vegan diet? ridiculous. parents can starve their children... whether it's labeled "vegan" or not is irrelevant. it is very possible to raise children vegetarian and vegan and to have them grow healthy, vital, and strong.
if you ask me, parents are killing their children by feeding them processed, packaged, chemically-ridden junk food and hormone-laden cuts of fatty, dead animal. look at the obesity rates and the appalling increase in disease in america. it's from this sickening way that we eat. vegetarian and vegan diets emphasize vegetables, grains, and natural foods that provide vitamins and minerals that are NECESSARY to a healthy life. most kids are completely devoid of these nutrients because they're simply not eating enough of the foods that are truly good for us. and note: meat is not one of them.
6Right on-thanks for the comment!!!!
7I'm not sure what "organic meat" means to some of you. As I've said, what I choose to buy are meats from animals that were fed organic vegetarian diets and humanely raised on environmentally sustainable family farms. You're right that a label can be misleading. But, just as you choose to buy things that are labeled without animal by products and labeled as vegan, I make my decisions based on the information that is given to me and my own research on the side.
As for the vegan parents starving their children, I did some more research after that comment and I think you're right. It certainly seems possible to raise a healthy child on a vegan diet.
I can assure you, though, that there aren't just two ways to raise a child - vegan or feeding them processed, packaged, chemically-ridden junk food and hormone-laden cuts of fatty, dead animal.
I may be older than some of you and it seems to me that there was a time when people embracing socially and environmentally conscious lifestyles had more respect for eachother's choices. I really don't understand this fascist unwillingness to accept that different people are going to have different moral and ethical positions. If I am convinced that animals have been treated with the humanity they deserve, than I don't have an ethical problem with eating them any more than I have an ethical problem with lions eating gazelles or cats eating mice. The absolute refusal to accept that people are guided by their own moral compass and that yours is not absolute reminds me of the intolerant and judgmental contingent of the pro-life crowd who insist that they and only they can determine what choices are moral for any and all women.
Kudos to you guys for letting your morals guide you and for making decisions that you think are right and sticking to them. Kudos to everyone who lives their life that way whether or not their decisions happen to be the same ones that I make.
8Personally, I have a bad habit of judging people on their spelling and grammar...
Your ideas are valid, but the construction is so atrocious it's almost incomprehensible. Sorry, but a bit of proofreading would have made your argument much more compelling.
9I understand your point of view, and I respect the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. I do, however, have a question: if a vegan person has his or her own cow at home, and drinks the milk of that cow, is that still a bad thing? Because you know that the cow is taken care of. It doesn't have a horrible life, like the cows you refer to. We have chickens at home, and we eat the eggs. We treat our chickens with a lot of love and we feed them healthy grains and leftovers, so we know that they're healthy. Is it according to vegans still a bad thing to eat the eggs?
I'm not attacking anyone here, I really respect your lifestyle. I just had to ask this.
10I don't know Feesje. I wouldn't eat the eggs myself, but I'd give them away to someone else. This is a hard question though since i wouldn't likely have farm type animals. i see what you're saying though. the thing is - cows wouldn't have milk unless they just had a calf...i know sometimes cows produce too much milk for their calves. i don't know what the right thing to do would be. sorry about not really answering your question.
11Wonderful post
12Your point is exactly why I made the step from vegetarian to vegan, when buying products such as cheese, milk and eggs, you are still supporting a cruel industry that decides to selfishly, and soullessly hurt and murder defenceless animals. It is cruel and disgusting, and might I add, very unhealthy.
Feesje, I think while you are not necessarily hurting the animals in a situation where you have a cow and chickens at home, you are still doing your own health a great disadventage in consuming animal products.
We do not need milk, or any other product, from animals, the only milk we need is our mother's milk, and then we start learning to use our teeth.
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