Vegan Overview

Here’s a list of reasons why you should go vegan:

ETHICS

– Over 56 billions animals are killed every year for food, even though there are cruelty free alternatives – www.animalequality.net/food
– Animals are more similar to us than many people realise. They have emotions, feel pain, have families and want to live without suffering just like us.
– Sheep can recognise up to 50 other sheep’s faces and remember them for two years – www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/animal-sentience/
– Cows show excitement when they discover how to open a gate leading to a food reward – www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/animal-sentience/
– Mother hens teach their chicks which foods are good to eat – www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/animal-sentience/
– Pigs are said to be as intelligent as dogs – www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/are-pigs-intelligent_n_7585582

HEALTH

– “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases” – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864
– “…The available evidence indicates strong associations of processed meat consumption with incident CHD [Coronary Heart Disease] and DM [Diabetes Mellitus], more modest associations of unprocessed red meat consumption with incident DM, and smaller or no associations of unprocessed red meat consumption with incident CHD.” – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3483430/
– “…The World Health Organization has classified processed meats – including ham, salami, bacon and frankfurts – as a Group 1 carcinogen which means that there is strong evidence that processed meats cause cancer.” – www.cancercouncil.com.au/21639/cancer-information/cancer-risk-and-prevention/healthy-weight-diet-and-exercise/meat-and-cancer/
– List of organisations affirming that a vegan diet is healthy at all stages of life – https://steemit.com/vegan/@goose/organizations-affirming-that-a-vegan-diet-is-healthy-at-all-stages-of-life
– “The use of carbon monoxide deceives consumers and creates an unnecessary risk of food poisoning by enabling meat and ground beef to remain fresh-looking beyond the point at which typical colour changes would indicate ageing or bacterial spoilage” – www.carbon-monoxide-poisoning.com/article7-carbon-monoxide-food-poisoning.html
– “Chickens for sale in Britain’s supermarkets are showing record levels of superbugs resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics, new research from the government has found.” – www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/15/british-supermarket-chickens-show-record-levels-of-antibiotic-resistant-superbugs
– “Antibiotics are used more heavily in farm animals than in people. This may be the largest source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” – www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-drug-resistant-bacteria-travel-from-the-farm-to-your-table/
– “More than 70 percent of the antibiotics consumed in the United States go to livestock farms, one of the main triggers driving a rising crisis of antibiotic resistance in human medicine” – www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/another-novel-superbug-shows-us-hog-farm/
– “70% of Human Diseases linked to animal agriculture” – www.all-creatures.org/health/fh-human-diseases-linked-animals.html

ENVIRONMENT

www.cowspiracy.com/facts
– “Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation”
– “Animal agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of US water consumption”
– “Animal agriculture is responsible for 20-33% of all fresh water consumption in the world”
– “2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef, 477 gallons of water are needed to produce 1lb of eggs, almost 900 gallons of water are needed for 1lb of cheese, 1,000 gallons of water are needed for 1 gallon of milk”
– “Livestock covers 45% of the earths total land”
– “Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction”
– “Livestock operations on land have created more than 500 nitrogen flooded deadzones around the world in our oceans.”
– “Largest mass extinction in 65 million years.”
– “3/4 of the world’s fisheries are exploited or depleted.”
– “We could see fishless oceans by 2048.”
– “For every 1 pound of fish caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as by-kill”
– “Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction”
– “Up to 137 plant, animal and insect species are lost every day due to rainforest destruction.”

SOCIAL

Less mental health problems – www.ptsdjournal.com/posts/the-psychological-damage-of-slaughterhouse-work/
Less crime – https://scholars.opb.msu.edu/en/publications/slaughterhouses-and-increased-crime-rates-an-empirical-analysis-o-3
Less world hunger – www.plantbasednews.org/post/vegan-diet-could-beat-world-hunger-says
Less prejudice – http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2018/02/the-psychology-of-speciesism-how-we-privilege-certain-animals-over-others/
Less climate change – www.livekindly.co/eating-vegan-is-the-most-effective-way-to-combat-climate-change-says-largest-ever-food-production-analysis/

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

101 reasons to go vegan – www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4HJcq8qHAY
Dr Greger – Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death – www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gEiweaAVQ
Dominion – http://watch.dominionmovement.com/
Earthlings – www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrlBSuuy50Y
Cowspiracy – www.cowspiracy.com
What the Health – www.whatthehealthfilm.com

OTHER RESOURCES

Vegan subreddit – www.reddit.com/r/vegan/
Vegan kit – http://vegankit.com
Veganism in a nutshell – www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
The Complete Vegan Arguments Guide – https://theveganspeak.com/guide