Vegan Practically

I’ve said it before: one of my favourite things about starting this blog is that people send me things of interest that I might have missed. Last week someone sent me a link to Leo Babauta’s post, “Why I am Vegan (and how to make it easy),” from his Zen Habits site (thanks Daphne!). I have come across Leo before in my own quest for to simplify, minimize, and live more mindfully (it’s a work-in-progress), so it was a delight to read his post because he has a huge and loyal following and he has a way of making everything seem so reasonable and attainable.

His veganism is not his main focus on his blog — he’s more known for bringing a mindfulness mindset to “productivity”. Becoming vegan was more a result of gaining clearer focus on his values and how he wants to live than a goal in and of itself. As he reduced his life clutter on many different levels, he gained a truer sense of what he is about. I love the simplicity of his statement of why he became vegan: “So the first thing is that veganism, for me, is about compassion.”

He acknowledges that of course there are the environmental benefits. But for him, as for me, the considerations concerning animals are decisive. He says: “Animals are fellow living beings, and even if they aren’t human, I feel they deserve our compassion. Anyone who has a dog or a cat as a loved one knows what I’m talking about, but all of us have looked into the eyes of an animal and felt a heart connection. I believe they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, not as objects for our pleasure.”

He’s a really good writer, and he knows how to maximize impact in a concise way. Immediately following this oh-so-reasonable statement that, I venture to say, few would disagree with, he offers a gentle, non-threatening call to action: “If you agree with that, then I hope you’ll consider learning more about how they’re treated if they’re raised for food or clothing.”

He reminds us that he’s no different from you and me: “I grew up thinking that meat and dairy and eggs were simply food items — in the back of my mind, I knew that they came from animals, but I’d been protected from the reality of that.” Sound familiar? We grew up knowing about farm animals. Our children’s picture books depict them as living idyllic lives of pastoral bliss where they’re practically members of the family.

But that’s not the reality. Leo adds: “The animal agriculture industry is invested in us not looking more deeply than what we see in the grocery store. But it’s all horrors, if we bother to look.”

And there you have it: “…it’s all horrors, if we bother to look.”

After some years of being vegetarian, he was ready to bother to look. As Leo puts it: “So when I found the courage to face this and educate myself, I couldn’t close my eyes any more. I had to decide whether I was willing to ignore these horrors, just so I could have the pleasures of meat, cheese, eggs that I’d grown accustomed to.”

And the rest of his post is about how easy it is to move in the direction of becoming vegan. He promises that he doesn’t judge anyone else, but he feels good about his choices and his approach is to model being a healthy and happy vegan.

And then he outlines an “easy way” to become vegan (you can read his details on each item in his post):

1. Do it gradually
2. Don’t be afraid to try vegan substitutes
3. Learn how to get your nutrients
4. Don’t toss out your non-vegan stuff
5. Be kind to the haters

I would add 6. Read Vegan Practically.

I like his approach. It’s gentle and attractive. It’s hard to be upset with someone espousing compassion and care. As I noted, he has a large following and he doesn’t want to alienate his 200,000+ followers. His own accomplishments are, in a way, his brand–his personal narrative is that since developing and adopting his Zen Habits, he has been able to zero in on what he really cares about and achieve amazing things.

One of those amazing things was following his values to their logical conclusion. If he wanted to live a compassionate life and be consistent about it, supporting the horrors of factory farming was not going to work for him anymore.

So he made the change and he’s happier for it.