Category: Reflections
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Is imperfect veganism a defence of moral imperfection?
I warn you now: I may not be able effectively to edit out of this message an underlying whine-y tone (will try!). I’m recovering from the sting of SSHRC Insight Grant rejection of an application for funding to support my work on imperfect veganism. I dedicated three months to it last summer and felt really…
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What is a vegan to do when a favourite plant-based business expands to include animal products?
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve heard of two example — one local here in London, Ontario and one elsewhere, in LA — where a formerly fully plant-based business has decided to “change its business model” to include animal products. This decision always generates backlash among vegans, who see it as a betrayal and,…
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Happy Earth Day 2024
Today is Earth Day and it’s an opportunity for us to reflect on our relationship to the only home we have. As with any of these “days,” they are moments to focus and regroup, not one-offs where we can be observant today and then return to old habits. I heard someone talking about Earth Day…
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The eclipse filled me with wonder and appreciation
Like so many people living in or near the North American ribbon that fell within the “path of totality” of yesterday’s eclipse, I took the day off to experience this awe-inspiring celestial event. I heard many times in the lead-up to April 8th that the difference between a 99% partial eclipse and totality was “night…
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Engage or chill?
Considering I’m a philosopher who has essentially been trained to argue, you might think my answer to “when to engage?” is “whenever the opportunity arises.” But that is not my approach at all. I have limited time and energy. I do not engage when it is hopeless. And there is a certain baiting approach, where…
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What do you do with the “may contain…” allergen warning?
Anyone who has ever spent time reading ingredient labels to see if a product is vegan is aware of the frequently-seen “may contain” warning. This warning is usually associated with known allergens, and most often will list tree nuts, soy, wheat, dairy, or eggs. I confess that I have usually considered this warning to be…
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Bees: it’s not just about honey
Lots of people wonder why vegans don’t eat honey. The short answer is that it is produced through the labour of bees, which makes it an animal product and therefore not vegan. You may find some vegans who don’t worry about honey, possibly because they don’t consider insects to be animals or possibly because they…
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Making plant-based the default
I have had lots of opportunities to put catering under the microscope lately, and mostly it’s not been pretty. A colleague and friend elsewhere has been raving about a new menu item that’s been showing up at catered meetings in her workplace: an apparently delicious tempeh sandwich. This item deserves an A+ for being both…
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Navigating “meat-eaters’ fragility” while not losing focus
Last week I talked about what I called “meat-eaters’ fragility” as an obstacle to change. Today I want to say a bit about what to do with this fact about the world we live in. I don’t think it’s surprising that challenging the status quo in a way the involves an ethical argument gets people’s…
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“Meat-eaters’ fragility” as an obstacle to change
A couple of week’s ago I gave a quick overview of my thoughts on meat-eating and the use of animals and animal products more generally as well-entrenched ideologies of privilege. Using “ideology” to mean not just a set of ideas, but a set of firmly entrenched ideas that solidifies relationships of domination and subordination, I…
Vegan Practically 