World Vegan Day: Embracing Life

Rituraj Phukan

Veganism has emerged as the fastest growing lifestyle movement in recent years.

Veganism has evolved from the belief that humans can coexist with all other living beings peacefully, without using or exploiting them in any fashion. Vegans abstain from the consumption of any foods directly or indirectly derived from animal sources and adhere to a philosophy that rejects the commodification of animals.

Thus, besides subsisting on a plant-based diet, vegans also avoid products of animal origin or those that are tested on animals, with compassion being a key factor for the growth of the vegan movement.

History

Veganism has probably existed for thousands of years without having a term to define it. The Brokpa tribe of Ladakh, for example, has thrived eating vegan for more than 5,000 years in the harsh Himalayan terrain.The Arab poet Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri (c. 973 – c. 1057), who authored the famous”I No Longer Steal From Nature,”is often mentioned as the earliest known vegan.

Several vegan communities were in existence in the United States and England during the 19^th century. The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley published A Vindication of Natural Diet, advocating “abstinence from animal food and spirituous liquors”, in 1813. William Lambe, a London physician, said that his “water and vegetable diet” could cure anything from tuberculosis to acne in 1815.

The Graham’s diet became popular in the United States in the 1830s as a health remedy. Advocated by the reformer Sylvester Graham, the diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, water, and homemade stoneground bread. The first known vegan cookbook was published in 1849.

In China, the practice of mindfulness and abstinence from killing or harming any sentient being, rooted in the humble diet of the Pure land Buddhists in the monasteries, predates the Western Zhou Dynasty (1027-771 BCE) andremains the main stay of the lifestyle till date. It is interesting to note that several meat alternatives like seitan, tofu, tofu skin, and other made from seaweed, root vegetable starch, have all originated in China.

In modern times, Donald Watson coined the term vegan when he published the first edition of The Vegan News and co-founded the Vegan Society at London in November 1944. The Vegan Society soon made clear that it rejected the use of animals for any purpose, not only in diet.

World Vegan Day was established in 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of The Vegan Society and the coining of the terms “vegan” and “veganism”.World Vegan Day initiates the World Vegan Month observance during November and follows the Vegetarian Awareness Month during October, which begins with World Vegetarian Day on the 1^st of October.

Why Vegan?

Compassion for all animals is central to veganism. Preventing the exploitation of animals is not the only reason for becoming vegan, but for many it remains the key factor. Whether the initial reason for someone to go vegan is health, environmental ethics or just to prove a point, they usually end up doing their research and staying vegan, for the animals. Ethical vegans avoid animal products on the premise that their production causes animal suffering and premature death.

For example, in the dairy industry, newborn male calves are useless to dairy farmers, so they are taken away from their mothers within 24 – 72 hours of birth. If not killed and discarded immediately, they are sold into the beef industry and raised for their flesh. The veal industry would not exist if it wasn’t for the dairy industry.

The female calves are also taken away from the mother only a few hours after birth .Dairy cows are forcibly impregnated by artificial insemination and forced to produce up to ten times more milk than they would naturally. The overuse of their udders leads to painful infections such as mastitis, which can also cause pus and blood to be filtered into the milk that humans then drink. A cow with a natural life span of 25 years lives for only 5-7 years on a factory farm.

Vegan for Health

Consumption of animal products has been linked to heart disease, type-2 diabetes, many forms of cancer, strokes, hypertension, dementia and osteoporosis and many of them can be treated and even reversed by switching to a plant-based lifestyle.

It is also a fact that many modern diseases including Covid19, HIV, SARS, MERS, Zika, Nipah and Ebola, to name a few, are zoonotic diseases that jumped from animals to humans. The global trade in animal products carry the inherent hazards of contamination with animal excrement, pus, blood, etc. The risks are multiplied in the extremely unhygienic conditions of wet-markets prevalent across Asia and Africa.

Numerous reports have been published about the health risks associated with the consumption of meat and other contaminated animal-origin products including dairy. Yet, the choice of food remains the most fundamental right of an individual, evolving within specific societal traditions.

Well-planned plant-based diets are rich in protein, iron, calcium and other essential vitamins and minerals. The plant-based sources of these nutrients tend to be low in saturated fat, high in fiber and packed with antioxidants, helping mitigate some of the biggest health issues.

For the Environment

The production of meat and other animal products places a heavy burden on the environment. The vast amount of fodder required for meat production is a significant contributor to deforestation, habitat loss and species extinction.This situation is predicted to worsen as our population expands and consumption per capita increases with more and more people adopting resource-intensive Western meat-eating habits.Making the switch to veganism one of the easiest, most enjoyable and most effective ways to reduce our impact on the environment.

It takes 15,500 litres of water to produce 1 kg beef, contrasted with 180 litres for 1 kg tomatoes and 250 litres for 1 kg potatoes. Globally, farming uses about 70% of the planet’s accessible freshwater. This is compared to around 20% for industry, and about 10% for domestic use.

The world will only have 60% of the water it needs by 2030 without significant global policy change, according to a recent report from the U.N. The Veganism Impact Report from the UK revealed that there would be a 70% decrease in food-related emissions of CO2 if everyone were to go vegan, freeing up one billion hectares of the world’s land surface currently used for livestock. The 2010 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report by the international panel of sustainable resource management advocated a global shift towards a vegan diet to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change.

For Humans

We are currently growing enough food to feed around 12 billion people and yet 800 million of the current human population of 7.5 billion are living in a state of starvation. We have enough food to feed 56 billion land animals every year, yet there are 800 million people are starving! Furthermore, 82% of starving children live in countries where food is grown to feed livestock animals. Going vegan could end this unfair distribution of food.

Contrary to the popular belief that meat makes one healthy and strong, many of world’s top athletes have adopted a plant-based diet. The flood of endorsements by sportspersons has been backed by research; the findings of a major German study published last year found better nutritional adequacy in athletes following a plant-based diet.

Studies from the Harvard Medical School support the claims that plant-based diets shorten recovery times, reduced muscle soreness, lessens joint pain and enabled quicker healing from injuries, contributing to career longevity.

The most pertinent question is whether human beings can live without the consumption of animal products. The exponential growth of plant-based alternatives to popular food products, clothing and other utilities is an indicator of the change in mindsets among a significant minority. With environmental concerns taking root with the younger generations, the future of food is likely to be largely plant-based.

Rituraj Phukan: Founder, Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum; Co-Founder, Smily Academy ;National Coordinator for Biodiversity, The Climate Reality Project India; Member, IUCN Wilderness Specialist Group; Commission Member – IUCN WCPA Climate Change, IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation, IUCN WCPA Indigenous People and Protected Areas Specialist Groups, IUCN WCPA South Asia Region and IUCN WCPA-SSC Invasive Alien Species Task Force; Member, International Antarctic Expedition 2013; Climate Force Arctic 2019 ; Ambassador, Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary. Rituraj Phukan is the Climate Editor, Mahabahu.

01-11-2024

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