Vegan Activism | Why I Don't Mention Health and Environment

In this video I am covering why I don't, at the very least, start off my vegan advocacy by talking about the environmental and health benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

[LiftingVeganLogic]

Enjoy videos like this related to vegan advocacy and getting better at defending veganism? Click the link below for a full playlist of them! 👇

[Dearmylove_i]

I like that you put ethics first as it communicates very clearly what this channel is about. That said, speaking about the environment and health is important in addressing barriers to veganism. If people are ignorant enough to think that an animal based food system is better and that switching to vegan agriculture would be near impossible, it’s necessary to educate them on the wastefulness and ecological harmfulness of the system we currently have where we lose a lot of the resources such as water, energy, and nutrients by essentially filtering them through living bodies. Same thing with health. If people think they have to sacrifice their health for animal rights, a lot of them are not selfless enough to do that even if they did feel for the animals. I went vegan only after I learned I could be just as healthy living on plants. I wish I knew sooner as I was already interested in animal rights issues and could have been vegan a good few years earlier if I had been knowledgeable enough back then. It’s honestly a big regret of mine.

[yungains]

Awesome! The audio sounds really good, big improvement. and I completely agree. This is where I went wrong in my early days trying to spread the vegan message. If you want to convince someone of animal rights, you have to argue animal rights. You can't achieve that goal by arguing for health or environment. I agree that those paths have utility but overall the animal rights argument is where I focus on most and I may use health/environment strategically depending on who I am talking with.

[Falafelzebub]

Agree 100%. I think health is the worst argument for veganism. I really don't care whether saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease or not. We can live without animal foods just fine, which is all we need to know. 👍

[ilanywah]

Thanks for the content. I've realised this over the time I've been vegan. However, environment and health can be strong topics to back the ethics. Personally, I may not have gone vegan if I didn't understand I could do it healthfully; but once the animal cruelty aspect really sunk in I couldn't give up (for me the dairy and egg industry really disturbed me).

[entrehierroeideas]

Honestly, nutrition and the environment (both the individual and collective human interest) are the most appealing points to me. Animals are but secondary.
Edit: plus pandemic prevention

[MukulVyas]

Great argument brother. The primary reason to go vegan is always to end suffering. All other merits are offshoots.

[Kat_]

Very good point!! I’ve tried arguing the health aspect but people have such strong opinions that they have grown up with that they usually won’t listen or change . Regarding the environment, people are more into not using straws and plastics and they just come back with well do you drive a car etc etc. With animal exploitation though, what argument do they have that doesn’t make it look like they are ok with abusing animals...of course we will still hear some arguments such as animals killed in harvesting, plants feel pain etc but I am definitely going to focus more on the ethical aspect now. Thanks!!

[MusicJunkie]

Good video. Ever considered making a what I eat in a day vid to show people how to eat a good balanced plant based diet?

[klarinausach]

Agreed. Veganism is about the animals. It is an ethical lifestyle. If someone wants to go plant-based for the environment or their health, that's fine, but I promote veganism first and foremost for the animals.

[jonjonwp]

Exactly . Thanks 👏🏼 You should have more subscribers when you are so good at this. Go on Joey Carbstrongs pod cast or something to get your name out.

[icturner]

A better way of putting it is that some non-vegan products are not unhealthy to use (e.g. clothing and probably some food) and some non-vegan actions are not environmentally unfriendly (e.g. culling non-native animals), so that's why animal rights is the only reason for veganism. Even consuming meat occasionally *is* unhealthy, just slightly, and the equivalent is the case with only doing a little environmental damage.

[Chris-V]

Totally agree! And congrats, your mic is dope! 🎤

[KleenerBro]

How do you spot a vegan?

Don't worry, he'll tell you muhahahaha ...

Well, actually you can spot a REAL vegan because he mainly talks about ethics and not about health or environment. Very good job as always!

[Nick_Lyston]

I’ve been repeatedly surprised by how often ethical vegans recount that they initially transitioned from carnism to veganism for selfish reasons. It is the mark of moral maturity to avoid harmful actions solely because doing them is unjust, as it requires that one resist the temptation to satisfy one’s selfish (or altruistic) interests at the cost of doing something unjust. The problem is that carnism by its very nature entails moral immaturity- It may be too big a hurdle for the most immature of carnists to be persuaded by arguments based on justice alone, or even arguments based on compassion. By swaddling their childish fears, the health or environment arguments can form a bridge for them to form a mature conscience once they are already vegan.

[marcdman]

Ive never heard a good argument about why i am supposed to care about animals. Anyone have one, without implying that im supposed to apply the same morals/ethics i apply to humans must be applied to animals?

[taylorrestall]

It allows for a lot of cop op arguments

[langreeves]

Most of us just can't handle killing animals
we conpartmentalize it
If you come at me trying to get me to stop eating meat because of the animals I will go in defense mode like most people do
But once I stopped eating meat for health reasons then the blinders came off
And now quite honestly even if the science was to tell me eating meat would be healthier I wouldn't do it
But I got to this point by reducing meat by becoming vegetarian and then becoming vegan
We need to meet people where they are and realize that expecting people to change too much all at 1 time just shuts down their whole mind of changing at all

[ilanywah]

Your patreon link isn't in the description...

[Jrene]

Morality vs Ethics two different things especially when your talking about becoming a vegan...