Beyond Veganism?

Adopting a vegan lifestyle was one of the best decisions I have made in my life; to actively and consciously refuse to be a part of an extremely violent, abusive system has to be. I am sure many ethical vegans feel the same way. I deliberately use the word ethical because, people who go vegan for health or environmental reasons do so for those reasons. Not that there is anything wrong with that because ultimately, as long as we do not consume or use animal products we help out towards the larger good.

But what is the larger good? We obviously want all animals, domestic, marine and wild to live a happy, healthy life; a life without violence or objectification of their bodies; a life without undue suffering perpetuated by a greedy mankind. One day in the near future, that goal will be achieved. But what are we forgetting?

We are forgetting a crucial part of the environment, the environment itself. Our carbon foot prints are not limited to our diets. According to the environmental protection agency (EPA), “Many of our daily activities — such as using electricity, driving a car, or disposing of waste — cause greenhouse gas emissions. Together these emissions make up a household’s carbon footprint.” Rest assured that following a vegan diet helps with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture is after all the number one reason of greenhouse gases and by default, global warming. By following a vegan diet, we reduce 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year. We help in saving water and land and help in maintaining a higher air quality. But what about all the other things we do? What about all the garbage we create on a daily basis, all the clothes we buy or the cars we drive? As vegans, it is our responsibility to be more aware of all the things we do that lead to environmental degradation.

The adage Reduce, Reuse and Recycle has never been more relevant than right now.

Reduce: Garbage is one of my personal pet peeves. The truth is we can all reduce the amount of trash we generate every day. There is an island of crap the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean right now! Americans are notorious for using disposable everything-utensils, cups, clothes, electronics etc. The World Counts states, “Every 2 hours we throw out enough stuff to fill the world’s largest container ship with trash. That’s 12 container ships every single day and 4380 container ships in one year.” Think about it, that’s an enormous amount of trash. So what can we do?

Use cloth bags for groceries: Since I started using cloth bags, I have reduced tremendous amount of plastic from my home. Imagine if all the vegans (and vegetarians) of the world started using cloth bags, we would reduce so much trash!
Don’t drink bottled water: Bottled water is nothing but branded tap water. Even if it is the most pure water, we have ever drunk, why bung up landfills with plastic bottles? Plastic takes a helluva long time to decompose and it leaches chemicals into our soil. Technically we are supposed to recycle plastic bottles, but how many of us just throw them away? Use reusable bottles, preferably glass.
Put pressure on companies to reduce packaging: Ever ordered anything from Amazon? Then you know what I am saying. Companies like Amazon, Etsy, etc. ship millions of boxes every year. If we put pressure on multinational companies to reduce packaging, we can seriously reduce the amount of trash we generate.
Paper: This one drives me so crazy! In 2014 the United States used 8 million tons of office paper (3.2 billion reams). That’s the equivalent of 178 million trees! So much for reducing deforestation. Please use recycled paper and be mindful of how much paper we are using in the office or home.
Transport: Driving a car everyday adds 1 ton of greenhouse gases to the air every year. There are at least 300 millions cars, just in the United States. And let’s not forget other air pollutants like Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter etc. that affect overall air quality. Unless we vegans make a conscious decision to reduce gasoline emissions we might not be helping the environment as much as we think we are.

The other important factor to consider is the food we buy. I buy organic food not for the nutritional value, which is the same as regular food but because of the pesticides and chemical fertilizers used in regular farms. Now I know that this one is more controversial because not all organic farms are created equally. But I don’t want to be responsible for addition of harmful chemicals to our water resources, affecting and essentially killing aquatic life. For my own mental peace, I like to stick to organic food. Of course, if you cannot afford to go all organic, do try as much you can.

Ever heard of “waste not, want not?” I have noticed people I know and care for waste large amounts of food and materials. Our culture is very materialistic. We want and want and are never satisfied. But why not shop at thrift stores for clothes? Remember that clothes we buy from regular brands like H&M, Gap, Old Navy etc. all come from sweat shops and are made from cotton grown in developing countries. These countries, who have already strained relationships with the environment, have to cut down more forests to grow cotton and put factories (for manufacturing artificial fibers like nylon and rayon) to keep up the demand from the west. Acclaimed designer Donna Karan of DKNY fame has suggested using “seven easy pieces” as wardrobe staples. Do we really need so many clothes and jewelry and handbags and shoes in our closet?

In conclusion, the motive of this article is bring to consciousness all the good things we can continue doing for our environment. We have taken the first step by going vegan but now let’s go beyond veganism and take care of our planet in all possible aspects, so that one day we can truly have one green planet.

Resources

http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/waste_pollution_facts/household_waste_statistics

https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/

http://www.instyle.com/news/history-donna-karan-seven-easy-pieces