“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”  UK Vegan Society

I wrote a longer piece about this recently, but this is meant to be my “elevator pitch” version. Cutting to the chase, rather than being only a diet or environmental fix or even a rigid ideology, I consider veganism to be a way of looking at the world which is essential to my personal moral outlook. This is because veganism is consistent with everyday ideas of right and wrong – we already believe all that it asks of us, we just need to extend those beliefs to include other animals.

It works like this.

I think of veganism as how my choices and actions affect others. I suppose we can boil it down to the Golden Rule – treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself. If we try to do that in our relations with other people and other animals as far as possible… well, isn’t that “veganism”? Veganism just is what it means to do your best to be good to others. We are already vegan as far as other people are concerned, so how hard can it be to extend this attitude to include other animals?

Mind you, we can’t always live our ideals; sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. For example, normally one ought prefer not to kill another person but one must in wartime. We can only do our best. Our best, I suggest, is something of an ongoing project for most of us. For me, veganism is how I see that project.

All veganism asks of me is that I do the best I can being the person I am in my particular circumstances, as long as my aim genuinely is to do well by others as much as I can. In the case of other animals, I want to take into account how my choices and actions could affect them for the better. My situation may not mean I can be my best at all times, but I still hope to do the best I can when I can. All this requires is an open mind and the willingness to do things differently when I see a real benefit to others.

That right there is veganism as I see it.

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A Practical Guide

A couple of people have said to me, OK, that’s all well and good but what are you really saying? I see what they are getting at. My pitch above is meant to outline why I think veganism makes sense and can be taken on board by anyone at all. It’s meant to defuse the argument that veganism is a rigid diet that is too hard, perhaps even dangerous, to follow.

I am saying that what counts is your own personal commitment to treating others well and that I believe other animals should be included in that commitment. This is not strictly how veganism is defined, so I am only offering up my take on this. However, I think my take on the matter can be quickly and easily embraced by most people because it only demands that you do what you think best.

It should be clear that I don’t much endorse the idea of “going vegan” or being a vegan; what really counts is your own willingness to question the way we do things. I call this embracing vegan ethics. How far you go is up to you but the idea is that you be open to finding out more about how we treat other animals and thinking about how you could help to change the bad things we do. It doesn’t necessarily mean never using or harming or killing another animal unless that’s how far you want to go. Most purist vegans do go that far, but I suspect many people would not. That’s OK. You can still be “vegan” by my definition. Because in the end it’s your personal choice on how best to act.

I classify my interpretation as essentially vegan rather than say reducetarianism or ethical omnivorism because I am looking to the full range of our relationships with others and because I remain focused on how my choices affect others. Ethical Omnivorism for example seems mostly confined to our food choices and seems not to come with any built in constraints on how far we go.

Someone embracing vegan ethics in this way might take small practical changes to how they live that are consistent with the goal of doing good by others. Another might go much further and become a purist vegan and animal rights activist. It’s up to you. Your journey may never end because we can always learn more and do more.

So, here are some practical examples.

My own personal situation came about when I found out how we treat pigs in the food system. You can read more about that here. These days, my wife and I eat a mostly plant-based diet. I don’t die in a ditch if my food is cooked in a pan along with meat, I do eat oysters and mussels, I have no problem with eating insects. I am not sure about wool and cotton, but we aim to minimise the number of clothes we buy. I am OK with eating meat if someone offers me some but I explain why I’d prefer not to.

Chickens and pigs are very badly treated in our food system. Choosing never to eat chicken or pork from commercial intensive systems is a great way to contribute to a better food system. You may even prefer to never eat chicken and pork at all. Here is an example of a farm where animals are raised with high welfare: http://jonaifarms.com.au/

Many animals can be harmed in the cosmetics industry, To help reduce this problem, choose cosmetics with the leaping bunny logo on them. The Leaping Bunny Logo is the only internationally recognized symbol guaranteeing consumers that no new animal tests were used in the development of any product displaying it. The Logo can be seen on packaging, advertising, and websites for cosmetics and household products around the world. There are other similar logos, to find out which ones you can trust, please visit this website: https://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-free-logos/

If you support charities and worthy causes, consider supporting a charity that works to better the lives of other animals. You can choose one whose work or values agree with you. I volunteer to help Animal Aid Abroad, an Australian organisation whose goal is to help every working animal live a life free from suffering and to be treated with respect and compassion.  https://www.animalaidabroad.org/

Yolanda is a sheep and cattle farmer. She believes in ensuring the best possible welfare for her herd and she is committed to protecting them as much as possible from the harsh realities of nature and to give them a fulfilling life and a good death. Yolanda is dedicated to constantly observing and checking them, often dragging herself out at all hours and in all types of weather. She is well known for bringing in the sick or abandoned to protect them from predators, always choosing to ignore the little voice that often says “it will be right till tomorrow”, no matter how exhausted, cold or hungry she is. The thing is, people eat meat and we farm animals so there are people like Yolanda out there farming. None of them have to go the extra yard so it’s wonderful to see someone who does.

To join in a conversation between farmers and vegans, you could join the Farmers and Vegans Discussions Facebook group. This is a small but growing group where people can find out more about farming and talk to both farmers and vegans about how our food system works. https://www.facebook.com/groups/296536041626729

Veganism – once a fringe concept – has become increasingly mainstream in recent years. However, with this has come a change in the public perception of veganism. Originally an essentially moral philosophy, I think many people now see plant-based and vegan as meaning the same thing (a diet) and they see it in terms of personal benefit (health, environment, climate change). That’s fine, I guess, but I’d rather retain the idea that veganism denotes a moral attitude or stance. For me, veganism isn’t anything special – it’s just my everyday moral attitude extended to include other animals as much as I can. That’s about it.

In practice, just like all our other moral stances, how I behave depends a bit on circumstances, convention and evidence. I do my best to do what I think is right but what I do may not be the same as you. I may be more or less fastidious in my moral actions than you. I think that’s how the world works – we work out a general idea of right and wrong and then we each tackle that as we think best.

When it comes to veganism, I probably take what is broadly a welfarist position. I guess I boil it down to caring or being kind. If I can avoid it, why would I harm another creature? I am pretty sure that’s the essence of the Golden Rule. So, my moral stance in the world just is that. However, the world itself isn’t kind or just, that’s just a thing we do. The result is that we can’t be perfect and we can’t always be entirely true to our own moral convinctions. By and large, I think, we just do our best.

If it turns out that someone has to eat meat for good health or because they don’t have access to other decent food, I don’t think that is a bad thing. If someone must use another animal for their own ends, for example an assistance dog, that’s just the way of it. But within that there is no reason still not to do the best we can for the animals our presence effects. Hopefully, we can learn more and use that knowledge and our ideals to act well. That’s what I try to do and it influences the choices I make.

I eat mussels and oysters. I don’t mind eating a piece of meat or whatever if someone offers it to me. I don’t even have a problem with killing and eating animals when it is necessary. I am not that far from ethical omnivorism in dietary terms. Except that I think things like that – or reducetarianism, for example – are largely self focused and I’d rather be a bit more other focused. This might not be what a vegan purist would think is veganism, but it is my personal moral stance, deeply informed by vegan ethics.

And here’s the thing. I don’t see why that means that everyone else cannot do the same. Why, on this flavour of veganism, can’t everyone be “vegan”? In the end, it’s no more than following your existing moral instincts and doing your best for other animals – people included. If veganism is a moral stance, essentially everyday morality, then it follows anyone can be vegan. Farmers included. It’s not clear to me why everyone isn’t!

My point here is that if veganism really is just everyday ethics then it can be integrated into everyday behaviours and choices. Seen as a sort of continuum of moral attitudes that may extend to more purist ideals but which nonetheless remains accessible to common ideas of right and wrong it is possible veganism could be taken as a default stance, rather than an object of opposition and derision. In such a light, veganism is understood and practised just as we tackle all other ethical issues – as best we can with the people we are in our particular circumstances. One might take a strong position on this and become an animal rights activist, another might simply make what they think are the best choices in the things they do.

Such a view of the world can then be informed by actual empirical matters as well as personal circumstances. So long as my interest is to do my best for other animals, the stance I settle on is mine alone and can be refined as better information becomes available to me.

Put another way, for me the goal of veganism as a moral stance is that our ethical attitude to other animals mirrors our ethical attitude to other people. We aim to do our best. Circumstances might mean we can’t apply our ethics equally as well for other animals as for other humans, but so long as we take the same strategy of regarding others’ interests and well-being as important, then I think that’s all we can ask of veganism.