Opinion Piece: VEGANISM

I’ve now been Vegetarian for 8 months, and that’s why I consider it’s a very important issue nowadays which I would like to talk about.

Veganism is avoiding the use and consumption of products and services of other animal species. It has spread like wildfire in recent years, whether due to ethical or moral prejudices or environmental awareness.

Due to economic interests and ignorance, veganism is sometimes presented as a radical option. I definitely don’t share this opinion; I believe it is another step in the moral progress of society to continue cornering the violence. The priority is not whether it is necessary or not to exploit animals, but if it is ethical.

There are many people who are beginning to commit, and increasingly, to the world in which we live and, more specifically, to the animal. It consists of a firm and reasoned ethical position that goes against the dehumanized treatment that is given to animal life when preparing food.

Moreover, there’s those who begin in this practice due to health or environmental issues. Veganism is based on the conviction that animals, like humans, can feel pain and suffering, so they must have the moral consideration and respect that, to the same extent, humans deserve among us.

The main difference between veganism and vegetarianism is the vision of respect and love that you give to the animal world in the face of purely healthy issues offered by vegetarianism. I think it’s very important to respect both of them, even if I’m vegetarian. Very often people ask me: And why are you vegetarian, for ethics, health …?

In my case, the answer is not short or unique. Each motivation is important, and although initially mine was the environment and animals, none separately made me take the final step to stop eating meat.

Each person approaches this world of vegetarianism in different ways. Some of them, and which were also part of my reasons for making the change to vegetarian food are these:

1. Animal respect: There are many videos and images on internet about the treatment of animals on farms. It is clear that I don’t want to collaborate with that suffering, but I am not even getting entangled with this issue if they are treated well or badly on farms, or they are given a painless death. I feel that an animal has been born to be free and at least have his own life. From my point of view, I do not consider myself with the right to enclose an animal, use it to obtain a benefit and much less to take his life. (Nor to pay for someone else to do it for me).
2. Healthy eating: Undoubtedly, the benefits of a plant-based diet are becoming more known or visible.
3. Respect for the environment: Meat consumption not only affects the health of people but also that of the environment. Some of the harmful effects to the planet are the excessive water expenditure, subsoil and aquifer pollution, greenhouse gases and forest deforestation.
4. Efficiency for human food: To produce 1 kilo of beef you need between 6 and 10 kilos of cereals and legumes. Is it not more efficient to allocate these cereals/legumes directly for human consumption? There are people who argue with this data saying that in this case hunger could be resolved in the world. At first this message captivated me, but in reality, the problem of world hunger is not precisely food shortage.

As you can see, being vegetarian makes sense to me, because it takes care of animals, nature, health, … and also transcends the physical world by affecting that network that connects us all with everyone.