Amanda: Catalyzing the Vegan Process

By Amanda Crow, Guest Contributor

While I have never written a blog post, I am rarely at a loss for words, especially when the topic is veganism and how it relates to our every day world.  This will be my first experience as a “blog writer.” I would be lying if I told you I was not absolutely terrified about putting myself out there.  My writing experience is eight years of biological academic studies, but my voice is unwavering and quite relentless.  Having values and beliefs on the fringe of society, I am accustomed to my abilities of off-putting others.  The same may be true here.  Some of you may have no interest in my writing style, but I hope that most of you can appreciate the content of my posts and understand that this is who I am.  However, this does not mean my ideas and thoughts are unchanging.  I utterly love evolution in nature, and it certainly applies to cultural and personal beliefs.  Progress is evolution, and evolution happens through progression.

As briefly as possible, I want to share my vegan journey.  I don’t say it enough, but I am forever indebted to my older sister.  I was your typical creature-loving child, always trying to save the rabbits the cats caught, but the disconnect was still there…my favorite meal being “steak, potatoes, & corn.”  It was Nicole that told me about the horrors of meat-production when I was thirteen years young.  Morally I knew vegetarianism was the right path, but in practice I struggled.  Not too much later, I went to Lilith Fair and saw a PETA poster (piglet on a plate) and made the decision right then and there to never consume animals again.  While I studied nutrition some and even stopped drinking cow’s milk, for a decade I was an ignorant vegetarian consuming lots of other liquid meat products.  It wasn’t until my mom had her paradigm shift and basically overnight became a vegan that I woke up to the realities of all animal production.  Actually all of women in my family became vegans…the only exception being my “freegan” (vegetarian) gypsy sister.  The giant vegan community/family is what gives me the glimmer of hope I feel for this planet and its inhabitants.

I believe that veganism is the solution to most important problems, and I am interested in discussing all of them.  As I mentioned, my schooling is in biology.  My graduate department specialized in ecology and evolution, so I have a deep understanding of the environment, species adaptation and evolution, global climate change, among other topics.  I feel the environmental impact of our diets is the most important issue that is completely overlooked, and if humans want to persist on this planet, they better make the connection quick.  Before you panic, I have no intentions of solely writing “science” posts.  There are too many interesting issues and ideas that need to be discussed.  While I will always be a vegan for the nonhuman animals, contrary to popular belief, I am a vegan that cares for rights of human animals.  I have some exciting ideas brewing, and I hope I can provide unique and thought-provoking posts.  Veganism is spreading, and I would like to be an enzyme catalyzing the process.

Photo: Amanda Crow