World Vegan Day 2015

By Published On: 1 November 2015Last Updated: 17 January 2017

Every day is an opportunity to celebrate living a compassionate and cruelty-free life, but today is extra special. It's World Vegan Day!

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By KD Angle-Traegner, Founder & Editor

Every day is a great day to advocate for animals, but today is extra special. November is World Vegan Month and November 1st (today) is World Vegan Day! Two excellent reasons to celebrate!

The word vegan was coined in November 1944 in Great Britain by Donald Watson. Watson and his wife, along with four friends, founded the Vegan Society out of a desire to describe a life free from animal products. He suggested the term ‘vegan’ – the beginning and end of ‘vegetarian’ – because, “veganism starts with vegetarianism and carries it through to its logical conclusion.” Watson, in the first issue of The Vegan News, talked about veganism as the basis of a new social movement, and then later defined veganism in this way:

Veganism denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as is possible and practical – 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 humans, animals, and the environment.

Everyone here at Your Daily Vegan are Donald Watson vegans.

World Vegan Day was established in 1994 by Louise Walis, who was then President & Chair of The Vegan Society, to kick off World Vegan Month and commemorate The Vegan Society’s 50th anniversary. Taking the time to celebrate in a movement that is inherently filled with tragedy and sadness is so important for our mental well-being. After all, we can’t be good advocates if we don’t take care of ourselves. As a vegan living in a small town with zero dedicated vegan restaurants and a small vegan community, I know what it’s like to feel isolated and alone. But not today! Today you’ll find vegan celebrations all around and it’s the perfect time to join in!

In honor of World Vegan Day I’m doing a top three list of the reasons to celebrate veganism. Maybe you know some of these reasons, maybe you don’t. Maybe I didn’t list a reason that you feel is super important. If that’s the case, let me know in the comments! We all benefit when we come together as a team!

The Top Three Reasons to Celebrate Living Vegan

1. You will save the lives of animals.

vegan

FreedaFreeFree lives at Piebird Farm Sanctuary

Here’s a truth bomb: The industries who use animals can only stay in business if people pay them to. Consumers drive industry. Less consumers = less profits = less animals killed. Believe it or not, it really is that simple.

Without a doubt, animals pay the highest price for a non-vegan lifestyle. More than 150 billion animals are killed every year for food, and that’s not counting the animals who die as a result of vivisection laboratories, circuses, marine parks, zoos, horse racing, greyhound racing, and blood sports such as dog fighting, cock fighting, and bullfighting, etc. The total number of animals being killed for human use are staggering.

Humans use animals in millions of ways, and some are more obvious than others. Removing animal products from your life isn’t impossible, but it does take some knowledge and practice.  We’ve built a library of information designed to help you navigate through life. Save the lives of animals one meal, one outfit, one refusal to attend a circus or marine park at a time. Our guides will show you how. Just click here.

And if you want to see your vegan advocacy at work, visit Sanctuary Spotlight where we tell the stories of animal survivors.

2. You will save the environment.

sanctuary pig

Photo: WeAnimals

Do you love the planet you live on? Do you love Earth? Do you want to protect it for generations to come? You can by living vegan.

RELATED READING: The Environment & Veganism

Raising animals for food is the single greatest human-caused source of destruction to our environment. It is the largest source of greenhouse gases, land use and degradation; the number one source of water pollution and rainforest deforestation. It’s also a major contributor to air pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, and species extinction. And when we include all the resources that go into raising animals for food– the land, fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, fossil fuels and freshwater – animal agribusiness is a costly and wasteful use of our limited natural resources. Veganism is the solution.

3. You might gain serious health benefits.

 

world vegan day

Photo: bass_nroll

We’re going to get it out of the way right now: it’s certainly possible to eat a healthy diet that contains some animal products. Veganism doesn’t promise us good health and it doesn’t have to. Veganism is about the animals first and always. That said, a vegan diet can help you eliminate unhealthy foods and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. According to the World Health Organization cured and processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs and ham cause cancer, adding the foods to a top-tier list of carcinogenic substances that includes alcohol, cigarettes, asbestos, and arsenic.

But eating a healthy vegan diet isn’t as easy as putting down the bacon, you’re going to need to know how to get quality nutrition from plants. That’s where we come in. Visit our Vegan Nutrition section for the latest in vegan health news or visit our virtual vegan bookstore and get the latest Nutrition & Health titles.

Celebrate Veganism Everyday

Every day is an opportunity to celebrate living a compassionate and cruelty-free life. Although I enjoy celebrating World Vegan Day and think it’s important for our mental well-being, to me it’s a lot like celebrating Earth Day or Arbor Day – a holiday to celebrate something we all should be doing anyway. Every day should be vegan, every single one. We shouldn’t need a holiday to celebrate not killing things. After all, if we can live without harming animals, the planet, and ourselves- why wouldn’t we?

Feature Photo: Emilian Robert Vicol

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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