I sometimes wonder if I should change the title of this blog already. Have Gone Vegan makes it sound as if I've just transitioned, whereas this is my 13th! year since giving up consuming sentient beings. So, thirteen years have flown by and I'm still alive, which according to this ex-vegan is quite miraculous as they "Do not consider any version of a vegan diet to be acceptable, safe, healthy or remotely appropriate for human beings.... I think veganism is dangerous and nutritionally defective. Failure is the only possible outcome of that defecient [sic] diet." Well!
They also cite the Faunalytics' Study of Current and Former Vegetarians and Vegans saying that 84% of folk will abandon vegetarianism/veganism, but then throw in a time frame of within the first five years that I don't see listed in the study. And as a former researcher myself, I seriously question aspects of the study even though I support the organization and am a monthly donor. For example, grouping vegetarians and vegans together is like saying that apples and oranges are the same kind of fruit. No, they share similarities, but shouldn't be conflated.
As an illustration here's a statistic from their full report: Interestingly, while 86% of lapsed vegetarians abandon their diet, a smaller proportion (70%) of lapsed vegans do so, suggesting that while people are far less likely to adopt a vegan diet, vegans are also less apt to start opting for meat. I think 16% is a fairly big difference, and that's just one example. Also, if you look at the actual numbers of the study sample (N= 11,399), you'll see that of the total number of 1,166 former vegans and vegetarians, 129 were vegan. Yep, you read that right. Percentage wise they indicate that of the 10.2% (1,166) vegans and vegetarians grouped together, 1.1% (129) were vegan and 9.1% (1,037) were vegetarian.
But stats can be deceiving (as one who used to manipulate them for a living I know), because another way you could look at this is to see that of the 1,166 former veg folk, 11% were vegan and thus 89% were vegetarian. In other words, this could be viewed as more of a study of former vegetarians than vegans. If you then add in that the study definition of vegan/vegetarian was based on dietary inclusion only, and given that most vegans don't even consider veganism to be a diet, motivation would appear to be a key factor in how many vegans lapse as opposed to vegetarians. Hmmm...
At any rate, IF veg folk DO abandon their "diet" within the first five years as claimed by the ex-vegan turned enthusiastic fisherwoman and licensed hunter quoted up above, then I should have ditched my principles 2.6 times already. But even in my dreams I consistently identify as vegan, so that's not likely to happen.
And while I don't get how former vegans (some might argue they were more plant-based than vegan) can turn their backs on animals, I do certainly understand turning down the dial on activism as being vegan is hard. Not in terms of food, in my opinion, but the emotional toil of witnessing animal suffering and death, the indifference and denial of others if not downright hostility, and the incremental pace at which change often seems to occur. Being a vegan and seeing real progress is a long-term prospect, and not for the faint-of-heart.
So I would argue that being vegan is sometimes all you can do given other life circumstances. Full-on or even part-time activism is great if you have the time, energy and inclination, but please don't feel you're not doing enough, because just by not consuming other sentient beings you're already saving lives and making a difference.
And if you do feel you can contribute a bit more, consider what I think of as being more passive forms of activism: wear t-shirts with slogans, put stickers on your car* and around the community, have individual conversations face-to-face when appropriate (my best interactions with folk have been in grocery stores, for example, instead of anything posted online), chalk animal-rights messages, and other smaller actions that feel doable. Anything is better than nothing as they say, so don't feel it doesn't count if you're not up to doing bigger things like protests. Just being vegan and setting an example is activism in its own way, and all of our actions DO add up. :)
* like this! Was tickled pink/red? when I saw this vehicle in my rural small town. Had a lovely chat as well with the owner who wasn't sure what my reaction would be as I asked if this was their car, until I gave them a big smile and a huge thumbs-up when they said yes.
Brava! So good to see a post from you. (Been more than a year and a half for me, I think. I'm just...exhausted from saying the same thing over and over again.)
First of all... HAPPY 13 YEARS!!! Wow, it does seem that long, but still it's hard to believe. I remember when you became vegan. :) You were still in H......., and I was on E....... in Berlin. Long, long time ago!
Now, on to the post...cute car! :) ... And, great to see you've posted again! I'm not being rude to you by this, but I'm not clicking that link to the "former vegan". I have my doubts that they ever were vegan even if they've constructed something that looks like an actual history. And I know you understand, based on your knowledge of trickery as far as stats go...it can and does go beyond just manipulating stats. And I don't want to give them any support, but I'm glad you're shining a light on shadiness.
I appreciate that you've kept my cow friend on your page all these years. Rather than write a detailed background story, I'll try to keep this short (ha, I've written that in so many comments, but here goes - and coming back up to add this, that I failed again in keeping it short) for anyone reading this comment...I was almost entirely vegan, having become "cruelty free" in 2007, but still eating free range eggs, so not vegan. The cow in the photo to the right was my friend. She lived with a herd next to the actual offices of the national headquarters of the animal protection offices of Germany, located on the outskirts of Berlin where I volunteered. Their lives were awful. In the summer, they desperately turned the few water buckets they had upside down on their heads out of unbelievable thirst. In winter, they never had water because it froze or was simply left empty. I assume they ate snow, but I never saw them do that. They were given hay in the winter, but not enough and in the summer they were happy if the sun didn't kill the plants and grass because that was it if they wanted to eat.
During my getting to know my friend and after HGV already became vegan, I saw a report about 'free range' eggs and the lives the chickens suffered and the fraud about the numbers stamped onto eggs here in Germany to indicate whether the chickens are free range, floor range or caged. Seeing my cow friend made me realize, it is all lies. I became vegan the day I saw that report.
My cow friend used to see me way off in the distance and would start mooing and jumping around, very similar to a dog, when she saw me coming. One day...I saw what looked like something I'd seen in my youth in the US growing up in the Midwest...a very specific metal "walkway" show up in their pasture. It was worrisome, but it wasn't until days later that the truck with the grotesque cartoon smiling cow face with a chef's hat on to add insult to injury (putting injury mildly) and the words (in German) "bio meat" showed up.
The photo you see on the right side of this page is a cow who felt feelings the same as we humans do and who suffered the way we do and who was thought of as nothing but "Euro" (money) signs even while she lived right next to the animal protection offices for an entire nation. And she was rounded up onto a truck with her friends and possibly family one day into a truck with a hideous cartoon and driven to her death, which I know for a fact was gruesome.
Human beings become vegan for many reasons. Those who go on a diet, may possibly abandon that diet at a certain point. The vast majority of us remain vegan for all our lives because it is not in us to abandon the memories (and if they are still inspirations and not memories yet) that led us to where we are today.
(picture me with an "oops, sorry" face right now as I apologize that I wrote such a long comment...I really did try once again to be more concise...and again failed).
I would like to thank HGV for being an inspiration to me and to many others. It's "crazy" to know we've been vegan after all these years. :) wink, nod to your title. ... Keep staying safe and healthy!