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An example of ethical veganism. Vegan alternative to test animals. Instead of cutting an animal open, this is a knitted vegan example that can be used in biology classes.

Ethical Veganism

Posted on November 1, 2021January 24, 2023

Today, as I am writing this post, it is my vegan anniversary. I finally looked it up and put it in my agenda yesterday. Such a coincidence! I always knew that it was a very random date since I just decided one day: I’m doing it. I’m going vegan! As I said, the day that I am writing this, it’s been 4 years! Woohoo. I thought that therefore it would be good to write about the very base of this lifestyle I’ve had ever since: ethical veganism.

How It Started

I can’t really say that I have been an ethical vegan for 4 years now. I really evolved over the years. 6 years ago I became a vegetarian. And as crazy as it sounds, at first this wasn’t really for the animals. My main reason back then was that meat is very harmful for our environment. It was only later that I really started to care for the animals. You read books, watch documentaries and talk to people. It really takes a while to come over your cognitive dissonance. And after that, reason after reason for staying a vegan keep on adding up. And I guess my thoughts therefore have become more radical too. Where at first I thought: I don’t eat meat because that’s needed to combat climate change, I slowly went to: animals are living beings and that itself has value. They’re not here for us and we should leave them alone all together.

Speciesism

I like to say things in a positive manner: I am an ethical vegan. However, this is a lifestyle that is against a very specific thing: speciesism. So yes, you could also phrase this a little different: being against speciesism. But what is speciesism?

Speciesism refers to a set of irrational beliefs and prejudices, exhibited in various forms and degrees, which reproduce political and social structures that yield power and privilege to human animals over other species of animals.

It basically means that we humans think that we’re better than non-human animals. However, we’re all animals. If you’re an anti-speciesist you are against this superiority. We treat animals in ways that we wouldn’t treat ourselves and I believe that’s morally wrong. Now, this does not mean that we should do the same things with animals as we do with humans. We would not invite them to drink tea with us or go clubbing haha. Obviously, non-humans are different from us. They can’t speak or do things that humans can. However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t treat them morally. As an anti-speciesist I believe we should apply our morals to them like we would to ourselves. We should not hurt or use them and make sure they have a joyous life.

Ethical Veganism

So, the basis is to value their lives just as much as we value our own. Humans are not better or more value-able than non-human animals. Therefore, we could never own animals. We co-exist on this planet. We should live together in peace. And as you know, this is not the case right now. We abuse, hurt, kill, use, breed, buy and exploit non-human animals on a daily basis. And for me, the word use is very important in ethical veganism. I mean, not to kill or hurt animals is very obvious if you’d ask me. But when we use animals this becomes less apparent and so that’s the base for me. We as humans are smart enough to do things on our own without using animals for it.

Ethical veganism therefore does not stop at a plant-based diet. I mean, it’s a great start. But it’s also about boycotting circuses and zoos, being against hunting and horse-riding, not using their shit (literally) to fertilize our crops and it’s even about pets. We should never use animals for ourselves. In any way. So it goes from the base to not eating animals to not breeding dogs so that they can be our pets.

Vegan Utopia

Maybe this seems all a bit abstracts. Let me try to make this more clear by describing my utopia. In my utopia we live in a world where non-humans animals and humans live together in harmony. We don’t really have cities anymore since all of the world is created in a way that it is nature-supporting. Non-humans animals can thrive and so can humans. We live together in peace. All humans are ethical vegans. The non-human animals live on this world in peace and they are not used in any ways. Humans and non-humans only interact by seeing each other sometimes. Non-human animals are never the property of humans and so they’re always free in nature. When humans hurt non-human animals in any way, this has consequences just like it would when a human hurts another human (not in the way this is done today, like prisons and inhumane punishment, but that’s something for another time haha). But of course nobody would hurt each other because this is utopia. Non-humans would also not hurt humans because we’ve designed the world in such a way that we can only live in harmony. Seems nice, right? No suffering, just harmony.

*The picture you see on top of this post is an embroidered inside of a mouse for a biology practical. I think this is a great example of we don’t need to use animals. I found it via this Instagram page.

Yours sincerely,
Romee

4 thoughts on “Ethical Veganism”

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

Here’s what I posted most recently

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Vandaag een artikel op mijn blog over Pieter Pot. Een webshop voor verpakkingsvrije boodschappen πŸ₯œ. Een geweldig concept die jou helpt je afval te verminderen Γ©n er ook nog eens heel goed uit ziet in je keuken #nospon. Je leest het nu via de link in mijn bio. Een greep uit de vegan maaltijden die ik at in mei 2023 πŸ§†. Als ik zo terugkijk heb ik de italiaanse weer helemaal ontdekt, haha! Maar het hoogtepunt was wel echt de vegan, zero waste, kaassaus die ik maakte voor over de nachoschotel 🫘. Welke vegan ijs-, toetjes- of yoghurtproducten zijn het lekkerst? Ik zette het voor je op een rijtje in een artikel die vanaf vandaag te lezen is 🍧. Je vindt de link in mijn bio. Spoiler: deze van Hertog staat er zeker tussen! #plantaardig #vegan #blogger ✨ 4 tweedehands outfits die ik droeg in mei 2023 πŸ‘—. Ik had op iets beter weer en iets koudere outfits gehoopt, maar goed, dat schuiven we dan maar naar juni! Ik ben poepdonor πŸ’©. Ja, Γ©cht. Ik doe mee met een wetenschappelijk onderzoek waarbij mijn darmflora gebruikt wordt om mensen met een leveraandoening te genezen. Ik ben zo blij met de positieve impact die ik hiermee kan maken! En ik krijg er nog betaald voor ook. Meer weten? Lees het artikel dat ik erover schreef via de link in mijn bio. Binnenkort zal ik er ook een Youtube-video aan wijden. #donor #positieveimpact #nafldnashresearch Minimaliseren en ontspullen blijft een ongoing process πŸ“¦. Ik vind dat ik niet al te veel spullen heb, maar toch geef ik nog geregeld spullen weg aan de kringloopwinkel. In deze reel laat ik de laatste 5 items aan je zien. Plantaardiger eten hoeft niet moeilijk te zijn, je moet net even weten welke producten vegan zijn. Vandaag deel ik een makkelijke swap voor mayonaise 🍟. Het is weer mei! En dat betekent dat er weer een artikel met podcast-tips op mijn blog staat (de vijfde in de reeks inmiddels!). Vandaag lees je over 4 podcasts die ik aan bijna iedereen zou aanraden 🎧. 5 vegan maaltijden die ik at in april 2023 πŸ₯™. En ja, Γ©cht alles is vegan. Want elk gerecht is te veganizen.

Read my latest posts

  • Zero waste groceries at Pieter Pot
  • The best vegan ice-cream, desserts and yoghurt
  • I am a poop donor
  • Why I never light candles
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