veganism: I'm considering going vegan, and I need some motivation, I am already a vegetarian, so I dont need you to tell me about vegetarianism, just veganism. Thanks! If you could also, it would be great if you could give me some links to sites for vegan teens.|||2 main things are eggs and dairy. So I'll just focus on these two things, otherwise it'll be too long. But there is a whole lot more. Because dairy production places massive environmental stresses on the planet. Each dairy cow produces 28,000L of waste water per cow per year (dairy shed effluent management guidelines Aust). This waste water comes from processing, runnoff, urine, yard and equipment washdown, plate cooling. It is a rather conservative estimate too, since it doesn't include the water required for feed or crop irrigation, or the water consumed by each head of cattle. Cows produce between 250 to 500L of methane per cow per day (journal of animal science). Methane is a green house gas that contributes to global warming. Methane is also 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. (new york times) Dairy production requires waste lagoons for storing large volumes of untreated excrement and liquid waste. This waste has the potential to run off and pollute streams, ground water, soil, plants ect. Also milk contributes to unnecessary death and suffering. Just like humans cows only lactate a few months after birth. For cows to produce a constant supply of milk they must be continually artificially inseminated and give birth. Their babies are taken away from them soon after they are born. If they are male they will be trapped in veal crates, fed an anaemic diet and confined in darkness and eventually killed. If they are female they will go on to also be dairy cows (or more correctly milk machines). This separation causes distress to both mother and calf. Drinking milk supports the veal industry. Cows are also pumped with hormones and antibiotics to increase milk production. This often leads to mastitius, a painful infection of the udders. Constant milk production leaches calcium from cow's bones leaving them eventually lame or crippled. Milk is produced to nourish calves, not human. We are essentially stealing nutrients from baby animals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr-EyIaXA鈥?/a> http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_u鈥?/a> That鈥檚 just dairy. (I did a research project on the environmental impacts of dairy farming which I would be happy to share with you) Egg laying hens are tortured, debeaked, force moulted, crammed with between 4 and 12 other birds, stacked in crates, thrown, covered in one another鈥檚 excrement, suffer from painful cuts and lacerations due to sharp wire cages, male chicks are killed and considered an industry waste product, they have less than an A4 piece of paper in which to live, they never see the light of day, and are never allowed to exhibit natural behaviour. (battery hens living conditions) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4_R5sGHI鈥?/a> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP8Q7ZN1I鈥?/a>|||Hello Beth :) I found some sites on why you should go vegan - it has to do with animals, environment and your health http://library.thinkquest.org/20922/why_鈥?/a> http://library.thinkquest.org/20922/who_鈥?/a> http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/p鈥?/a> Oh and read this http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Vegan It gives you some tips and warnings :) I hope I helped Good luck and I support your idea!|||the benefits for the animals are that some of them won't be killed for you. (Though the more vegans, the less animals are actually bred, so you've stopped a life before it started rather than end a life) The benfits for you are that you will never risk an Iron overdose. Aside from that, I think it's all negative.|||Animals: Going vegan is a powerful way to oppose the cruelties in the egg and dairy industries. An egg-laying hen must spend over 24 hours confined to a tiny battery cage in order to produce just one egg. Even on "free range" farms, the hens are slaughtered after one or two years and the male chicks are killed, usually by suffocation or being thrown into grinders. So you would prevent SO much suffering by not eating eggs! You also wouldn't contribute to the veal industry. (Dairy farms have no use for the male calves born to dairy cows, so they send the calves to veal farms.) Health: Vegan diets are cholesterol-free since cholesterol is only found in animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy. I found it easier to lose weight after I went vegan. I rarely get sick and generally have a lot of energy. Environment: A completely plant-based diet is more efficient than one that includes animal products. It doesn't require as much land, food, energy, or water. A major report by the University of Chicago in 2006 found that adopting a vegan diet has a greater impact in the fight against global warming than switching to a hybrid car does. http://www.goveg.com/environment-wycd-fo鈥?/a> Hope this helps!|||Well...it's pretty much for the same reasons i.e. about cruelty-free lifestyle, for the welfare of animals, for our environment through reduction of resources, and for health reason as animal fats and proteins have been linked to heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and a number of other debilitating conditions. Cows' milk contains ideal amounts of fat and protein for young calves, but far too much for humans. Hope this answers your question. God bless:)|||for you, there are certain nutrional things that are in meat that you need, for animals, of course they get to live, the environment because the animals not eaten each have a job to do in our world, but not eating them can cause an overpopulation of one specific speices. hope i helped. nellie|||There are ups and downs for it, as there is with all diets. But for the animals and environment there are virtually none. Whatever you don't, eat others will.|||I guess you wouldn't have to worry about guys hitting on you all the time. Wouldn't have to worry about shaving your legs or having children.|||goveg.com they have recipes, facts, benfits and so forth about veganism Congrats on your choice!|||If the animals had voices they would thank you for it! =)|||For one thing, you're not killing animals. And whoever says that you're killing as life before it has begun is ridiculous. IF the animal was actually born it would have a 95% chance of suffering it's entire life solely for the purpose of human pleasure. Now, I'm not sure about what minerals your body is being deprived of if you were to become vegan, but saying that there is no substitute for meat/the human body cannot thrive off of meat is completely bogus and just an excuse for those who don't want to turn vegan/vegetarian. Now I'm not saying that all human omnivours all think like that, you just shouldn't be doubtful that there is no way for you to substitute for meat. One example is tofu/any other soybean products. If I'm not mistaken, that should be one solution to substituting meat. Finally and probably most importantly, hormones in meat have been heavily linked to breast cancer in women and I have no doubt any other cancer as well. The way farms inject chemicals into their animals and treat them, it's not surprising. Bottom line: red meat is SO BAD for you! Don't eat it! Also, milk comes from cows, right? Milk also has heavy amounts of hormones in it. Veganism will eliminate that nasty milk from your diet. (Again, soy milk is a good substitute.) Now that I have shared with you everything I believe about veganism in general, may I make one CHEATING suggestion? I suggest you eat fish. If you live strictly off of soy you'll be getting your body what it needs but if soy is too hard for you, I would highly consider eating fish. You hear all this stuff about mercury poison and I don't doubt it's true, but eating a healthy does of wild fish regularly is quite good for you. The final thing that you'll want to consider about vegetarianism/veganism is that you feel great! It's hard in the beginning but after you stick with it, you'll realize that you don't miss meat and that you'll love the feeling so much. It's kinda like aftre a good session of yoga if you've ever taken one, you feel MARVELOUS! I hope this helped you in some way. Like I said, I'm no expert with mineral deficiencies and what the body needs medically speaking, I just know what it feels like to be a non-meat/dairy eater. I don't regret it at all!