Ethics

I could spend all day debating vegan ethics. There are many ethical reasons to be vegan, and they all have their nuances. But today I want to address a common question: Why is it okay to kill plants? Vegans justify killing plants by the fact that plants likely don’t feel pain like animals do. Plants respond … Read more How Do Vegans Justify Killing Plants? [Deep Dive]

More and more people are trying to avoid cruel factory farms. Many are starting to choose “humane” milk and dairy. But how do you know if a product is really cruelty-free? What do all the labels mean? Can “happy milk” from “happy cows” be real? The best cruelty-free certifications for milk products are Animal Welfare … Read more Cruelty-Free Milk and Cheese: Are They Really Humane?

There’s a big debate around dairy right now. The global market is booming with dairy alternatives. The milk alternatives market alone is projected to hit 35 billion USD by 2026. So what’s so wrong with milk and cheese? Here are 6 common reasons why vegans don’t drink milk or eat dairy: Separation of mother and calf … Read more 6 Reasons Why Vegans Don’t Drink Milk or Eat Dairy

When you go vegan, you may learn about all kinds of weird animal ingredients. One of the weirdest is castoreum. It comes from the “castor sacs” near a beaver’s tail, and it smells like “vanilla with a hint of raspberry.” Thankfully it’s not common in products today, but it does still see some use. How … Read more How Is Castoreum Harvested? Are Beavers Killed For It?

Vegans don’t eat meat—but does that include human meat? What about in a hypothetical situation where someone told you, “Go ahead and eat my leg”… would that be vegan? What if they even said, “Please, I’m begging you to eat my leg”? Is cannibalism vegan? Cannibalism is generally not considered vegan because humans are animals, … Read more The “Human Meat” Question: Is Cannibalism Vegan?

A lot of people have confusion about fish when it comes to pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan diets. It can be hard to keep straight all the terms and beliefs behind each of them. So, do vegans eat seafood? Vegans do not eat seafood, as they do not eat any animal products. However, there are strains … Read more Do Vegans Eat Seafood?

How strict should you be as a vegan? Should you maintain consistent adherence 365 days a year, or can you take breaks on special occasions? Do you need to avoid all animal byproducts, or is boycotting meat, dairy, and eggs enough? This debate is what the Paris Exception is all about. So, what is the … Read more What Is Peter Singer’s “Paris Exception” for Vegan Diets?

I love a good debate about what counts as “vegan” and what doesn’t… So let’s talk about oysters and other bivalves. They are animals, and vegans don’t eat animals—right? But a certain group of vegans, called ostrovegans, actually do eat bivalves. What is an ostrovegan? An ostrovegan is a vegan who eats bivalves (oysters, mussels, … Read more What Exactly Is an Ostrovegan or Bivalvegan?

Why be vegan? And specifically, what are the ethical reasons to be vegan? As someone who has been vegan for over 13 years, been a vegan activist, and talked to many people about vegan ethics, I can help lay out the common arguments for you. Here are the 13 common ethical arguments for veganism I’ll … Read more Vegan Ethics: An Overview of Moral Arguments for Veganism

I’ve been hearing from a lot of vegans about the Liberation Pledge. It’s a commitment that more and more vegans are making to try to maximize their impact for the animals. So, what is the Liberation Pledge? Adherents to the Liberation Pledge commit to (1) being vegan, (2) not sitting where animals are being eaten, … Read more What Is the Liberation Pledge? Should You Take It?