"Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi

     I just completed the book "Veganist" by Kathy Freston.  In it she interviews many of the experts I have previously recommended:  Dr. Dean Ornish, T. Colin Campbell,Phd, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Neil Barnard, Ruth Heidrich, PhD; and some I haven't read about, such as Dr. Michael Greger.   She discusses a plant based diet for weight loss; lowering risks for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes; and living longer with a better quality of life.  These are things I have mentioned before.
     Then she got my attention by bringing up the whole animal factory farming boondoggle, and I recalled why we became vegetarian/vegan in the first place.  The suffering and horrors these animals are put through are something no compassionate human being can tolerate.  The superbugs and superviruses of the future are mutating in those overcrowded and filthy CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), as well.  It is scary to read about. 
     Global warming is real.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has described the existence of human-caused global warming as "unequivocal," and as having "abrupt and irreversible" effects on global climate.   In 2010, World Bank agricultural scientists claimed that raising animals for food is responsible for at least 50% of all warming.  Per the Environmental Defense Fund, if every American skipped just one meal of chicken per week and substituted a vegetarian meal, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as if the nation removed more than half a million cars from U.S. roads. 
     1.2 billion people in the world are underfed and malnourished, according to scientists at the Worldwatch Institute.  At the same time, 1.2 billion different people are overfed and malnourished.   Both groups have high levels of sickness and shortened life-expectancies.  If 1 in 10 people around the globe stopped eating animals, it would free up enough food to feed the 1+ billion hungry. 
     She discusses the wisdom of the great spiritual traditions and their clear connections with veganism.  She refers to the guiding principle of Ahimsa, literally "non-violence", the doctrine that all living beings are sacred.  She also suggests that when you become vegan you will evolve, and take the world with you.
     I think she is correct, that we are at a tipping point. We need to vote with our forks.  Stores and restaurants will respond, and ultimately even the government will respond, despite the corrupting influences of agribusiness.
 
"Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty changes us."  Jonathan Safran Foer, "Eating Animals"

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."   Gandhi