Veganism in Facts

🔹What is Carnism?
Carnism is the invisible belief system, or ideology, that conditions people to eat certain animals. Carnism is essentially the opposite of veganism, as “carn” means “flesh” or “of the flesh” and “ism” refers to a belief system.

Because carnism is invisible, people rarely realize that eating animals is a choice, rather than a given. In meat-eating cultures around the world, people typically don’t think about why they eat certain animals but not others, or why they eat any animals at all. But when eating animals is not a necessity, which is the case for many people in the world today, then it is a choice – and choices always stem from beliefs.

As long as we remain unaware of how carnism impacts us, we will be unable to make our food choices freely – because without awareness, there is no free choice.

🔹Why has carnism not been named until now?
One reason is that it is simply easier to recognize those belief systems that fall outside the mainstream (e.g., vegetarianism or veganism).

A much more important reason, though, is that carnism is a dominant belief system: it is so widespread that its principles and practices are considered common sense, "the way things are," rather than a set of widely held opinions. Carnistic bias is built into the very foundations of society – when we study nutrition, for example, we actually study carnistic nutrition.

And carnism is also a violent belief system: it is organized around intensive, extensive, and unnecessary violence toward animals. Even the production of so-called humane (or, bio) meat, eggs, and dairy – a tiny percentage of the animal foods produced in the world today – exploits animals and involves brutality.

In short, carnism is a system of oppression. It is enabled by an unjust exercise of power that causes unnecessary harm to billions of individuals.

🔹Carnistic Defenses
Carnism runs counter to core human values, values such as compassion and justice. Most people would not willingly support unnecessary violence toward other sentient beings. Therefore, carnism, like other violent systems, uses a set of defense mechanisms that distort our thoughts and block our natural empathy so that we act against our values without fully realizing what we are doing. In other words, carnism teaches us how not to feel.

Carnistic defenses hide the contradictions between our values and behaviors, so that we unknowingly make exceptions to what we would normally consider unethical.

The primary defense of carnism is denial: if we deny there is a problem in the first place, we don’t have to do anything about it. Denial is expressed largely through invisibility, and the main way carnism remains invisible is by remaining unnamed; if we don't name it, we can’t question it. But not only is the system itself invisible; so, too, are its victims: the trillions of farmed animals who remain out of sight and therefore out of public consciousness; the increasingly damaged environment; the exploited and often brutalized meatpackers and slaughterhouse workers; and the human consumers who are at increased risk for some of the most serious diseases in the industrialized world and who have been conditioned to turn off their hearts and minds when it comes to eating animals.

Another carnistic defense is justification. We learn to justify eating animals by learning to believe that the myths of meat, eggs, and dairy are the facts of meat, eggs and dairy. These myths are expressed largely through the Three Ns of Justification: eating animals is normal, natural, and necessary. Perhaps not surprisingly, these myths have been used to justify other exploitive practices and systems, such as slavery and male dominance.

Carnism also uses a set of defenses that distort our perceptions of meat, eggs, and dairy and the animals we eat so that we can feel comfortable enough to consume them. We learn, for instance, to view farmed animals as objects (e.g., we refer to a chicken as something, rather than someone) and as abstractions, lacking any individuality or personality (e.g., a pig is a pig and all pigs are the same), and to create rigid categories in our minds so that we can harbor very different feelings and carry out very different behaviors toward different species (e.g., cows are for eating and dogs are our friends).

(Beyond Carnism)

Scott Jurek - vegan ultramarathon runner

"Named one of the greatest runners of all time, Scott Jurek has become a living legend. He has claimed victories in nearly all of ultrarunning’s elite trail and road events including the historic 153-mile Spartathlon, the Hardrock 100, the Badwater 135-Mile Ultramarathon, and—his signature race—the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, which he won a record seven straight times. Scott has also taken the running world by storm with his 2015 Appalachian Trail speed record, averaging nearly 50 miles a day over 46 days—and the United States all-surface record in the 24-Hour Run with 165.7 miles: 6.5 marathons in one day.

Off the trail, Scott is a New York Times-bestselling author for his memoir, Eat & Run, has been prominently featured in countless publications, and is a star of the international bestseller, Born To Run.

More than just a champion, Scott is a true student and ambassador of the sport, known to stay at finish lines cheering until the last runner crosses. When not racing, he donates his time to many non profit organizations and is an avid volunteer in the areas of environmental conservation, fitness and health.

A passionate advocate for vegetarianism, he follows a 100% plant-based diet, which he credits for his endurance, recovery and consistent twenty year racing career. He believes that everyone can run an ultra and everyone can access their body’s innate capacity to heal. Through writing, public speaking, and consulting, Scott takes joy in encouraging people of all fitness levels to take the next step toward vibrant health."

ACHIEVEMENTS:
Appalachian Trail Speed Record: 46 days, 8 hours, and 7 minutes: 2,189 miles - 2015
U.S. record for 24-hour road run: 165.7 miles - 2010
7 x consecutive winner of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run - 1999-2005
2 x consecutive winner of the 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon - 2005, 2006
3 x consecutive winner Spartathlon 152 miles-Athens to Sparta, Greece - 2006-2008
Winner of the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run - 2007
National Geographic Adventurer of the Year
Runner’s World Top Ten Greatest Runners of All-Time
Men’s Health 100 Fittest Men of All Time
USA Today Athlete of the Week
4 x UltraRunning Magazine’s Ultrarunner of the Year

PERSONAL BESTS:
24-Hour: 165.7 Miles, IAAF World Championships - 2010
100 Mile Trail: 15:36, Western States Endurance Run - 2004
100K Road: 7:28, GNC 100K - 2001
50 Mile Trail: 6:21, Ice Age 50 Mile - 1999
50 Mile Road: 5:50, GNC - 2001
50K Trail: 3:04, Bendistillery 50K - 1999
26.2 Mile Road Marathon: 2:38, Austin Marathon - 2006

Milk alternatives, such as oat, soy, almond or coconut, are one area of interest, with sales rising in many countries.

Greenhouse gas emissions used in the production of plant-based milks are lower than for dairy milk.

Which milk has the smallest impact on the planet?

🐮 Every cow has a different character and temperament. They can be shy, brave, jealous, friendly or swashbuckling.

🌱 Cows form complex social relationships and long-lasting friendships. They love spending time together. They feel especially well in the company of their sisters, daughters and mothers.
They tolerate badly separation from other family members.

🐄 Cows like to learn and they are able to deal with problems. They get excited when they solve tasks.
They understand cause and effect relationships. They can learn from each other.

🐮 Cows have highly developed spatial memory.

💚 They remember for a long time people who had caused them pain and suffering.

🌱 They can make decisions based on compassion and empathy.

💚 Cow mothers are excellent teachers for their children. Sometimes cow use help of their own mothers in raising calves. Cows are not indifferent to the fate of orphans - a motherless calves will be adopted by aunts.

🐄 Having fun is one of their favorite activities. They can play with a ball. They love to bask in the sun, be hugged and stroked.

🐮 Cows remember faces of other cows.

🌱 They have wide-angle, panoramic vision.
Their brains analyze qui ckly the subtle movements in the environment.
If cows notice the predator, they clump together searching safety or line up facing the danger, undertaking a fight.

"Food is responsible for approximately 26% of global GHG emissions.

There are four key elements to consider when trying to quantify food GHG emissions. These are shown by category in the visualization:

🔹 Livestock & fisheries account for 31% of food emissions.
Livestock – animals raised for meat, dairy, eggs and seafood production – contribute to emissions in several ways. Ruminant livestock – mainly cattle – for example, produce methane through their digestive processes (in a process known as ‘enteric fermentation’). Manure management, pasture management, and fuel consumption from fishing vessels also fall into this category. This 31% of emissions relates to on-farm ‘production’ emissions only: it does not include land use change or supply chain emissions from the production of crops for animal feed: these figures are included separately in the other categories.

🔹 Crop production accounts for 27% of food emissions.
21% of food’s emissions comes from crop production for direct human consumption, and 6% comes from the production of animal feed. They are the direct emissions which result from agricultural production – this includes elements such as the release of nitrous oxide from the application of fertilizers and manure; methane emissions from rice production; and carbon dioxide from agricultural machinery.

🔹 Land use accounts for 24% of food emissions.
Twice as many emissions result from land use for livestock (16%) as for crops for human consumption (8%).3Agricultural expansion results in the conversion of forests, grasslands and other carbon ‘sinks’ into cropland or pasture resulting in carbon dioxide emissions. ‘Land use’ here is the sum of land use change, savannah burning and organic soil cultivation (plowing and overturning of soils).

🔹 Supply chains account for 18% of food emissions.
Food processing (converting produce from the farm into final products), transport, packaging and retail all require energy and resource inputs. Many assume that eating local is key to a low-carbon diet, however, transport emissions are often a very small percentage of food’s total emissions – only 6% globally. Whilst supply chain emissions may seem high, at 18%, it’s essential for reducing emissions by preventing food waste. Food waste emissions are large: one-quarter of emissions (3.3 billion tonnes of CO2eq) from food production ends up as wastage either from supply chain losses or consumers. Durable packaging, refrigeration and food processing can all help to prevent food waste. For example, wastage of processed fruit and vegetables is ~14% lower than fresh, and 8% lower for seafood."

"Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions", Hannah Ritchie
November 06, 2019, Our World in Data

"Dairy foods have been linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), and a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on dairy foods intake and PD risk was conducted.
Eligible studies were identified in a literature search of EMBASE and PubMed up to April 2014. Seven results from prospective studies were included, including 1,083 PD cases among 304,193 subjects.
The combined risk of PD for highest vs. lowest level of dairy foods intake was 1.40 (1.20-1.63) overall, 1.66 (1.29-2.14) for men and 1.15 (0.85-1.56) for women.

For highest vs. lowest level, the PD risk was 1.45 (1.23-1.73) for milk, 1.26 (0.99-1.60) for cheese, 0.95 (0.76-1.20) for yogurt and 0.76 (0.51-1.13) for butter.

The linear dose-response relationship showed that PD risk increased by 17% [1.17 (1.06-1.30)] for every 200 g/day increment in milk intake (Pfor non-linearity = 0.22), and 13% [1.13 (0.91-1.40)] for every 10 g/day increment in cheese intake (Pfor non-linearity = 0.39).

The absolute risk differences were estimated to be 2-4 PD cases per 100,000 person-years for every 200 g/day increment in milk intake, and 1-3 PD cases per 100,000 person-years for every 10 g/day increment in cheese intake.

➡️ Dairy foods (milk, cheese) might be positively associated with increased risk of PD, especially for men."

Dairy foods intake and risk of Parkinson's disease: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
Jiang W, Ju C, Jiang H, Zhang D.
Eur J Epidemiol. 2014 Sep;29(9):613-619

🌱 Dr. Michael Greger's book 'How Not To Die' offers some great and simple suggestions for a healthy, balanced plant-based diet.
As part of this, he's also created the Daily Dozen, which is a list of essential plant foods that you should eat every day for optimum health and well-being.

🌱 The Daily Dozen is 12 items to consume / partake in daily. It is comprised of 10 food groups (beans, grains, berries, fruit etc.), a beverages category, and exercise as the final item. Consumption of all 12 items almost guarantees optimal intake of all essential macro- and micronutrients in sufficient quantities to maintain a healthy body and avoid common dietary and lifestyle diseases.

Alternatives to animal tests are often cheaper, quicker and more effective

🔹Types of alternatives

➡️ Cell cultures
Almost every type of human and animal cell can be grown in the laboratory. Scientists have even managed to coax cells to grow into 3D structures, such as miniature human organs, which can provide a more realistic way to test new therapies.

Human cells have been used to create innovative little devices called ‘organs-on-chips’. These can be used instead of animals to study biological and disease processes, as well as drug metabolism. Devices have already been produced that accurately mimic the lung, heart, kidney and gut. The ultimate goal is to use these chips to create a whole ‘human-on-a-chip’.

Cell cultures have been central to key developments in areas such as cancers, sepsis, kidney disease and AIDS, and are routinely used in chemical safety testing, vaccine production and drug development.

➡️ Human tissues
Both healthy and diseased tissues donated from human volunteers can provide a more relevant way of studying human biology and disease than animal testing.

Human tissue can be donated from surgery (e.g. biopsies, cosmetic surgery and transplants). For example, skin and eye models made from reconstituted human skin and other tissues have been developed and are used to replace the cruel rabbit irritation tests. Companies such as Episkin, Mattek and CellSystems GmbH now produce these tests in easy to use kits for companies to use to test their cosmetics and other substances.

Human tissue can also be used after a person has died (e.g. post-mortems). Post-mortem brain tissue has provided important leads to understanding brain regeneration and the effects of Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.


➡️ Computer models
With the growing sophistication of computers, the ability to ‘model’ or replicate aspects of the human body is ever more possible.

Computer models of the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, digestive and musculoskeletal systems already exist. They can be used to conduct virtual experiments based on existing information and mathematical data.

➡️ Volunteer studies
Rapid advances in technology have allowed for the development of sophisticated scanning machines and recording techniques that can be used to safely study human volunteers.

Brain imaging machines that can ‘see’ inside the brain can be used to monitor the progression and treatment of brain disease. They can help researchers understand the causes by comparing with healthy volunteers.

An innovative technique called microdosing can also be used in volunteers to measure how very small doses of potential new drugs behave in the human body. These microdoses are radio-labelled, injected into human volunteers and measured (usually in blood samples) using a very sensitive measuring device called an accelerator mass spectrometer.

Less high-tech studies for nutrition, drug addiction and pain can also be carried out on consenting humans in the interest of advancing medical science. These studies can help replace animal tests.

🔹Human medical breakthroughs

- We are told that insulin therapy would not have been discovered unless animal researchers had removed the pancreas from dogs in the 1920s. But like other areas of medical research, the important clues actually came much earlier from observations of human patients.
- Brain surgery in Parkinson’s patients identified the best place for Deep Brain Stimulation electrodes to be placed in the brain to improve symptoms, decades before a claimed ‘discovery’ in monkeys.
- Alois Alzheimer first described the main features of Alzheimer’s disease in 1906 by studying brain segments from patients after they had died.
- Human population studies led to the discovery that smoking causes cancer. Smoking does not cause cancer in mice and rats.
- An Australian doctor used himself in an experiment to discover the main cause of stomach ulcers. He drank a culture of bacteria and became sick before curing his symptoms with antibiotics.
- A German chemist tested the effects of aspirin on himself after an accidental discovery that it helped relieve pain in a patient with toothache.
- The anaesthetic effect of laughing gas was discovered when someone accidentally cut their leg while under the influence of the gas. An American dentist then confirmed the effects on himself while having a tooth removed.

🔹Alternatives are better

- Crude skin allergy tests in guinea pigs only predict human reactions 72% of the time. But a combination of chemistry and cell-based alternative methods has been shown to accurately predict human reactions90% of the time.
- The notorious Draize skin irritation test in rabbits can only predict human skin reactions 60% of the time. But using reconstituted human skin is up to 86% accurate.
- The standard test on pregnant rats to find out if chemicals or drugs may harm the developing baby can only detect 60% of dangerous substances. But a cell-based alternative (EST) has 100% accuracy at detecting very toxic chemicals.
- The cruel and unreliable shellfish toxin testing on live mice has now been fully replaced with a far superior analytical chemistry method that is better at protecting humans.

https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/alternatives-animal-testing

24/04 World Day for Laboratory Animals

"Instituted in 1979 World Day for Laboratory Animals, and the associated Lab Animal Week (20-26 April 2020), has been a catalyst for the movement to end the suffering of animals in laboratories around the world and their replacement with advanced scientific non-animal techniques. The suffering of millions of animals all over the world is commemorated on every continent.

Although advanced methods are steadily replacing animal research, outdated laws require animal tests before a product can be put on the market. Every year millions of animals suffer and die in experiments that can never be trusted.

As a method of predicting likely effects in humans, animal research is flawed in three key areas:

🔹‘Species differences’. Each species responds differently to substances, therefore animal tests are an unreliable way to predict effects in humans.

🔹Human diseases in laboratory animals are not naturally occurring so need to be artificially created; they are different from the human condition they are attempting to mimic. This also affects results.
🔹Studies have shown that living in a laboratory environment can affect the outcome of an experiment, with test results differing due to the animal’s age, s*x, diet and even their bedding material. So results vary from laboratory to laboratory.

Government and agency regulators who are responsible for allowing products on the market, are used to these standard animal tests and the estimates and ‘safety’ evaluations drawn from them. They are also aware of the potential for species differences, which may result in injury to people. Thus, a series of animal tests is followed by human trials and this is where the problem of species differences can produce unexpected adverse reactions in people."

World Day For Laboratory Animals World Day for Laboratory Animals 24 April Instituted in 1979 World Day for Laboratory Animals, and the associated Lab Animal Week (20-26 April 2020), has been a catalyst for the movement to end the suffering of animals in laboratories around the world and their replacement with advanced scientific n...

👉 The EPIC–Oxford cohort includes 31 546 non meat-eaters and is one of the largest studies of vegetarians in the world.

👉 The mean intake of saturated fatty acids in vegans was approximately 5% of energy, less than half the mean intake among meat-eaters (10–11%).

👉 Vegans had the highest intakes of fibre, vitamin B1, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium and iron, and the lowest intakes of retinol, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium and zinc.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12740075/

"An ordinary pig farm, doing completely ordinary business, based on utter disregard of the lives of sentient beings.
I guess you don't see these photos on the bacon or pork products, probably because it would make you sick to your stomach and make you not buy it.
It is not nice to watch, I totally get that. But if it's not good enough for your eyes, how come is it good enough to feed your children?
Sweden, April 2020.
Peace!"

"Animals are scared, crying and panicking in front of me.
Animals are living in misery with wounds and scars on their bodies where I meet them.
I see how the animals have lost their hope when my eyes meet theirs.
Animals are being hurt, tortured and killed in front of me.
I meet the animals when they are dying, fighting for another breath that can keep them alive.
Every time I close my eyes I still see them."

Martina Vedin - Documenting Animal Reality

How can antibiotic use in livestock production affect human health❓

"Antibiotics are often over-used or misused in the livestock sector. However, a key distinction when it comes to livestock production, is that antibiotics are deliberately given to healthy animals, and so are used for non-medical purposes.

➡️ Prevention of disease spreading (metaphylactic use)
Where one animal in a herd / flock is found to have a bacterial infection, antibiotics are commonly administered to all animals to stop its spread. This is known as metaphylactic use of antibiotics. High doses are given for relatively short periods in order to completely kill off bacterial pathogens in the entire herd / flock.

➡️ Growth promotion
A widespread practice in intensive livestock production is to provide healthy animals with constant low doses of antibiotics as a means to raise the conversion efficiency of animal feed into animal growth, and so increase overall profitability.

➡️ Preventative use (prophylactic use)
Continuous provision of antibiotics to healthy animals at doses below those used to treat disease is another common practice in intensive livestock production, that is used to prevent infection. As with growth promoters, they are delivered continuously via the animals’ feed and water.

➡️ Trade-offs: production intensity, antibiotic use, and producer costs.

A key cost for livestock producers is managing disease. This is particularly problematic for more intensive production methods (including aquaculture), which tend to increase animals' susceptibility to infection.

To reduce productivity losses from bacterial infections there are three major options:

1. Use antibiotics to prevent infections (growth promotion / prophylactic use);
2. Prevent infections through better hygiene, biosecurity, and animal welfare;
3. Use antibiotics to treat infections that arise (treatment / metaphylactic).

Non-therapeutic (i.e. growth promotion) and sub-therapeutic (i.e. preventative) uses of antibiotics are not always necessary, even for more intensive models of production. This is demonstrated by the example of some European Union countries where their use for growth promotion has been phased out for over a decade, and where antibiotic use is less than half the global average per kg of animal.

What is the extent of antibiotic use in livestock production❓

Comprehensive data on the use of antibiotics in livestock are very limited. Even in high-income countries, monitoring of antibiotic use in agriculture has been weak – often consisting of only national level sales data for antibiotics and not differentiated by species or production system.

Nevertheless, the use of antibiotics in livestock production is known to be common worldwide – especially in regions where intensive livestock production is more prevalent.


🔹 Reservoirs of resistance

Once resistance has emerged, livestock farms become reservoirs of antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes, which can potentially spread to the wider environment and to humans.

The pathways by which this may occur can be divided into three major routes:

1. Direct contact with animals and their waste, colonised by antibiotic resistant bacteria;
2. Foodborne contact via handling and consumption of infected animal products;
3. Environmental contact with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

What can be concluded about the health risks from antibiotic use in the livestock sector❓

➡️ Antibiotics are widely used in the livestock sector with a corresponding rise in antibiotic resistance found in livestock populations. The available evidence is also compelling for the transmission of antibiotic resistance from livestock to humans taking place via foodborne and occupational exposure to resistant bacteria.

➡️ Antibiotic resistant bacteria transmitted to humans from livestock are not necessarily specialist human pathogens, and the transfer of resistance genes to human pathogens, while possible, isn’t entirely straightforward. Evidence for sustained onward transmission between humans of pathogenic bacteria that have acquired their resistance from bacteria previously infecting livestock is limited.

➡️ Very little data exists with which to estimate the overall proportion of antibiotic resistant infections in humans that are attributable to livestock, and to some extent it may be unknowable. This lack of understanding means that it is not currently feasible to accurately quantify the benefits to human health from reduced use of antibiotics in animals.

➡️ This is problematic in terms of managing risks to human health and weighing up appropriate responses. In particular, because reducing antibiotic use in agriculture has proved difficult to date, and will inevitably have repercussions for animal health, welfare, and productivity, in the absence of major changes to the organisation of livestock production systems. Such changes would, in turn, have significant implications for farmers, food prices and ultimately consumers.

➡️ As a point of comparison, human use and misuse of antibiotics – although lower overall in terms of total volume – is thought to pose an overall greater risk to human health, by driving the emergence of resistance in bacteria already well ada pted to human hosts, and in contexts where they can more easily be spread between humans.

Figure: Uses of antibiotics in livestock. Redrawn from O'Neil. 2016.

https://foodsource.org.uk/114-how-does-livestock-production-affect-risks-antibiotic-resistance

Fiona Oakes is amazing vegan marathon runner.
She stopped eating meat at age 6 and became vegan as a teenager.
Her personal best for marathon is 2:38:00, and some career highlights include:

🔹5th place in the Florence Marathon
🔹8th place in Amsterdam Marathon
🔹1st place in 2007 Halstead Marathon, in which she broke the Ess*x County Champion Course Record (which had stood for 9 years) by 11 minutes. Press coverage was excellent, including pictures of Fiona receiving the award in her Vegan Runners vest.
🔹In June 2010 Fiona won the Rovaniemi (Finland) marathon, and in doing so set a Guinness world women’s record for the fastest marathon ever inside the arctic circle.
🔹Fiona won the 2011 Great North Run half marathon (Masses Race).
🔹Winning the Levi International Marathon (Finland) in a course record of 2.58.
🔹September 2011 – beating the old course record by 22 minutes. This was while wearing a backpack for training reasons.
🔹In 2011 Fiona entered the tough Dartmoor Marathon in training for a future event. She carried weight as part of her training, but still won the event by over 14 minutes.
🔹Fiona has completed the 2012 Marathon des Sables, a 156 mile event across the sand dunes and rough terrain of the Sahara Desert. She faced extreme temperatures of 51 Centigrade and suffered a broken foot days before the race began. Early on another entrant collapsed so Fiona dragged her to safety.
🔹In 2013 she took on the North Pole Marathon, in temperatures of -28 Centigrade. She completed the event, won the women’s race, came third to two male competitors and broke the women’s course record by an amazing 45 minutes.
🔹Later that year she became the fastest woman ever to complete a marathon on all continents plus the North Pole. She also set the Guinness world record for the shortest aggregate time for those runs.
🔹As part of that marathon series she set the course record for the Antarctic Ice Marathon.
🔹In July 2014 she ran the Rio Marathon and in doing so broke two of her own Guinness world records.
🔹In October and November 2014 she ran seven marathons in seven consecutive days, finishing with an emphatic win.
🔹In February 2015 she took on the challenge of running a marathon a day for seven days – each on a different continent.
🔹In 2014 Fiona was a finalist in Vegan Athlete of the Year 2014.

Fiona’s commitment to veganism is part of her moral commitment to animals.

🐷 “Turning vegan was a natural progression from vegetarianism and I did it as soon as I was able to make a conscious decision.”

🌱 “I honestly believe that the most benefit to me being vegan is that I do not carry the burden of guilt that I would have to endure knowing that I abused others for my own ‘benefit’. “

🐽 “I like to encourage people to think about veganism in a positive way. I try to break down stereotypes and myths attached to veganism by my actions. I am one of only 800 female fire-fighters in the UK – a job which people don’t expect to see a female doing, let alone a vegan one. I run endurance events, a thing which people don’t think you can do if you are a ‘weak vegan’.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=kAfBoynK1j4&feature=emb_logo

https://www.greatveganathletes.com/fiona-oakes-vegan-marathon-runner/

FIONA OAKES - FOR THE ANIMALS Fiona Oakes - For the animals gives an insight into the inspirational story of Fiona Oakes: the fastest woman to run a marathon on every continent plus the N...