I never imagined this would happen.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
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TODAY'S VIDEO:
Today marks ten years to the day that I came across something that changed my life forever and became a major catalyst for who I am today. So, in today’s video, I wanted to talk about what happened, how it changed my life and what it actually taught me that became so important.
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What moment stands out to you when you reflect on how you became vegan?
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when i realised that 'vegan' is the food dogma of new age spiritualism as described in 'the celestine prophecy' i just had to re-read the book. i was enjoying it until i got to the last couple of chapters where its revealed to be nature worship, promotes dep*p of humanity to under 500 million and the main guy reaches enlightenment and becomes an ethereal being of light (lucifer)
find god, dont believe in this pseudo religion of human hatred
there have been two moments in my life:
1. when i was a child, i found out that "morcilla" (blood sausage) was made from a pig's blood. At the moment i found it disgusting, but everybody seemed to not care. It was so established that people found it completely normal.
2. Watching your Ted talk debunking anti-vegan arguments last December. It caused me to think a lot about my decisions and, ultimately, led me to become vegan. Thank you, Ed!!
for me it was someone saying vegetarians are hypocrites (which i was at the time) and that kinda annoyed me so i started doing research into why someone would think or say that
and then i found all the disgusting animal abuse in the industry also veganism helped a lot of with my health
but yeah thats kinda how it happened for me i watched docus like "what the health" and speeches from you gary yourofsky, and a lot of content from joey carbstrong
all that made me go vegan on the spot and never looked back even once
👋
*2024.................Year of the Vegan Activist!* 🏆
My vegan naturopath told me that cows have to be lactating to produce milk and were forcibly impregnated. I had naively thought that they just produced milk all the time, never made the link. The penny dropped - I went from vegetarian to vegan overnight. Has been 13 years now and I am 66 years old
The first ever documented positive experience at a naturopath, well done!
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
I thought the same about the continual producing milk until I learnt the ugliest truth about constant impregnating. I thought a nice lifestyle until I realise how disgusting and filthy environment and how much the dairy industry has fed lies and brain washed people and hidden so many truths
So many many experiences as a child being fed animals rabbit heart liver kidneys brain I understand what it was.
As soon as my parents weren't able to stop me I became veggie.
The vegan transition was much later 30 plus years when I realised who we get cows milk that hens eggs are their embryos! So that was it for me. Then I gave it a go and it was sooooo ludicrously easy!
Wish I'd done it sooner decade's sooner
Do you mind sharing your vegan naturopath!? I’d love to find a vegan one to work with!
I became vegetarian and subsequently vegan after I entered university to study animal sciences with the hope of becoming a vet. I discovered that Animal Sciences is more about production than it is about medicine. I had to go to all the farms, slaughterhouses, see all the horrible things that happened within the meat and dairy industry. I never looked back. Best decision Ive ever made.
It's the same with veterinary nursing. I had to do all those awful things to animals. I blocked it out of my mind for years.
You probably thought medicine was about health too.
Bro, if I zoom in on your face, it looks like you were punched in both eyes, and your skin is a sickly color. You visibly do not look healthy at all
So animal sciences is about the science backed ways to exploit animals to the maximum, not ways of animal welfare.
@@lauratanlnanimals don’t need our welfare. Animals need us to stop destroying the ecosystems they live in through agriculture.
11 years ago I went vegan and all I regret is that I didn't do it sooner.
I had to get 33 years old to recognize that a cow doesn't "give us milk" - she hast to be a mother as all mammals do.
After that embarassing moment of "What the hell was I thinking? I am a grown up and a mother myself?!" I made the connection and did the only right thing: #GoVegan folks.
Just do it!
🌱💚🌱
Vegan for 9 years here and yes it’s crazy how many people are simply disconnected and believe in weird fairy tales.
I had the same realisation when my vegan naturopath told me that cows have to be lactating to produce milk and were forcibly impregnated. I had naively thought that hey just produced milk all the time, never made the link. The penny dropped - I went from vegetarian to vegan overnight
Me too
Vegan for 13 years now and there is no going back at this point.
Agree. One of the most disturbing things I've seen since going vegan is videos of farms that have tours, where mothers with their children watch cows being pumped by machines and act as if this is cute and normal. I find it sickening especially when mothers are not vegan.
A significant moment for me happened when I was around 4 years old. I had caught this bumblebee in a cup. I thought it was really exciting and shook the cup for a while. Suddenly, the bumblebee didn´t move anymore. My father told me bluntly that I had killed it. I can remember it as something falling into place. I understood that the poor bumblebee had a life and its own individual experience and that I had taken its life away from it, which really upset me. We buried it in a flower pot, and I think this was the starting point for my empathy towards other animals and, eventually, going vegan.
It never fails to shock me as to how cruel and needlessly violent humans can be. And at the same time we want to live in a peaceful world. At some point, we need to confront this conflicting attitude, otherwise nothing changes for the better. Enjoy your 10 year Veganiversary Ed - (mine is coming up soon) ☺
My moment came after seeing vegan activists expose the horrors of the dairy industry (I had been vegetarian most of my life). 💚🌱
"Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission -- to be of service to them whenever they require it." -- St. Francis of Assisi
1981/2 went vegetarian after seeing the Animal film about slaughter houses, it was like a snuff movie. Once seen never forgotten. I was horrified as I have always loved animals. About 8 years ago social media drove me to admit eggs and dairy was just as bad so I became vegan. Thank you for all you do for the cause.
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
@@VeganSemihCyprus33dis, dat, andy udder ting?
@OM617a no medical issue here...happy healthy satisfied meat eater! Always will be
@@Trolloftruth This is a lie, or you wouldn't have to troll vegans. You do this because you are insecure.
@@tamcon72 I do this because I love trolling vegans...bout it
"Out of the blue" my medical lab results revealed that I was one point from being pre-diabetic. I looked for the best diet. Thankfully, I found whole food plant based direction. THEN I saw what happens to animals that are raised for "food." I was traumatized. Empathy, guilt, and incredible sorrow overtook me. THEN I started listening to what we are doing to our environment in order to raise / kill animals for "food." The most difficult thing for me has been that I learned, and consequently changed... but no one around me is even remotely interested in changing.
Thanks for your great content, always. I have been following your on yt since the very beginning, and I was a fan since day 1. At age 3 I found out certain 'foods' were dead animals, and from that day I never ever had meat in my mouth again, the idea is the same as for other people it would be to eat human flesh. I should also mention that I had a baby pig as a pet, that I fed with the bottle, but even if that had not happened, I would never have eaten dead animals if I would have known. The animal that was mentioned was a cow, apparently there was something on the table made of cow. I was in shock, and asked what other foods were made of dead animals, and I told my parents I would NEVER eat those foods again, and I didn't. For me the best example to describe why I can never eat an animal is this: yesterday I heard a story about a restaurant owner who decided to serve meat at her previously vegan restaurant. She mentions that a group of sheep were killed by wolves. The wolves did not eat the sheep. Her husband than divided all the dead sheep between the people who lived in the neighbourhood. And she said that at that moment she thought: "that is a good idea, why waste all those calories." And to me, this is THE SAME as if an accident would have happened where healthy people died, and we would say "let's eat them, and not waste all those calories." Mammals, fish, birds and octopus and certain other sea animals are highly sentient beings, with highly developed nervous systems, and a sense of self. I was born in 1979 and I had never thought that the world would change so much for the good, and veganism would become more and more wellknown. Thanks for all the amazing work you do for the animals, Ed!!!!!
Veganism for me is understanding we have a moral obbligation towards the animals. They are unprotected by the law and by the indifference of the large majority of people. The moral imperative makes us what we are. I went vegan because inspired by other beings I consider morally superior to the average human...♥️👍💚
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
No
VeganSemihCyprus33 dis, dat, andy udder ting?
@@Trolloftruth What language is that? English from Cyprus? A friend of mine is from Cyprus(Elena) but nothing like that...
@josiecirigliano9134 I don't really know what gibberish that idiot speaks...sure isn't anything I ever heard before
The day I stopped paying for animal cruelty I was 49 two years ago was the day I looked down at my English Bulldog who somewhat resembles a cute little pig. And I was cutting up chicken at her same time. I instantly felt sick to my stomach. That was the day I stopped eating meat. I was terrified. I was like am I going to die not eating meat? Because I knew I couldnt go back. And I was a minority plus my husband of 30 years still ate meat. my husband still eats chicken but we both have been off dairy before I went vegan. I watched Gary Yourofsky speech and your speech you will never look at life the same way. I honestly have never craved meat after that day. It makes me gag. I cant watch the shows that show the farming because it would be to traumatic. I have seen little clips and wow it’s herendous. I will never go back no matter what. Thank you for everything you do. I cried the first month at every meal I ate knowing there was no animal that had to die for it. All I can tell anyone is stay strong. I never realized what it was like to be a minority and carnivores will come at you, laugh, make jokes. Educate yourself. Read Eds book! Research.
punctuation wld help
One of my moments was a Passover dinner. We were having lamb shanks and mine still had its knee joint attached and i was about 11 and I found it fascinating i kept on moving the knee joint back and forth and back and forth and my family around me was getting very shifty and uncomfortable and i couldn't figure out why i later sorta thought that maybe they were uncomfortable because they didnt realise/were forced to recognise that the lambs we were eating were actually living breathing beings it didn't make me make the change right away but years later when i met a vegan and was discussing veganism etc. this memory played a big role in my reflections etc. before making the switch
Happy 10 year veganniversary Ed. Thanks for being such an inspiring and intelligent voice. After going vegan late 2017, your videos really resonated with me and how I think when it comes to interacting with meat eaters then and now. Keep up the wonderful work.
I'd say the Cowspiracy documentary really sparked my interest in veganism. Then I had a school project where we had to make a drastic change to our life for a couple weeks. I chose a juice cleanse/liquid diet (was big into bodybuilding at the time) so the lack of solid food meant I had to smoothie almost everything this made me realize all my meals were pretty much vegan and it was already not too bad even without solid food. I didn't really lose much of my weight and fitness so I stuck with it. Afterwards, I found the wonderous variety of vegan food/restaurants out there. So it was already well worth it for me in terms of health and taste.
Later, I was made aware of the ethics and everything, and I went truly vegan for the animals after hearing the logical moral arguments form the many activists such as yourself Gary/Joey Carbstrong/James Aspey etc...
This was when my daughters and I went vegan. I don't remember this event but it was also ten years ago in the spring when I learned that we didn't need animal products to survive.
Thank you Ed for being a voice for the animals . You inspire me daily as a fellow vegan.❤
I can't be sure about this, but I have a feeling that the purpose of that news article about the accident with the chickens, was to show that there was a lot of "wasted food", not to make people empathise with all those poor chickens. If that is so, you empathised with the chickens accidentally which is great because now you are sharing that spark of your very own with so many people around the world that come across your videos. I love the way you explain and spread the important ideas about veganism. I'm mostly vegan since I met you a couple of years ago, but I also became vegetarian 10 years ago.
Latin america, needs someone like you but in spanish, things are tough around here.
Look up The Cambridge Declaration On Consciousness. It was a very important event for the recognition of self-awareness in animals. It didn't lead to any changes in the paradigm, but it might if it were required reading in schools and colleges.
."..it is indisputable that all vertebrates, including fish and reptiles do possess the neurological substrates of consciousness, and that there is further very strong evidence to support that invertebrates, including but not limited to decapod crustaceans, cephalopod molluscs, and insects, also do..."
I think my first thought of vegetarianism was feeling sorry for a live crab on a fish mongers stall. On holiday I made my mum take a crab back to the beach and we returned them to the sea. Then when we visited a farm I looked a pigs. On that same trip we went to the burger stall and I just couldn’t eat a hot dog or any meat. Fast forward 20 years my daughter’s friend is vegan and asked my daughter to consider being vegan. We watched some sad slaughter house videos. I remember a cow crying, the terror in a sheep trying to escape a knife that really made me change. Looking into the eyes of pigs as well in those videos. I then started watching Joey Carbstrong and you and other animal rights activists and vegans. I knew I wanted to be a vegan. Fish was the last meat I ate and a video you done on fish feeling pain etc made me give up fish. But I was still eating eggs and dairy. But I knew the horrors of dairy and eggs. Then Joey Carbstrong made a man watch slaughter house videos in a supermarket car park. The man was horrified. Joey bought his vegan food shop. They went to the man’s home and cooked some mockmeats. The man liked the vegan bacon and said he would go vegan. I said, “that’s it I’m going vegan.” So that’s the long story of my journey of becoming an ethical vegan. Thank you. I suffer with schizophrenia and since going vegan my illness has gone into remission.
Thank you Ed for sharing this. Your videos are always so thoughtful and help to remind me of why veganism is so important to me. My ‘oh my god’ moment was after being a pescarian to vegetarian for over 20 years. I was told by a vegan colleague at work about the dairy industry. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realised the suffering cows went through when there calves are taken away. I’m not a mother but this just broke my heart. How could I not know? I remind myself of this when I hear people saying they love animals but still eat meat. I’m very lucky, my partner when vegan at the same time as me and my vegan colleague is now one of my best friends.
Thanks!
1 person makes a difference. 4 years ago I became vegan largely from watching Ed's outreach.
And then I became an activist with a youtube channel who turned other people vegan and encouraged other vegans to become activists.
The ripple effects extend far and wide, don't let anyone tell you one person doesn't make a difference. 🌱
I’m so impressed with your activism (what I’m able to see of it) and the videos you’ve created have been excellent 🤘🏻 I can tell how much you are invested in being a voice (educated, at that) in this movement for animal liberation. If anybody reading this hasn’t followed @DebugYourBrain yet, I suggest it 100%
I’m stunned it’s only been 4 years for you given the wealth of superbly researched, in depth and well produced content you’ve created. Over the past few years you’ve produced some ever so needed content. Much respect to you for dedicating the time and effort in doing so. 🌱☮️🌍💚
Love your work! ❤
You're a legend
Justin produces some of the most intelligent content out there, and I'm not just talking about vegan content. I absolutely love his work.
It is indeed very interesting how we all connect the dots. I shared my story on my channel in case anyone is interested. 9 years Vegan for the animals! 🌱
The seeds were planted when I was 12 and watching a documentary on Netflix called "you are what you eat: a twin experiment". That, coupled with a few Alex O'Connor speeches, made me go vegan.
An interview you did with Nimai Delgado is what finally made me decide to be vegan. I already had “seeds planted” by other things, but was still conflicted on going in 100%. After that, I kept consuming yours and others’ videos and books to feel even more sure in this decision.
When I was a little kid I went to Romania to visit my family. In the country side I visited my grandfather one weekend on his farm. I would always go feed the pigs watermelon and loved visiting the pig he became my friend. In Romania, on Christmas its tradition to slaughter a pig. I was out in the street playing with the kids and I suddenly hear the pig SCREAMING bloody murder and I remember dropping to my knees screaming crying at the top of my lungs because I was so mad my grandfather actually went through with killing that poor pig. I was SO MAD at him the rest of my trip there. I just started your book yesterday and love it!
Well spoken Ed fair play, very sad indeed.🌱🐔💚
My "a-h" moment occurred 45 years ago when a little calf I met licked my face. I realized they were no different than a dog, immediately stopped eating meat and then transitioned to veganism. The other thing that it made me realize is that facts and graphic footage often don't initiate change because, as we all know, humans are very adept at doing the mental gymnastics required to "justify" they're behavior. But there is no denying the truth when it touches your heart.
Love your work Ed. I think it's just great. Vegan since 5 years, heard your chicken tale before but its permanently relevant. 34 years ago I stopped eating animals, after hearing pigs screaming outside an abbotoir but it took me up until 5 years to consider all animal products as an act of harm, I'm going good, thankyou! I'm one of those people who isn't political or confrontational, I keep my beleifs to myself, but am unwaivering in my support of people like you and Paul Watson.
I love that you're equipping me with vocabulary and the mindset to speak on these things which I can feel much clearer than I can express in words.
I went vegetarian in 2014 at 21 (and then vegan later on) after watching a video on my facebook feed. The video showed chicks being ground alive. I never realised that we as a society were doing this to animals. It felt so wrong. And then I started getting more familiar with the whole system, and I could never turn back.
The 1st conscious encounter with vegan morals was when I was doing a school presentation about eggs. I dug deeper than my biology teacher thought anyone would. I accidentally came across a video of baby chicks being debeaked and then held in these tiny cages where they never saw the light of the sun UNTIL THEY DIE. I think I was 15 at that time and never heared the term "vegetarian", let alone "vegan". But I looked through the comments, hoping people would say "this is fake, nobody does this" but... there were none of those. Only people with a heart saying "poor chicks" and trolls saying "such a delicious sight!".
All my psyche started building walls to cope with the horror I've witnessed. And ever since that day my memory was occasionally replaying what I saw then when I ate eggs or chicken. Not all the time, but enough to keep it in my memory
My husband and I where cycling in Yorkshire. As we approached a farm, sheep grazing on each side of the road, one sheep walked up to us displaying attitude. It was almost as if he wanted something from us before he would let us cycle past. Luckily, we had some Everton mints and shared a couple with him, as we rode off, we both said "I don't want him on my plate tonight" and became vegan.😍
Thank you Ed, we appreciate your videos.😍
For me it was a long journey of making excuses to justify my actions. I’ve always loved animals, but I started thinking about animal suffering in the industry only when I saw cowspiracy… I became vegetarian after that, but at that time I thought that those things happened only in big industries… 3 years later I went to an animal sanctuary and there I witnessed the impact of humans in animal lives. I was heartbroken and I decided to not support anything that could take their lives and/or freedom.
I am an USamerican. Therefore my defining moment was not animal rights but my health. I am ashamed of that, because I see the issue as a triangle: health, animal rights, and climate change. I really liked where you changed the word for that animal flesh in your fridge from "chicken" to "chickens." the first brings up a mental image of what I might buy in the grocery or the cooked results while the second brings up an image of the bird itself. That's very clever.
Re: the triangle: While I have always had a toe into vegetarianism w/o full commitment, it took a comment from my cardiologist. He told me not to use calcium supplements. Then when I developed osteoporosis, I asked him what I could do to get calcium since one could only drink so much milk. His only response was that broccoli is an excellent source. That led me into a LOT of research (my own nutritional understanding was way out of date) which led me to a greater understanding. I am now fully committed to WPBV.
My major catalyst was your video on why vegans don't eat honey. I had never before asked myself why I ate meat or animal products and if there was anything wrong with that or why vegetarians/vegans even existed.
That video made me think and ask myself so many questions which led me to become vegan overnight and I haven't looked back ever since. It's been a few years now and I feel more grounded and stronger in my values and decision to be vegan than ever before
I always had this strong mentality that non-human animals are not worth less but still I saw vegans rather negatively bc "death is a part of life" and I still believe that, so for me it was just the taking off the blindfolds and seeing the reality thanks to my friend who tried veganism
I completely agree with you Ed. We have a moral obligation as humans to create less suffering not more. Those who go back to eating meat, never were vegan and never had the capacity to fully grasp the why which is so sad. The selfishness, egocentrism, and apathy others have truly break my heart. My moment was when I learned about what dairy does to babies and mothers. My only regret was not being vegan sooner.
Went vegan by accident. I was sick and bored at home and felt challenged to watch earthlings by myself. Didn't do much immediately, my first reaction was just: so what now? Then it led me to questions I never had and went vegan pretty quickly then.
Thanks for your work Ed!
As a child, I would often ask my mum, what are we eating and what was on our plate, I was intrigued and often wondered why we ate animals. Then as I grew older and started to go to the gym and eat more and more animals as I thought I needed to eat them until I watched Gary Yourofskys speech, this changed everything although I couldn’t change straight away and justified eating meat as change seemed so hard. How wrong was I, it’s been the best, easiest and most satisfying thing going vegan. 6 years of aligning my true morals, ethics and behaviors 🙏🏼🌱
I remember an old local supermarket called William Low that would sometimes keep the fridge door open, and as you walked by you would see all the dead pigs hanging there. Always made me feel uneasy as a kid. Unfortunately took me over 30 years to make the connection. Back then as well you could buy sliced ham with smiley faces on the meat! Crazy to think back on that.
I vividly remember talking to a vegan acquaintance of mine less than 6 months before I went vegan. I told him, "I could never do that!" Watching Dominion was the nail in the coffin for me. I'm a logical person, and the logic behind veganism is on our side. After that I just started consuming all the info I could to answer all the how questions. Almost 5 years ago now.
I just wanna say: I‘m so proud of you, Ed!
Thinking about the younger, KFC-loving version of you- him being able to recognise that contradiction and, instead of pushing it away, starting to ask questions, challenging his habits and beliefs, really speaks to your intelligence and strength of character, which I admire so much. You give me hope for humanity.
Thanks for all that you do - and for being you! Love from Berlin
I went vegan on the spot after one of your videos came up in my suggestions on YT 7 years ago, almost to the day (in 3 days!) Didn’t know what veganism even was an option before that but didn’t take much to convince me, just the right sign. Thanks for changing my life 🤝🏼
@Earthling Ed your videos helped me connect the dots and commit to being vegan about 4 and a half years ago, and for that I thank you! I tried plant based about a year before that for the majority of a year, I thought I was vegan...
The first moment I can think of were I felt similar to what your describing, was over 12 years ago at the local grocery store where I worked behind the meat counter slicing up summer sausage, cheeses, sandwich meats such as turkey, ham, and salami. And rapping up all cuts of meat from minced cow corpses' and ribeye steaks to pork chops and minced pig flesh mixed with spices stuffed in there intestines, less than 50 meters from where the pigs and cows are still being slaughtered. This is where I saw a cow freshly cut open hanging upside down from one hoof being shocked to drain its blood faster to meet the days quota, which caused the large animals body to thrash about gushing blood everywhere.
This was an uncomfortable moment for me, but this was not the moment. I went back to work.
I grew up in a family most of my aunts uncles and cousins love the outdoors and all of my moms brothers and most of there sons hunt for deer, boar, turkeys and other birds. The majority of us grew up fishing as well. The family land is actually a wild life preserve, and at the same time sells deer leases and raises some cows for beef.
Anyway, one day while working behind the meet counter there was commotion about a snake out front of the grocery store scaring customers. I was not afraid of snakes being from this outdoorsy family. A friend of mine from behind the meat counter and I when out front to "take care of it" I proceeded to smash this snakes head and kill it. As I'm taking this snakes corps to the dumpster (feeling like the hero of the day) one of my uncles drives up asking me what the hell I'm doing as tears run down his face. I let him know, and he told me I should have relocated the snake. I knew instantly that he was right in that moment and I started to cry. I felt ashamed, my uncle called it a waste of life (in so many words).
And it took me many years to decode the speciesist message lingering beneath all my emotions
I want to ask my uncle if he remembers that day, and tell him. He the hunter planted the first vegan seed in my mind.
This is a great point you make, Ed.
When I first became vegan it was because I watched A LOT of Alex O'connor's content. Back then veganism was a very brainy thing where you have to apply logic. I were never really empathically invested in my decision to become vegan. Veganism for me then became much more of a practical question than an ethical one.
8 months back I joined this masters programme in sports. This particular module was centered around psychology of movement with themes like phemenology, pedagogical tact, bodily communication and so much more.
Like imagine how competent an infant is at communicating when it's hungry, playful, in need or a hug or w/e etc.
Later, around early december last year, I watched your documentary Land of hope and glory. There is this scene with a caged sow looking with the saddest eyes in recorded history. Something struck me and I paused the video and I just sat there in silence balling my fucking eyes out for 5 or minutes. I felt like I could "read" she was communicating this big fat "Why?". Like she had just completely given. Stuff of nightmares, brother.
My journey started out logical question, became practical question (still is tbf) and the point of no return turned into an emotional question.
There is no way, for me, out of veganism anymore.
You could genuinely turn this story into a short film...
I had been vegetarian for 15 years, then digress back to eating soul then I saw your video that my new girlfriend showed me and I could not refute that I had made a grave mistake. I’ve been a vegan ever thank you.
I think I had quite a few moments that challenged me throughout my life. I always considered myself an ‘animal lover’, and I have always been super fascinated by animals. But I also lived and breathed fishing! For 28 years, fishing was my #1 favourite hobby, but I only ever wanted to ‘catch and release’. If I went fishing with mates and they’d cut their throat out before chucking them in the esky, I didn’t like that feeling. I thought I was a saint for letting fish go… Fish that I would devote tonnes of money on boats, expensive tackle, and a lot of time to objectively harm, and possibly kill incidentally, for the thrill of the catch, a photo and throw back into the water to ‘fight another day’.
The power of culture (and the culture is strong down here in Aus!) kept me doing these things, stopping me from truly reflecting on what I’m actually doing - harming animals for sport.
The real penny drop was stumbling upon Gary’s speech, I don’t know how I came across it, but I never picked up a rod or ate an animal product from that day on, nearly 4 years ago.
It's a tough wrap for them (animals) when apart from the happy farm, children's books, the word just seems to adhere to the notion of non human, inhumane and somehow derogatory I guess.
I keep thinking back to a scene from that 2004 film, 'The Village', for some reason. The spooky creatures from the woods have taken Noah, and she refers to them as 'the animals'.
Perhaps a lot of us just need more opportunities to visit more pig and chicken sanctuaries across the nation, just to rekindle our sense of appreciation with otherwise typically dismissed mammals and feathered 'animals' to simply try and recognise the characters and individuals among them, and hang around long enough to pull on some empathy strings.
In 2011, I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives … that movie convinced me to eat a plant based diet …then I saw the movie Vegucated and realized there’s more to veganism than just what we eat …it’s also about what we wear such as leather, fur, and goose-down jackets … and through watching TH-camrs like Earthling Ed, Tash Peterson and Joey Carbstrong, I believe that animals deserve the right to live and be free from exploitation
I watched "Lucent", a documentary about pig farming, here on TH-cam, almost eight years ago. That did it for me. Vegan overnight.
A video of a downer calf in an auction site who was alone and was looking up helplessly, made me go vegan. I was vegetarian until then. After watching that video, I felt so ashamed of myself.
Going vegan: the best decision of my life 💫
Thank you. ❤️🙏🌱 great👌
You are an angel on this earth. Jesus have bring here to us to help those who cannot help themselve
i was in middle school (like 4th or 5th grade), and i was eating chicken nuggets. i was known as the animal lover in my school, especially birds (i gave names to the pigeons in the playground and could recognize them according to where they would most frequently stand, and with who they would spend time). so this friend of mine came to me while i was eating and said "i have something to tell you, i am so sorry. but nuggets are made by putting baby chickens alive in a blender."
i was absolutely shocked. not only i was literally eating dead birds, but there were killed like that?! i never even thought about the fact that they had to be killed in the first place! even if it's logical, i never made the connection with actual living animals.
so i asked my mom if i could stop eating meat (dairy and eggs didn't cross my mind), and so she brought me to the doctor who told me that it was ok as long as i was eating fish and dairy etc (same doctor who laughed at me for my mental health issues during high school, anyway, very unprofessional, i'm glad she's no longer my doctor. at least she was okay with me "not eating meat" anymore). a few years later (around 13yo) i found out because of videos on internet about the dairy and eggs industry, so i asked my mom to stop eating them too, and she said "no, wait till you're 18."
so i waited and i've now been vegan for a little more than 1 year!
this is something that i already said under the previous video, but my vegetarianism inspired my mom's best friend to go vegetarian too, and my veganism inspired my mom, brother and boyfriend to stop consuming dairy milk, and bf to also stop eating beef (it's been like 7 months already, i would say).
people say that going vegan is useless because you're only one person changing, but the amount of influence i had on people around me is way more than just me, even some of my mom's work colleagues tried oat milk because of her, they liked it and might as well positively impact people by just saying that it tastes good.
i also never hesitate or try to hide to say i'm vegan when people ask me why i'm eating something different when at parties or things like that. and if they want to know why i just explain to them, and i was shocked at the numer of people telling me they were surprised that normal people could be vegan, and that it was not a crazy thing to do.
my comment is getting long, lol anyway thank you for the videos as always. i changed because of realization in my childhood but i saw many people commenting about how YOU were their realization. again, thank you ed
💙🤍💚🤍💙
there's also a french rapper called res turner who is vegan, and his lyrics kind of motivated me to see going vegan as one of my biggest goals and dreams in my life.
i still can't realize i am able to live like that. i've spend years watching documentaries/posts about veganism, i'm so glad i am finally one! i can't wait to do more honestly
I don't have a moment that can be identified as the overnight switch. Unlike most people so far in the comments, it was a dietary change for me in the first place: in my university years I learnt how to make meals without meat as the basis, then I realised how I never liked many of the available meat products, before finding enjoyment in cooking just what my body felt like eating. And on a taste level I don't miss it at all.
I was aware of the abysmal conditions of intense animal agriculture, so there was a period when I occasionally bought the higher welfare options, with the caveat they were for emergencies, because I wanted to prioritise plant-based meals. I did eat yogurt, cheese and egg leftovers at my house. Honestly, until today I still struggle with seeing people leave food on their plate that will be thrown away, so I have stayed away from that temptation.
It was during the pandemic that I saw the chance to have complete control over my meals and even influence what we ate in my parents' house, so it was the time for that transition.
I was aware of some of the environmental impact but somehow was led to believe that palm-oil was worse because it threatened orangutans - now that's a classic example of speciesism. Then I started seeing the wider picture and I was shocked how much we were brainwashed and lied to.
Now it's been the last 3 years that I've surrounded myself with activists and vegans who have helped me develop the philosophical and ethical arguments. And I wish I had taken interest sooner, especially towards the animals I didn't see but consciously tricked that I was getting there someday, without having an actual plan.
I must be thankful to the community of people who do everything to bring this issue to the foreground in all aspects of society, because maybe without you I wouldn't have persevered; I would have felt too small and lonely to think my impact mattered.
Vegan since I saw earthlings. This January.
Been living with a vegan for 3 years. I’ve had a vegan diet (at home) but never really understood veganism until then. In one night I turned fully vegan and the choice has never been easier. Thank you for Charing this.
Wonderful, thankyou 🪷🌏🌿
The bullying, missing cheese or whatever, is nothing compared with being able to partake on the table you grew at no more. To not be able to share the same meal with you mother, with you siblings and loved one. This is the true sadness for me of veganism.
it is pretty sad ,_, but there’s always ways to veganize the meals you used to have together! :’) you can always try that. thats what i did and my mother now eats mostly plant based, i’m sure it isn’t hopeless. much love
@@soredon Thank you. I can pretty much veganize most dishes, I even have a vegan channel on TH-cam, and my family likes what I have had the opportunity of cooking for them. But, for several reasons, it is never the same thing, and I have accept that. It is okay. Not everything can be solved.
8 years vegan was vegetarian for 20 years before could not go back 🙏🏽
Ed, this is really what I believe myself: once you go vegan and your choice is ethical, you will never go back. You can't go back to lower values and morals. And this is both great for the animals you save and for you as a person. It feels good!
Oh my moment is I couldn’t even bend to pickup something and had the beginning of osteoporosis early and heart palpitations and others issues. All went away when I went vegan, actually I went raw vegan for almost 3 years. Got rid of 3 medications. Then in meditation I found the soul issues of who they are and their suffering. Rest is history! I even had a swift in consciousness in 2004, bringing a gift of awareness which u already have
That would be my first solid meal. The meat looked disgusting. Then, my parents said it was basically dead cow flesh. They, tried to explain matter of factly why I needed to eat meat to be smart and strong. When I tried to resist and said I never wanted to eat meat, I was threatened with a spanking and to be sent back to my room, so I had to stop crying my heart out and listen to them say how it'll taste good with a sauce. Fortunately they didn't force quantities but I had to knowingly eat my first bitefulls. Fortunately, there was salad with Italian dressing and the only reason I couldn't have 3 bowls was that my mother ran out. My mother praised my like for fresh veggies and said I'd grow up bright eyed and bushy tailed for eating lots of rabbit food. As an adult when I learned of factory farms I was almost vegetarian and felt very sorry that for all those years, I had unnecessarily caused such animal suffering. It may be that I remembered so well as lots increasingly reminded menif a childhood acquaintance. Since my only daughter who loved my vegan meals was abducted, had a case where some clues seemed related I started looking into it and found lots were still communicating about the acquaintanceship, and also how vegetarian and vegan families are more likely to have their children missing and system veils by highly zombified narcissists. I think the vegan community needs to think of clever ways to stay safe with proactive accountability
Veggie - Earthlings, 2016
Vegan - meeting Ed, 2022
I turned vegetarian at about 15 after images on the news of (healthy) animals being 'removed' to help stop the spread of foot an mouth disease or some similar disease. It was the last straw.
Unfortunately it took me about another 20 years to turn vegan.
What ended my vegetarianism were stories about (male) chick shredders
I regret every unneccesary day untill that moment.
11 years ago accidentally I have seen "The best speech you'll ever hear" by Gary Yourofsky. I went vegan overnight and I am still vegan today.
calling non-human animals "animals" distances humans from non-human animals in an unhelpful way.
I don't remember when I came to believe that factory farming was wrong, but I was pretty young and I had no issue accepting it because I didn't believe collective action was effective at the time. People will fight tooth and nail not to accept the obvious conclusion, but I accepted it easily because I didn't believe there was anything I could do.
Years later I came to believe collective action was effective for philosophical reasons. I was now in a situation where I already believed factory farming was wrong, and I was forced to accepted that collective action was worthwhile. I lived with the dissonance uncomfortably for a few years.
Then I met two vegetarians and the topic came to veganism. I then compared factory farming to the holocaust and then shrugged and said I didn't really care. I went vegan on the spot the second I had processed what I had just said.
I was vegetarian for a while. Then two things happened: I read Sharon Gannons Yoga and Vegetarianism which exposed the cruelty and reality of the dairy industry and about the same time I watched Earthlings. I made my husband watch it with me. And we both went vegan overnight. It’s been 14 years.
I wonder if that journalist was vegan. They deserve a lot of gratitude.
I stopped eating animals before I even knew what the animal ag practices were… my mom tells me that I asked her “is this chicken a chicken?” while she was feeding me in a high chair… I stopped eating animals once she told me yes, because I thought it was gross. I was too young to understand anything else.
I was vegetarian for about 18 years or so until I was around 21, when I watched Cowspiracy and went vegan from watching that. I knew there was something sinister about the dairy & egg industries, but I also knew that if I saw the evidence I would have to stop consuming all animal products. I think I put it off for ~1 year, and I regret not looking into the evidence sooner. I wanted to be ignorant. I was definitely one of those “cheese tho” vegetarians 🤢 embarrassing…lol.
20+ years from consuming animal flesh, and 6+ years vegan now, I will never go back.
Also… I was pushed to veganism from Cowspiracy when I saw the intersectional anti-oppression that veganism inherently promotes- animal agriculture is racist and classist. Environmental racism, funneling marginalized people into slaughterhouses for work… etc. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Milton Mills’ lectures on dairy & racism for anyone interested.
A world without carbs is a world not worth being in, Carbs FTW 💪💪💪
13:40 - 14:20
It took time, took few years, went vegetarian first and then vegan. Rolling Stone's article (Animal Cruelty Is the Price We Pay for Cheap Meat) from 2013, Dairy is Scary from Erin Janus, watching your videos and Joey Carbstrong's videos helped a lot to go full vegan and stay vegan.
Vegan: life without death ❤
I’d dabbled in veganism, but one day when I was out for lunch with a vegetarian friend, I’d ordered a meat sandwich and he ordered a veggie one. I said “non-meat sandwiches make me sad.” He said “Meat sandwiches make me sad.” And I realized which was much added. Vegan now and forever.
My aunt put me on a vegan diet when I was 12 for health reasons. Something happened when l was visiting her husband's relatives in a rural village next to a dairy farm. One night I couldn't sleep. I heard this horrible sound. It was like someone crying all night. I went out of my room and saw my uncle up drinking tea. I asked him who was crying? He told me it was definitely the cow that lost her calf. I asked if it was dead. He told me straight up that no it was taken away from her. It was the most sad and horrible sound I will never forget. Right then I realised being vegan was more than just a diet.
Just reading about this makes me feel very sorry for all the cows forced to pine for their babies. I would expect women to understand this feeling best but women can be just as mean.
Just out of university I spent a year working on a dairy farm in New Zealand. All the cows were clearly distressed when their calves were taken away, but one of the cows was allowed to keep her calf longer than normal. Her grief was like nothing I’ve seen before or since. Every day she would race ahead of the herd to the milking shed, the last place she saw her calf, and bellow and bellow until eventually she lost her voice and all she could raise was a hoarse croak. It was heartbreaking to watch. To my shame, it took another 30 years for me to adopt a vegan diet, but as Ed says, a seed had been planted.
fffffffffffk dairy farmers just watch this regularly.
Love some good veal
very sad to read your experience of the cows' experiences.
Some of these stories are so sad 😢
@@lauratanln
Lol
In 1985 I was driving and got stopped next to a cattle truck. One of the cows lowered its head and looked directly at me through one of the vents in the truck. In his eyes I saw such sorrow, and fear. I honestly felt he was begging me for help. I became a vegetarian and over the next 2 decades I finally quit eating seafood, eggs, & dairy.
I've seen those trucks and seen the cows looking out and they look so fearful, same for the sheep. It leaves me ruminating for quite some time
That made me cry 😢
I've totally been the "baCOn" or "mY fOoD eAtS YoUR FoOd" guy in the comments.
Got a kid and decided it was time to look into whether he also should get a Christian upbringing.
Alex O'Connor was amongst the many religious and non-religious channels I listened to to come to assist my decision making.
He dropped the "A meat eaters case for veganism" video and it just hit me.
Vegetarian within a month as I still thought eggs and dairy were needed for protein, vitamins etc.
A year later watched "Gamechangers" and dropped eggs and dairy on the spot.
Insane experiences and have not looked back since.
I was also watching Alex for his atheist content. It was "the worst of cognitive dissonance" that got me
I am also a fan of Alex and his USA "look alike", i can see where you're coming from
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
So great to hear. ❤
Great to read a story like this 😊 will check out that video
VEGAN GAINS turned me vegan. The year was 2015. I went on a mission to prove him wrong. I couldn't do it. He was right. I've been vegan for 9 years. I just needed someone to yell at me I guess. His approach worked. It is not for everyone though.
Nothing would ever convince me to give up what makes me happy
lol
You rock, dude! Good job being vegan so long.
I was physically/mentally abused by my "father" and "step-mother" and neglected/mentally abused by my "mother."
I had to deal with bullies at school and gang violence in the streets.
(My mom died when I was 17. I hope my dad lives a long miserable life.)
Life was not easy, then I joined the Marine Corps after high school and did two back to back combat tours. I watched my friend get shot in the head, got traumatic brain injuries(too many explosions), fucked my back up, and (more)PTSD.
As you could guess, my mental health was not good.
I'm glad to say that according to my therapist and many years of therapy, I've broken the chain of abuse, and I'm doing a great job as a parent. If not for my wife and kids, I'd be dead.
I've been vegan since 2018. I've seen, caused, and been through enough pain and suffering.
If my broken heathen ass can do it, you can too! Lol 🌱💪🏽🖖🏽
Amazing
Bless you!❤
You're a huge inspiration 💚 I also went vegan during a stay at a psych ward. Activism has given my life meaning ever since. You have the potential to inspire many people with your story! I wish you all the best ✨️
You deserve so much happiness, I wish you the best!
You are such an inspiration! Life has put you through so much. And I am sorry to hear that but you were brave enough not to give up yet keep fighting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! You made it!! And being vegan is just so appropriate, such a ‘peaceful’ choice… you feel at peace with yourself because you know you are not harming any other individual or sentient being. Well done! Sending you lots of hugs all the way from Italy! 💚🌱🤗
I decided go try a plantbased diet the day I watched The Game Changers just over 4 years ago. I decided to do so from a health perspective as the potentials seemed so clear cut.
That same night, I fell into yours and Joey Carbstrong's "rabbit holes" of TH-cam content, watching the ethcial arguments beind veganism all night. I remeber only sleeping a few hours that night because I couldn't let go of this new insight I got from you guys. I remeber Joey recommending Gary Yourofsky's The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear, and I wactched it the first thing in the morning. After that, I called my best friend offering him all my animalproducts which he picked up shortly after. From that point, I have lived a vegan lifestyle with everything that comes with it.
Thank you Ed, Joey Carbstrong, Gary Yourofsky, CosmicSkeptic (although not vegan anymore) for showing me the ethics and imperatives behind veganism, and Gaz Oakley for showing me how delicious plant based food is, something that was also crucial for me in the beginning 😋
One of my moments of truth:
For several years, my husband and I had been fostering kittens as a way to assist our local humane society. We fell in love over and over again with these babies. Caring for kittens was fun and entertaining, but also gave us a deep satisfaction in knowing we were helping to save these kittens from suffering and helping the cat community as a whole. One night, while relaxing on the couch, the way I perceived our current foster kittens completely shifted. I had been having some serious thoughts about animal agriculture, and probably been watching some Earthling Ed videos. But I hadn't yet made the connection with the animals in our own home. I suddenly thought of how it would be for our kittens to be cooped up in a box barely bigger than their bodies, never able to scamper about, release their kitty instincts, or even get comfortable. I thought about how their only feelings of sunlight and fresh air would be when they were driven to slaughter. I thought about them being hoisted by their kitty ankles and dangling in distress. I processed these terrible thoughts while literally looking at them frolic and play in our family room.
These thoughts were so disconcerting. Why was I working so hard to save the lives of *some* animals, yet willingly participating in the suffering/torture of others? My mind started to shift at that point. I became vegetarian for a few months, then vegan.
Thanks, Ed.
Thankyou for sharing, very moving ❤️❤️❤️
In high school, I used to walk to Burger Chef for lunch. My walk took me past a university ag school. One day, there was a cow at the fence. I looked into her big brown eyes, looked at my bag o' burger, and put 2 and 2 together. Vegetarian for 50 years. No regrets, no cravings, no temptations.
Vegan took longer. A Mercy for Animals video showed a worker in steel toed boots kicking a newborn calf... at a 5th generation family farm near me. Family farms are healthy and happy, right? Turns out there are sadistic monsters everywhere.
4 years ago I went vegan overnight thanks to you and Joey carbstrong! Love you Ed 💯🙏👍❤️❤️❤️
Respect for doing it overnight, almost everyone I know including myself and my partner needed a 6-12 month period as a vegetarian first!
@@BigBlueMan118 WOW well done for making the change! My husband went vegan one month later and we both love vegan food. We don't like avocados though lol. Good luck to you both on your kindly journey!👍😊🙏❤️
@@LisaCooper-thevegan-123 vegan for 3 years now, my partner 5 years!
@@BigBlueMan118 WOW well done both!👍😊🙏❤️
Me too, nearly five years ago. Dominion and a number of people sharing with me. 🌱
In ‘95, I saw a clip of a farm documentary of cows in tiny stalls. They could not turn around and their calves were no where on the grounds. I went in the kitchen and washed out my bowl of frozen yogurt. Went vegan right then and there.
Wow, just wow
I threw my Mayo and reduced cream, and condensed milk after watching HOPE What you eat matters
@@jessicataylor2753 ever watch something that made you super nauseous? Yeah, better chucked down the drain than in the toilet.
That's beautiful 😍
A few years before fully committing to veganisim, I went to a magic show where a woman sitting next to me in the audience hysterically burst out crying over how one of the magicians on stage was performing a vanishing trick with a real live dove. At first, I was defensive in thinking that she might have been "over reacting" or behaving "too dramatically" over the treatment of a single bird but then on the way back home, I found myself wrestling with the reality of people who regularly eat birds and my disturbingly passive ability to stay quiet about it unlike that remarkable woman who justly spoke up. I still cry to myself when I think about the hold that my internalized speciesism had over my critical thinking skills and I oftentimes fantasize about encountering that one audience member one day and giving her a joyful fist bump in solidarity. I wish I could tell her that she effectively planted a seed in my then-carnist brain that I will never forget as now-vegan
Who else hasn't watched but knows Ed will never stop being vegan 🐤🌱
Yes, Mr. Edward “Winters” Gaunt’s understanding of metaethics is beyond reproach, which explains why he condones the MURDER of poor, innocent humans before they have the opportunity to even see the light of day. 👶 The fact that he repeatedly asserts that “humans are animals” shows what an abject hypocrite is that MURDEROUS sinner. 😩 Furthermore, it is debatable whether Ed is truly vegan in his outlook, since he recently stated on the national television programme, GBNews, that he believes we ought NOT to ban animal agriculture! “I’m not even saying that we should ban meat, dairy and eggs right now”. Mr. Ed Gaunt, So-called “VEGAN” activist. 😐 th-cam.com/video/Sl5GpxLXnuI/w-d-xo.html Go to the 8:15 mark.
Of course!
I give him 5 years before he's back to eating meat.
When you live vegan you don’t go back in your beliefs
@@-_soy_-888Unfortunately you are wrong.
My neighbours cows made me vegan and I am so thankful for it 😍💚 now our six people household is 90% vegan (3 actual vegans and 3 flexitarians who mostly eat plant based)
Happy 10 year anniversary 💚
I wish I could download (Matrix style) your calmness and well-spokenness and share the vegan message like you do!
Yessss
For me it was clicking on a suggested link on TH-cam, no idea where it came from, it was your talk: You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again. It was 5 years ago and I believe it was the most important moment in my adult life. I went vegan right away and never looked back! It was like I was ready and the teacher appeared. Thank you Ed.
I really love that video too. ❤ #vegansforlife
I'm vegetarian since 33 years and vegan since 6 years.
I became vegan when I found out about the diary industry
I was not aware of how cows were treated for milk.,
I'm now a sponsor for 3 cows and 5 goats.At least they are safe from cruelty.🙏
Thank you again Ed for your words and commitment ❤
My "moment" was the film "Earthlings." I think everyone (all human Earthlings) should be required to watch this film. Everyone should be aware of the suffering inflicted.
Since im vegan already i have opted out of watching. I know i am not contributing to the suffering and im certain i will find it unbearable to watch
@@mesCheerios I don't blame you a bit.
@@mesCheeriosif you’re already vegan I wouldn’t recommend it… I watched it with a vegan friend because both of us told carnists to watch it, and we felt like we needed to see what we were recommending to people… we had both been vegan over 5 years at the time and we have done activism at actual slaughterhouses and have seen the violence firsthand, and we still had to stop the film 3 or 4 times because we were crying so hard 😬 it was brutal.
I couldn't sleep for days after watching 😭 I was already vegan and I was watching with my boyfriend at the time, hoping to help him become vegan too.
Same
Sending you lots of love! Happy ten year Veganniversary! 😘 ❤️ - Mary
i 100% agree with what you said about the transition of our mentality - after i went vegan, going to the supermarket and walking past the butchers, fishmongers etc was a whole world different through my eyes, even though i’d done the exact same thing as a meat eater
And the smell from the fish and seafood department,didn't smell too fresh.
I often talk to people about how I would spend most weekends volunteering at an animal shelter, walking dogs, playing with kittens, helping out. And then without fail, every time, I would leave and go to the same cafe and order the same chicken panini for lunch. I remember so distinctly sitting there one time and thinking "why are THOSE animals worthy of my free-time and adoration, and THESE animals are for eating?" and it was the first crack in my carnivore mentality. 5+ years vegan now and never going back.
not carnivore, but carnist.
I feel ya. When the dots connect it seems so obvious, and yet for many of us the connection doesn't happen. Or hasn't happened yet. So congrats!
Ever since I was a child I had so many moments but I never went vegan, I guess all these moments were indeed building up until one day something really clicked when I read a story about how cows are treated and what’s really happening with the rest of the animals that humans consider to be food. Then I watched Gary Yurofsky speech and tried watching Earthlings and that was it. Never eating animals or buying products made from animals ever again. We are human and we have to act human. So go vegan, it’s the best decision you could ever make. 🌱 ❤
Banksy's Truck Full of Wailing Toy Animals. I've stumbled upon it while surfing on the Internet.
I've always made fun of vegetarians. And vegans? They were not funny, they were just mad idiots for me, starving their pets and kids to death. They were refusing to eat the best food out there for no real reason, making themselves unhealthy in the process. But when I saw this truck, something inside of me just snapped. My eyes filled with tears, my whole body was covered in goosebumps and I've cried. I've realized that the animals I adore so much are treated so horribly each day. They are being tortured and killed in billions and I was the part of it by paying for it. I quickly became vegetarian and soon I've met a wonderful person, who was vegan and who really liked spending time on discussing ideas. We've discussed veganism for days. Nutrition, morality, influence on the Mother Earth... I just couldn't argue with his arguments. Each day we met he was referring to various studies and each day I was going home trying to unsuccessfully debunk it.
I'm a happy and healthy (both physically and mentally) vegan for 8 years now. Something that I was sure is impossible these 8 years ago. 🌱💚
💚
I was in my second year of uni, a couple of days before my final exams of the semester. I was procrastinating by watching youtube videos, when I suddenly came across one of your debates. The video was long enough and I REALLY didn’t want to study, so I decided to give it a watch. I was vegetarian at the time and somewhat familiar with plant based eating thanks to Pick Up Limes, but your vids were the final push I needed. Been vegan ever since and I’m also celebrating my veganniversary this month ❤️