Here's a vegan flier that I made:
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Since this is a bit wordy I usually put it up in places where I can expect a captive audience, for example public restroom stalls, slipped into free newspapers, and other places where people are likely to be waiting. They also make great materials to hand out while tabling.
For other things like public bulletin boards I usually use materials from Vegan Outreach, which can be found here.
Occassionally I'll mix some of these materials up with materials from Peaceful Prairie Animal Sanctuary as well:
Let me know if you try any of these materials out and what works well for you.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I'm also a skeptic who's vegan. I was wondering how an argument for health or environment could be used for veganism which is a strict abstention of animal products.
With the environment argument why would we argue veganism for something that doesn't necessarily require it. For example, many people change their lightbulbs to CFLs but they don't eschew electricity altogether.
In health, everything is unhealthy at the right dose and on top of that, the vegan diet in no way guarantees better health. Eating less animals would suffice but why should we argue veganism then?
As a skeptic I'm curious on your take.
thanks!
-dave
Hey Dave,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you that the environmental and health arguments don't necessarily justify a total abstention from animal products (although some people do use it to justify their veganism).
I happen to find the health arguments particularly weak as I know full well none of them would have ever persuaded me to change my diet. Many people, however, still believe that vegan diets are unhealthy or inappropriate for atheletes, which allows them to put up walls to considering making the full switch for ethical reasons. If you notice in my vegan flier that is really the position that I came at the health perspective from.
Once again, you are correct that environmental reasons don't necessarily justify a total transition to veganism, but for many people it does, and at the very least many more cut their consumption of animal products down significantly for these reasons. I do worry that some people may start eating more chicken or fish out of concern for the environmental harm caused by livestock, but overall I still believe the benefits outweigh the risks, and, for me at least, the environmental reasons were a helpful steppingstone on my path to eventually becoming entirely vegan.
lnfinity,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply. As a skeptic I'm sure you are aware of the weasel wording employed by science deniers and snake-oil peddlers in their language. I don't find arguments of "some people" particularly compelling and to lower our own arguments to that level I feel weakens our case. Instead I would suggest we stay on the one argument that matters and that is of ethics. We may not get the most people on the front end but I believe that it will make the long term difference.
Because the mainstream was so skeptical of vegan diets as being healthy (totally justified) I think we swung the pendulum too far to justify it. Now vegans are running around espousing it as the one true healthy diet. Many don't even believe B12 supplementation is necessary because of this! I don't think we need to trump it up any further. Science supports out diet and I find the argument "the vegan diet is not optimal but it's possible and I find it worth the effort because of X" much more compelling.
I could go on but I wrote briefly about this on my blog and I'd be curious as to your thought on the matter.
http://pythagoreancrank.com/?p=409
Love your blog, keep it up!
cheers,
-dave