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Monday, November 1, 2010

Today is the 66th anniversary of the Vegan movement.....

Way back in 1944, Donald Watson (and others) gave a formal definition for the word vegan and November 1st is marked as the anniversary.
The word 'veganism' denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose...
I found a slideshow about veganism that is pretty good. It has (for my taste) a few too many references to "celebrities" but the music wasn't bad, the pictures were non-gory......for you bunny folk there is a cool picture of a bunny and a kitten at about the 4.5 to 5 minute mark.....and the information is thoughtfully presented.

It runs about 7 minutes or so:


To my mind veganism is an elaboration of an approach to living that is both simple and profound....the notion of live and let live. Consider life.........and the effect(s) your way of living has on other living beings........

10 comments:

Krissa said...

Ha ha, I don't ... appreciate ... celebrities either. But recently I was thinking and I think it was in one of my comments on one of your posts that the way humans are, it seems like celebrity endorsements is the only way to reach a huge number of the human population. I think we have to reach humans from their shallow nature (most humans). For example, I can say for fact that since I've been vegan my skin looks amazing - bright and glowing and a better texture than it's ever had. At the beginning of my vegan 'diet' (I went cruelty-free products-wise before I gave up my so-called free range eggs), I got a layer of body fat over my abs that I never had before, but it has since gone away. I believe my body was just adjusting to a new and better way of nourishment. So, from a looks standpoint, I look better now than I did a few years ago. That's one thing that I think would motivate humans who might not otherwise care. No matter what a man or woman's reason is to become vegan, the end result is a victory for natural animals (the non-humans). I could go on, but you all get the point. Appealing to human vanity or stupidity (desire to follow celebrities) probably works more than appealing to conscience, sadly enough. ... I like the slide show. The music made me very sad with the pictures, but it is still a good slide show. Thanks for sharing. And Happy Anniversary to the Movement and to all the Vegans out there and of course to our fellow beings who share in this day because they are *our* reason.

Murph's mom said...

"...we are burial places...", heavy sigh. That pretty much sums it up doesn't it. I agree Veganelder, its a well done video/slideshow and well chosen, hauntingly beautiful music. It brought to mind the lamb you photographed VE whose tail had been hacked off in some crude manner. I wont forget the animal's eyes.

Well put Krissa. Not too long ago I told VE about a banquet my husband and I had attended - a bar-b-que. I couldn't get out of going but I found some veggies and salad. I couldn't help but notice the alarming number of obese people attending this large (2,000) shindig. Many of them were using walkers and scooters to get around. Their fate seemed sealed. As you noted Krissa the skin tone/color varies greatly between vegans and non-vegans.... I've never heard it put better, "burial places."

Jeannie

veganelder said...

Thank you Krissa for your great comment and you're right...no matter why, going vegan is a win for all sentient beings.

veganelder said...

Thanks you Murph's mom for commenting. Their eyes speak volumes do they not?

Christina said...

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Had no idea Vegans had been around this long.

veganelder said...

Thanks for commenting Christina.

Donald Watson created the word Vegan....the origin of the notion of not using or harming animals is much older....reportedly as old as 2000 BCE. (http://www.animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-timeline/animal-rights-j/jainism/jainism.htm)

Bea Elliott said...

Belatedly but just as sincere - I certainly hope you had a World Vegan Day full of joy and peace... A celebration of everything "Vegan" is meant to be. <3

veganelder said...

Thanks for commenting Bea.....and the same wishes back to you. I spent some time that morning with a bunch of bunnies and that was indeed a vegan celebration. :-)

So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan said...

I agree -- quite a good video! And the music reminded me of Enya. Now if we could only get more people to see it...

veganelder said...

Thanks SITOGV for your comment...maybe I could rig a DVD player on the back of my car?? :-)