Frequently Asked Questions
What's Crowdsourcing? What's a Prosumer? What can I use instead of dairy? Soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, and coconut milk are the most common alternatives. A non-dairy milk can be made from just about any grain, nut, or seed. What can I use instead of butter? Earth Balance spreads are vegan and taste similar to butter. There are several versions, but the olive oil one is healthiest. In baking, light sesame oil, coconut oil or grapeseed oil can be used. On bread or cooked vegetables, flax seed oil or olive oil are good alternatives. Mashed avocado also makes a great spread on bread. For more ideas, see the Meat and Dairy Substitutes page.
Eggs are used in baking for the properties they give to the final product. There are vegan ingredients that can do the same job, but what you use depends on the recipe. This is because eggs are used for different purposes in different dishes. The most commmon uses are for binding, moisture and texture. Before making substitutes for the recipes you already have, it might be easier to make an already-tested vegan version of the same dish, at least until you get a feel for how to substitute for different dishes. For a primer on egg replacers and examples recipes, see this article at About.com. If you're looking for a substitute for scrambled eggs in the morning, try scrambled tofu – just fry some tofu with onions, peppers, and a dash of turmeric, salt and pepper.
The meat and dairy industries are intertwined. Dairy cows are slaughtered for their meat once they are no longer considered useful as dairy cows. Not eating meat also does not address the issue of how animals who are used for dairy products and eggs are treated while they are alive. Most animals live in cramped and unhealthy living conditions. Cows suffer injuries from being overmilked and both mother and child suffer greatly when they are separated shortly after birth. Hens and their children are also abused. The male children of hens are often killed at birth because they have no value as egg layers. Chickens who aren't killed are packed together in warehouses where they may never see the light of day. Because the living conditions make them go crazy, their beaks are clipped so they won't attack each other. From environmental and economic perspectives, eating dairy products is about as harmful as eating meat. Eating dairy products can also lead to many of the same health risks as eating meat.
Vegans generally have lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some types of cancer. Obesity is also less common in vegans. Many people report higher energy levels after switching to a vegan diet.
The meat and dairy industries are responsible for enormous amounts of land, air and water pollution as well as the acceleration of the destruction of rainforests for both animal grazing and growing feed crops. A 2006 United Nations FAO report determined that the meat and dairy industries contribute more greenhouse gases (est. 18%) than the transport industry.
The animals used by humans for food, leather and other products are sentient beings. Numerous studies have demonstrated that all vertebrates have a similar capacity to suffer. They suffer from pain, fear, hunger, thirst and loneliness just as humans do. There is recent evidence that lobsters and crabs feel pain as well.
Yes. Although the exact amounts are disputed, it is widely acknowledged that it takes more grain to produce a pound of meat than if the grain were eaten by humans. Meat and dairy production also requires large quantities of water.
It's better to be vegan. According to a 2006 United Nations report, food transport accounts for only about 5% of a food's carbon footprint.
There is not a single definition for animal rights. It can refer to either vegan abolitionism or animal welfare, or both. Animal rights advocates generally agree that cruelty towards animals should be ended, since they can feel pain and fear and have wishes and desires. Since the ability to feel hunger, thirst and emotions such as fear are primitive and do not require great intelligence, people who believe in animal rights generally agree that animals should be granted rights based on their sentience alone. The major disagreements are about what kind of rights animals should have, and whether or not animals have lesser moral value than humans. There is also some disagreement about where to draw the line on which species should be granted rights. One major animal welfare position is that while animals have an interest in the quality of their lives, they do not have a desire to go on living in the same way that humans do. Therefore the quality of their lives matters, but not the length of time they are alive. The utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer holds this view. Law professor and animal rights theorist Gary Francione disputes it. There are some proponents of animal welfare reform who do believe it's wrong to kill animals, but believe that regulation will lead to abolition. The abolitionist approach was first articulated by Gary Francione, whose view is that the most important right animals have is the right not to be treated as property. He rejects the argument that animals should have lesser status since they have lesser cognitive abilities. He believes that the granting of rights should be based only on sentience, not cognitive abilities. Prominent animal rights advocates include Gary L. Francione, Tom Regan and Roger Yates.
Advocates of animal welfare reform believe that current protections for animals under the law are inadequate. They seek better treatment for animals. They push for legislation that toughens anti-cruelty laws and extends them to animals who are not currently covered by such laws, such as animals used for food and experimentation. They do not necessarily favor the granting of rights as persons to animals, and many of them are not opposed to humans continuing to use animals as property, but want to see them treated humanely. Prominent supporters of animal welfare reform include Peter Singer, Paul Shapiro (HSUS) and Cass Sunstein.
There are two main modern abolitionist movements. Among animal rights advocates, abolitionism is the movement to abolish the use of animals as property and to give them rights and protections as persons. The the term was first used by Gary Francione to distinguish this animal rights philosophy from animal welfare reform. Animal welfare reform is primarily concerned with the humane treatment of animals and does not always address their status as property. This abolitionist movement is sometimes referred to as vegan abolitionism or the abolitionist approach. In philosophy, the term abolitionism refers to the ethical imperative to eliminate suffering and is promoted primarily by negative utilitarian philosopher David Pearce. His Abolitionist Project argues for the moral urgency and outlines the technically feasibility of abolishing the biological substrates of suffering in all sentient beings. Both Francione and Pearce consider a vegan lifestyle a key component of their philosophies.
Gateway arguments to veganism are typically that such things as vegetarianism, and animal welfare reforms such as more humane caging and slaughter methods are incremental steps on the way to veganism. These arguments are usually rejected by vegan abolitionists because over time they have not led to greater changes, and in fact they tend to make the use of animals more entrenched by legitimizing their property status. It has also been argued that it welfare reforms make things worse by making people feel better about how they use animals.
The Act establishes standards for farm animal confinement. It will not improve animal well-being at all for the next 6 years and when it takes effect in 2015, it will do little to improve conditions for farm animals but will give the public the false belief that farm animals are treated humanely. The proposition, which passed, would require only that most farm animals be given enough room to turn around and fully extend their limbs. It doesn't deal with other types of cruelty such as debeaking, tail clipping, castrations and branding, which are all done without anesthesia. It will lead to only minimal changes in the well-being of the animals, and covers only things that will increase profitability for farmers by reducing medical and other costs of cramming animals too tightly together. There are many important exceptions, such as transport, slaughter, animal testing and research, rodeos and state fairs. One of the most troubling things about it is the fact that it gets the Humane Society of the United States and Farm Sanctuary stamp of approval. This misleads the public into believing that the animals who are slaughtered for food have been treated humanely.
Sentient means having conscious awareness and being able to sense pain and pleasure.
Sapient means able to exercise judgment.
* The term abolitionism is used in a different sense by Gary Francione and David Pearce, but both agree that it is morally wrong for humans to subject animals to suffering or death. ** While David Pearce is a utilitarian philosopher, he does not believe, as Peters Singer does, that animals have no interest in continuing to live and that killing them does not harm them. He does not advocate a "conscientious omnivore" diet. He follows a vegan diet and lifestyle and recommends that others do as well.
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