I hope you guys like this one! I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of you for being here and for all of your support. I have lots of exciting things planned for 2021 that I can’t wait to announce. And if you’re still in lockdown like I am, I hope you’re handling it okay. Make my work possible by becoming a supporter of my activism here (thank you!): www.earthlinged.org/support Make the switch to vegan & get all of the support you need: switchtovegan.co.uk
Such a good quote. It takes the smallest effort on our parts to save a life or eradicate suffering. Thats why I went vegan 4yrs ago.... there really was no excuse not to!
I think it does and doesn't. It really doesn't, but there's a... perception of superiority, and being kind to animals can disrupt that view, and people don't want to disrupt that view.
Been vegan for 10 years. It's a very fulfilling emotion to know that you are not contributing to this global atrocity. Feels amazing to be standing on the right side of history.
It's crazy for me to believe that you have been vegan for less time than me, yet you are so much more evolved and enlightened than I am. I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your work and your journey. Keep it up, my friend, you're making the world a much better place than 99% of us would ever have the energy to
I suggest you read his free ebook, it has some very logical arguments that we can all use when talking to non-vegans. You can find it in the description.
Indeed, I've been a vegetarian for 10+ years, didn't really understood vegans until I started to get more informed as to make a realization of how wrong I was. It's been hard for me but I've completely ditched milk and been ditching dairy progressively since last year. Kudos to Ed and his elevation on his diet and his influence, he was destined for it 🌱👏
I guess everyone contributes in their own special way. Some people are good with speeches and words and some prefer to stay out of spotlight. But just by being vegan, you’re already doing much more than most. So I’m proud of you too! 🥰
@@kittymeowmeow93 same. I have a strong feeling that in the future a lot of children will be raised vegan. That’s how I will raise mine if I ever have kids. Have a nice day!
@J F Mate science proves vegan diets healthier. Why do you thing vegans have a 7-10 years longe life expectancy? Better sources of protein is beans, lentils, nuts peas and soy. Those sources of protein don’t contain the unhealthy stuff that meat does like saturated fats and cholesterol which meat is packed with. We really do not need that in our diets.
@J F Mate facts are facts and talk to me some other time when the effects of your magic mushrooms or whatever herbs you are on wear off. Saturated fat and cholesterol is not good for you they are the biggest things that cause heart disease, stroke and heart attacks. Every cell in our body is actually made from proteins not cholesterol. Our bodies wouldn’t produce something that harms us. You are in denial mate. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and say: you know what, I am wrong. It only makes it worse when you make stuff up and go into denial. You know what they say it’s hard to win a debate with an educated person but impossible to win one with an idiot (not that you are an idiot just that you’re in denial)
Because of YOUR and Joaquin Pheonix influence, I’m celebrating 1 year being vegan. Thank you! 🌱 I’ve been vegetarian for 8 years and I regret not going vegan sooner.
I went vegan because of the animals, of course. But YOU were the one who opened my inner eyes; the eyes of my soul. You, Ed Winters, are the reason why I connected the dots. Since your video on why vegans don't consume honey, I was shocked. Why would we steal from another species? Why would we cause unnecessary suffering to sentient living individuals? So I stopped consuming the flesh of innocent hens and their ovulations (since they were the only animal products I consumed) from one day to another. Your existence is truly a relief to the world. That article about the chicken truck caught your attention for a reason. Those chickens died for a reason. Because their death made you vegan, and so you made me and thousands more vegan too. Thanks again for yet, another amazing video.
@@michaellopez-lq5fn I understand your ignorance towards the ETHICS of veganism. Because it's not a diet. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. Would you slaughter a member of your family to eat their corpse even if you love them? 😇I don't think so. So, farmers like the ones you describe care as much as factory farmers: ✨they don't✨All they care about is profit. When their "loved" animals stop producing the money they want, they kill them and sell their bodies to be "processed" and made into either gelatine or ham, or beef. They don't grieve; they don't give a 💩 And I know vegans can become deficient in some nutrients; JUST LIKE NONVEGANS if they eat inadequately. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬: 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬' 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. And even if I was deficient (which I'm not; quite the opposite. I'm healthier than ever) I would NEVER pay for someone to be killed on behalf of my health. I'd rather die first. So, no. I'm never going back. I'd rather have a bullet go through my skull before the one of an innocent non-human animal. #GoVegan
@ lol, like I said, you vegans are incapable of handling the fact that living being die.. all of us.. innocent, evil and everything in between. What matters is that we REALLY live when we have the chance, for a cow that’s running out with the crew onto some fresh spring pasture and for us it is actually being nutritionally sound enough to enjoy our life and not be sick the whole time. Please do yourself a favor and study some biochemistry, then come back and tell me retinol might as well be beta carotene.. tell me that copper from plant sources functions the same in our bodies as from animal sources. These two nutrients missing will have you so sick. Like you said, you are part of a cult now so you’d rather die than break your rules. You have no idea the emotions people go through when they bring down a cow from their heard. I hunt even then, with my first interaction with the animal I kill it is not a cheery moment, it’s heavy and in it is the recognition that this is what surviving on this planet means. I couldn’t imagine how much more feels there would be if I raised the animal myself. You’re clearly very anti human, you’d rather see people sick and dying than a wholesome farm 🤦🏻♂️ look at the Swedish homestead, look at people like Takota Coen.. there are many farms near me I personally go to and are just like these idyllic representations of what farming could be. You vegans watch earthlings and think that’s the only option.. brainwashed. Earthling Ed and humane Hancock both admit it is the stories of great suffering that drove them vegan.. once you’re in the cult however ANY death is just the worst possible thing in the world.. lol what’s up with the bugs and bunnies in your monocrop soy fields? It’s like a chemical warfare zone so you can eat your beyond meat and soy milk.. the Geneva convention made chemical weapons illegal for us to use on each other so now they use that stuff on our plant food! Yay. Trust me meat production can be cursed the same way.. feeding those toxic plants to the animals we want to eat (biosolid fertilizers) the difference is is that you CAN grow meat in a wholesome way in most climates, way harder to do plants in a wholesome way
Vegan for 4 years. Even after loving bacon cheeseburgers and vanilla milkshakes. And even while working as a dishwasher at one point. If I can do it, anyone can.
Before going vegan I almost commited suicide multiple times due to depression and indescribable pain from rheumatism. Today I'm pain free for 3 years almost and I'll never ever ever look back. Veganism saved my life!
Same here... im suicidal depressed and my compassion for animals remembers me that my problems are nothing compared to theirs and my problems got smaller...if i wasnt vegan i probably wasnt here anymore too :(
I've been vegetarian since the age of 4 when I regularly saw my father slaughter chickens and pigs for the table and saw eggs come out of carcasses bloody and without shells. I knew it was wrong to do this to animals and refused to eat their flesh or eggs. I still drank milk as at that age I didn't realise that our cows and calves went off to slaughter eventually too. I'm now 72 and only became vegan 8 years ago too - like yourself Ed - when I became aware of the evils of the dairy and egg industries. I couldn't watch Earthlings in one go (had to stop after 40 mins as crying relentlessly and took 2 days for me to go back and watch the rest - I believed I knew of the atrocities it would show me still going on. It saddened me deeply to be living so long in a kakopian world. Thank you for all the work you have done and still do for those innocent creatures. I had cancer last year (recurred 10 months ago) and I dream of a world where animals are respected and left in peace but do not believe it will happen in my lifetime. Human beings are so incredibly self-serving and carelessly or callously unkind. I shall be glad to leave this world behind and hope I don't come back as an animal.
Always inspiring to see older vegans even if you had been vegetarian for most of your years. I am making the switch from vegetarian and this video along with your story reminds me that not everyone switches instantly, there are sometimes steps but that's okay. Also good luck with your cancer and as someone who is skeptical of any afterlife or reincarnation, just rest easy when you are free from our chaotic world my friend! 👍
@@davidtran6928 As an ethical vegan who believes animals have the right to their own lives and bodies I never even think of them as 'food' or any business of mine. If you don't get the sanctity of life thing then you are never going to get where I'm coming from. Animals are here WITH us not FOR us.
I'm 60 and very stubborn. No one could have convinced me to go vegan. It took a health crisis, hitting bottom before I would change. Then I evolved to animal compassion and sustainability.
I remember as a child I really felt horrible eating meat; yet my parents kept forcing me into it so I just accepted it and moved on. Years later I was looking up recipes and saw a slaughterhouse video. It horrified me and I started reading comments... one caught my eye and made me change my tune fast. "You may not be killing the animals yourself but you pay them to do it. So it is happening because you are keeping them in business." That got me. And soon after I went vegetarian for a year and then went vegan. Almost 4 years soon and never going back. I feel a million times better and actually going vegan made me find out I had an allergy to gluten! So my digestive issues got better too :)
@@simplehuman3907 They usually don’t use guns in bigger slaughterhouses, it all depends but the methods are horrifying nonetheless. Bolt guns are a common method for cows and other large animals, they shoot a metal rod through their head meant to stun them unconscious before their throat is slit, but many times it isn’t effective. There are also gas chambers, usually carbon dioxide I believe, you can hear the pigs and other animals scream loudly through that. Birds like chickens are usually latched upside down to a conveyor belt and then drawn through a hot electric stun bath before their heads are cut off with an automatic blade, many aren’t stunned though if they lift their head. There are other ways but these are the ones I saw in Dominion and elsewhere which I think are most common, I’d recommend watching that documentary or other slaughterhouse footage to learn more, it’s heartbreaking but it’s so important that people know what’s going on.
@@frazer4470 "It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes." This is the official statement from the largest body of nutrition in the world. Thinking you need to wait is unreasonable and does reflect the reality of things. Nonetheless, anybody should be educated on nutrition and eat balanced for sure, but that doesn't soely apply to vegans.
Your girlfriend awoke a lion in you my friend, and for that I give my respect to her. Thank you for what you both have done for the animals and for the planet. Keep it up!
Love that you shared the fact that it was your girlfriend that was instrumental in making you a vegan by watching Earthlings and knowing your curiosity would make you join her. Hats off to her! ( and you for watching it)
@@georgewashingtom6516 I love how non-vegans use words like "meat" to help themselves cope with their cognitive dissonance caused by being against animal cruelty but also paying for it to happen at the same time. Also I hope you realise humans are animals too? 😂
I started crying... I've been vegan for one year and two months now. I just wish I went vegan sooner. And I'm sad that so many of my friends still eat animals :( It's hard.
Yeah it’s hard for me w/ my family bc they all still eat animals too :( stick with it obviously tho! You’re doing the right thing no matter what your friends say, which is amazing
One of the major seeds for me was high school biology class. We were studying vertebrates, and the teacher told us that the bone in a T-bone steak was a vertebra. I immediately announced, "I don't want to eat someone's spine!" and went vegetarian. Which in due course led to being vegan. The seeds are everywhere.
The truth is most people are already vegan - at heart that is. If one can't kill an animal, they are vegan at heart. It's just that their external state, be it the food they eat or shoes they were, hasn't caught up to their internal state.
@@elenasingleterry5854 Yup, I totally agree. I believe nearly everyone (except for the psychopaths) is a prevegan. It just takes aligning your morals with your actions. We learned speciesism through our parents purchases and the rest of society but now it’s time for change.
@@elenasingleterry5854 If you can’t watch a cow get slaughtered while eating your steak then you’re prevegan. That’s my big litmus test for being prevegan or not.
This is a great topic really for a video. Shows how vegans are just normal people who realised the truth about animal exploitation. I think we all agree, "I only wish I had changed sooner", hence wanting to guide others to change.
Nope. We definitely don't all think that. statistically the majority of people that attempt veganism will quit it. If vegans truly only want the best for their precious cause they need to reflect on why so many people cant even sustain this diet for their whole life, having the same talking points over and over and never admitting there is so much wrong with the vegan movement will only thwart and de-legitimize your cause. Which is why the biggest thing standing in the way of veganism is vegans, their notorious reputation, and ridiculously unsustainable diet.
@@danny6397 because veganism isn't a diet... it's a philosophy against the exploitation of animals. Most people that would quit would not have started it to be 'vegan', but rather to eat a plant-based diet, of course people will quit something like that, just like any other diet. Find the same amount of proper vegans (ie people who actually care about animals) and see how many of them suddenly quit one day.
@Myth Tree Veganism is not a diet. Veganism is an ideology and an ideology can't ruin your health. Also that's just you. It's absolutely not true that vegans are unhealthy. All people need to monitor what kind of food the eat whether they are omnivores or vegans. You just didn't have a diet suitable for you personally. And you weren't a vegan cause you don't seem to know what veganism is. You were just on a plant-based diet. There is no excuse for anyone to not fight against the explotation of animals.
Been vegan 5 years now. My story: On and off vegetarian my whole life, dairy made me ill but still was addicted to it. After I had surgery that went wrong on my jaw in 2016 I couldn't eat and lived on liquids and smoothies. I lost half my body weight in 6 months. At that point I became overly sensetive to what I was consuming, I felt guilt eating meat, stopped. Kept telling my mum to not keep putting cream cheese in my soups, she thought I needed it because I needed to fatten up, It made me feel ill and something felt wrong about consuming dairy now (note I was unaware of what happens to dairy cows this point or barely knew what vegan was.) I still was eating eggs but rarely until one day a few months later, I was offered a cooked runny egg from my friends parents. They would normally get thiee eggs from thier grandparents chickens. I only ate "free range" so thought yeah why not its from thier hens I ASSUMED. I ate it and it tasted.. blander and more disgusting that I remember eggs. Later on I wandered into thier kitchen to put the plate away when I saw the carton of eggs on the worktop, large packet of cheap "eggs from caged hens". My heart sank knowing I ate from battery hens like I'd been duped. That day I thought and thought hard and decided to never eat anything from an animal again not knowing what happens to them. I barely knew what to eat and lived on smoothies and soft tomato pasta for MONTHS. Until I looked online and found out what vegan means and how to eat. My mother followed months later, she said to me: she saw how disgusted and sad I was when I had to buy her eggs milk etc, refusing meals, she picked up on it and turned vegan too and now is very active activist. My brother soon followed.
Ah, I wish I had family that understood me like that. My mother is a hunter and so is my grandfather. My father considers veganism immasculine, and my brother thinks Joe Rogan is smart... so he is considering the carnivore diet. It's very frustrating. To top it all off, I'm the only one in my family who believes in climate change, and I'm studying to be an ecologist. Whether they say it or not, my family essentially thinks my degree is bullshit. I'm just happy my husband is vegan.
@@frazer4470 nah I’m in the best health. In fact since going vegan my asthma is gone completely. My buddy who eats meat has diabetes and was told to take B12 otherwise s she will have serious problems.
@@frazer4470 you didn’t even take the time to read the comment, it said “vegetarian at15”. Personally I’ve been vegetarian since the age of 15 and vegan for the past 4-5 years and have not had the need for any medical attention or even an aspirin for many many years. So my guess is that you are incorrect.
I'm 15 and went vegetarian when I was 14, I'm definitely going to go vegan eventually but at this point I'm still learning more and slowly transitioning and exploring alternatives :)
You got that right. When you've been with your partner for 11 years and 10 of those years you have been vegan and they have NOT, it can be really frustrating.
Similar story here, Ed. Never even thought I'd be vegetarian. Then I did. I thought that was enough. Then I saw a video like you and vegan now 5.5 years, just shy of you....
@athesit humanist First off Rude! Second many livestock operations actually supply there animals with nice comfortable lives and there are regulations in place that aim to keep animals calm and comfortable at all times with mistreatment being illegal and highly frowned upon.
yeah, just admit that they're being misstreated, and i am not vegan or vegetarian, and i have no inmediate plans of becoming one, but i recognice that they're being misstreated
@@georgewashingtom6516 no thanks. I had a magic mushroom experience that completely changed my view on the world including living creatures, so no, ill follow the mushroom.
I can relate. My family eats meat, cheese, milk on a daily basis, they are repulsed when I try to make them taste the food I eat. Always talking about balance and generally just dismissing any kind of conversation about the topic - saying they couldn't do it, that it's not right. And they still claim they're animal lovers.
@Myth Tree You went vegan without researching how to do it safely. That doesn't mean that there's no vegans out there who consulted with a dietician or who studied nutrition.
@Myth Tree Then you probably have an underlying condition that isn't being addressed. I know Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, when untreated, can cause tons of different symptoms when you eat certain vegan protein sources (and it is largely undiagnosed). And in my case, I went undiagnosed with Crohn's disease for a long time, and when that's active, fiber is harmful. There's a lot of illnesses like that, and when they're treated and under control, veganism isn't an issue. There's a lot of science that veganism can be incredibly healthy, and much better than other diets. So if it doesn't work for your body, you need to investigate, because that isn't normal. And I'm not saying this to be rude; I'm saying this out of genuine concern. My sister tried to go vegan and got incredibly sick. She thought it was because of veganism not being healthy, but later I pursued testing and it turned out I, as well as most of the rest of my family, had Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It wasn't the veganism. It was the soy and canned beans. This was remedied by cooking beans from scratch in a pressure cooker, among various other dietary changes. And just so you know, by sick, I don't just mean digestive issues; MCAS can cause headaches, migraines, facial flushing, concentration issues, even depression and anxiety or joint pain. In response to food. It doesn't help that MCAS was only discovered in 2007, only being officially classified as a diagnosis in 2011, so the vast majority of people don't have a diagnosis and don't know they have it; even most doctors outside of the research hospitals in Boston don't know about it, just because of how new it is in science (it was discovered in Boston). And it's estimated to affect up to 17% of the population. Honestly when I hear someone went vegan, had issues, and couldn't stay vegan, that always seems like a red flag to me.
@Myth Tree Okay. Give me your proof. And just so you know, it was the same with my sister; because she stopped being vegan and therefore stopped eating so much soy and canned beans, she got better too. But it didn't treat her underlying condition at all; it just made it so she wasn't experiencing symptoms nearly as much. And here's my proof for my statements: www.brighamandwomens.org/medicine/gastroenterology-hepatology-and-endoscopy/advances-newsletters/reducing-gastrointestinal-symptoms-using-mast-cell-disorder-identification-and-treatment www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3787002/
This was so very relatable, I was a vegetarian for a long time until it didn't make sense anymore and I made the leap to becoming vegan. It's been four years now and I'm never going back.
It’s the weirdest thing what makes it click for people. I kinda always knew vegans were right. Even when I made fun of them. I knew they were right, I never convinced myself with stupid arguments I kinda brushed the subject off with humor. Until I decided to honestly listen to vegan arguments and I went vegan over a a couple of days. I toyed with the idea of still eat fish for a day, but that made no logical sense. So I went vegan. It’s hard to find the right trigger. No one could have ever forced or guilted me. My Defence mechanisms were too strong. I’m damn sad it took so long in hindsight.
As humans we're hesitant to embrace change, because form an evolutionary perspective any behavioural deviation from what we know could potentially lead to death, it's just in our nature. Of course it would be great if everybody had the realization faster and we wouldn't needlessly kill animals on an unimaginable scale, but I, for one, am glad people make the connection at all. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad you did
I always felt that veganism was and still is the superior and idealistic form of diet for humans. Too many studies show people who eat high levels of animal based foods have the most complicated health problems than people on a planet based diet. I also question studies that are sponsored by the meat and dairy industries as any science that only seeks for profit is always corrupted.
There was a bloke called Dave who, when I was a young lad, was my swimming teacher, he was our window cleaner and he was my driving instructor, he taught me a lot, not so much about cleaning windows. One driving lesson, summer 1989, we were sat in a nissan micra on those Oldham streets where terraced houses used to stand, I had just practiced three point turns, we were next to a slaughterhouse listening to the cries of distressed pigs and had a conversation about it. Since that day I have not eat meat and I'm a bit older now, but I never went back, the overriding thought always being, 'who am I to be the one to decide to eat another sentient beings flesh?'
I love this, I just did a video asking people to film themselves saying why they went Vegan. I think it is a great form of Activism for all Vegan's to share their story
That's what EVERY vegan has in common, so never feel any guilt. Consumer of vile animal products for 26 years... then, Dairy Is Scary came through the RUclips algorithm's pipes and blew up in my face 😅😆😜
chickens' blue veins and blueish-white skin with goose bumps in a supermarket, just like mine that winter, made me go vegan overnight. There is something about veins.
Since I was a kid, I was really empathetic toward animals, "even" bugs. My family indoctrinated me with the idea that vegetarians were all pale, skinny and sick, exactly like you said in the video, so I accepted eating animals as a survival necessity. Then, when I was 18 years old, thanks to Krishna's devotees I finally discovered that there were many people who were healthy vegetarians and vegans. The great thing is that, me and my Dad became vegetarians in the same time, without even talking each other about it. It has been such a wonderful surprise. :) Now I've been vegan for 12 years!
@@frazer4470 no worries, Tom. You can be healthy and vegan, every good nutritionist will tell you this! But sure everyday kfc is soooo much healthier 😃😉
When I was 5, I saved amphibians from being run over, eating meat on bread as a snack during breaks. When we were kids, we copied our parents. We didn't know better.
@Anon Anon Getting close to 7 years. BiteSizeVegan was my introduction to the concept and a full day of watching undercover factory farm and slaughter house footage cemented my decision.
Thanks to JP, I became vegan overnight at the end of 2019 and I don't regret it. When I see certain animal foods that I used to like to eat, I occasionally think: it was delicious. But I saw the truth and now I know what it's all about. Then I'll be happy when I come home, open the fridge and see my broccoli. ;-) I understand Rupert the hamster. Thanks for your hard work!
Tree hugging is awesome. I tried it recently just to see, and it's amazingly relaxing. I got my nephews to try it too and the younger one said, 'I want to hug more trees!' Later, as we were leaving the park, he said, 'I'm going to tell mummy about this and she's going to think I'm crazy. Mummy and Daddy already think you're crazy.'
I went Vegan at the start of lockdown, and watching your videos was a big factor in making the change. It must be hard to find the resolve to keep fighting sometimes, as the deck is pretty stacked against us. But you are making a difference by taking a stand for those who can't. Thank you, truly, from someone you have helped live a kinder life.
So awesome. I think the biggest issue is people are ignorant to what these animals are going through. I know I was. I even went through the vegetarian phase and thought it was enough but it truly isn't. It is so sad that at this point in the world, information is so abundant, but people just do not take the time to do the research. I truly believe that if all humans had to watch these animals suffer, so many more people would go vegan.
@@vencedor1774It's cool you can admit to that but may I ask why you don't care about animal suffering? When I see what animals have to go through in slaughter footage videos my soul shatters and I feel utterly powerless and I feel intense empathy. What makes it easy for others to ignore something that is so serious for the animal or for the people watching...
Your videos were my final push to adapting a vegan lifestyle after being vegetarian for some years. I have never watched a documentary about animal cruelty because they upset me too much. I remember watching one of your videos that showed a clip of animal farming no more than a second, and it brought me to tears. For a long time I also didn't see the point in veganism, but in that moment I realized that I had been avoiding the truth that I could not handle. I just want to thank you for what you're doing, because your voice is making a big difference.
Wow that's amazing, just think how many lives you saved being veggie for that long tho! I've been vegan 5 years, veggie two years before that... But I ate animals products for 25 years before that... It's so weird though because it feel like a different person that ate animals for all those years. My only regret is also not doing it sooner! 🌱
46 and 5 for me and I’m so sorry the truth about dairy wasn’t discovered sooner myself. At least you only missed 22 years and not 41! Thanks for being you.
You made me change what I eat three days ago. I emptied my freezer and cupboards of animal products and filled the fridge with a garden. I hate that it took me so long. It was like a light bulb in my head when I saw one of your videos. I already knew everything you said, but you worded so profoundly that I cried. Now the thought of eating anything animal based sickens me. I can’t believe it took me so long to think this way. It was like a switch. One minute I was craving chilli con carnie and the next I was spewing it down the toilet. I want to scream at my past self and just tell myself to listen to what vegans have to say! I wanna shake myself so much. I feel so guilty for liking that food. It’s literally been three days but my life has changed. Thank you sir. You made me see sense.
@@Ganpignanus sure, yes, but they are all also potential vegans, haha! Some are just young and do not know how to overcome their ego and deal with their insecurity and defense mechanism when their belief system is confronted by others.
It blows my mind how much our journeys parallel each other. It's almost identical, even the time line. Thank you for EVERYTHG you do Ed. You're very much appriciated.
Almost 5 years ago one day I was eating mutton curry with my family. While eating the leg piece I suddenly realised that I was eating someone's leg.. "someone's"..not something. After that I could never eat mutton. But I used to eat chicken and fish and dairy products. In 2020 lockdown period my sister showed me a "Kinder World" video which revealed the cruelty on chickens and after watching that I stopped eating chicken. And I am intolerant to eggs..this is like blessing to me..now I don't eat dairy too..but I have to eat fish till now because my parents don't listen to me when I tell why not to eat fish.
Ed, I’m 20 years old and your story is almost identical to mine. I also had a KFC addiction and would get KFC almost daily. I went vegetarian when I was 14 after making the “how is a chicken any different to my pet dog?” Kind of connection. But I was a vegetarian who thought vegans were extreme. Then I learned about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries, then discovered your channel. and now I’ve been vegan for 5 years.
I have been a vegetarian my entire life, and recently have turned vegan. Sometimes people often ask me what my religion is, and I often reply by saying, “I’m simply vegan. I believe in veganism. No caste, race, god, but just a lifestyle I pray to.” Your videos give me so much strength to continue this journey!
I was a vegetarian for 6 months before travelling a bit and coming home and reading Peter Singer's, Animal Liberation, i went vegan overnight and haven't looked back for over 11 years now.
True. That book was horrifying but eye opening. I remember a picture of an old ad for animal testing equipment - a restrainer for rabbits. The slogan read “the only thing that will wiggle is the tail”. Although I was already a vegetarian, I was blown away by cruelty and cynicism of that “tongue-in-cheek” line
@Myth Tree Any diet can be unhealthy if you don't get the required nutritiants your body needs daily. What necessary nutritiants do you feel are missing in a vegan diet?
@Myth Tree So going with anecdotal evidence isn't good enough. All the vegans you know are sick, all the vegans I know are healthy. It gets us nowhere. I care about data, it's a more accurate way of determining truth. That being said, could you bring up one point or anything to go on? Saying there's thousands of videos isn't that helpful. Can you explain why or link to a video that explains why the vegan diet isn't healthy? All I've seen is evidence to the contrary provided you have a well balanced diet getting the nutritiants you need.
I cry every time I see one of your videos. My heart is heavy and it truly makes it hard to continue my day but I know you are providing this information for a good reason. I completely support everything that you do. I just can't shake the sadness I feel every time my family or friends eats meat. Sometimes it puts me into a depression and forces me to confront the realization that the majority of our society does not care about the meat and dairy industry.
It is out of your control, the suffering of the world is not your fault or for you to correct. You're doing all you can, which is enough. Rejoice in the fact that you have reached this point.
Thanks for sharing, Ed. Deep down most of us would probably cringe at ourselves if we saw our behavior before we actually took the plunge. It's great to be open about this because 99% of this community wasn't born vegan. This video is an excellent example of introspection of what people LOOK like as they're conflicted with the notion. Hope this makes the rounds outside of our community and lands on open minds. Cheers!
Sometimes it's practical to say it right away so that people do not offer you food that you don't eat (at least that's why I do it at work or within a friendly circle).
It's "funny" and kind of ironic: I have always seen myself as an animal lover, even when I ate meat, dairy and eggs and wore leather and used animal tested products. Today I see it as very strange that when it comes to animals, this is - as far as I can think off - the only issue were we can pay for enormous violence and abuse and still see ourselves as "loving" towards the one abused. Love should never entail abuse, violence, exploitation or murder. "Animal welfare" is used to destribe the practices of animal use (abuse) in my home country, but if we were to treat any group of humans in any way resembling how we treat non-human animals, it would never be regarded as welfare, but as torture and abuse. Same goes for pets. If we were to shoot dogs or cats in the head and cut their throats, no one would ever use the word "welfare" or "humane" to describe it. My sense of care and love for animals haven't changed since I became vegan, but my perspective of what constitutes care and love certainly have.
Omg Ed, your beef experience as a kid was my exact experience too - finding some sort of artery in a bolognese sauce was the shock I needed to stop eating meat. Super gross! Love this video, thanks so much for sharing, and for everythin you do. Much love 🙏🏼💚✌🏼
It's crazy how so many of us have a similar story, I feel like people don't realize that many of us vegans were just like them before. We thought veganism was silly and pointless, but we researched and learned and we let the truth change us. It's such a beautiful feeling once you figure it out. If you're reading this and you aren't vegan, sure you can reply something stupid that no one will find funny, or you can go do some research with an open mind and find that the truth has been around you all along. Good luck 😊
Honestly just go for it man, it’s a life changing decision. If you do decide to do it, there’s a whole lot of people ready to support you on the other side.✊🏼
@@Magani79 yes, society, family, culture, peer pressure, routine, what I'm used to, I could go on. And I do know, change yourself blah blah. I am ready for change and as I said seeds are planted, but 'life' does make things extremely difficult. I am with you though all, ready for a revolution. Veganaism is 100% the future and what is inevitable to human kind.
@@fearofaveganplanet8513 The vegan argument is an emotional argument. Animals do not have personality nor feelings nor free will. They are biological machines that react to stimuli, and they only follow their primitive instincts.
On May 1st I will have been vegan 1 year. I went vegan after watching land of hope and glory. Initially I said I'd try it for a month, but I've never gone back! Best decision I ever made! Thank you Ed, for making me see the reality of the consequences of the meat and dairy industry
Great video Ed, I'll be four years Vegan this coming Patrick's Day☘ really wish i aligned my ethics & actions sooner but delighted I finally got there in the end.🌱✊🌍
@@bullcogs7975 What if someone from a cannibal tribe said to another member of his tribe, "Once he is cooked, he is free." By "he," the cannibal is referring to you. What if the cannibal said, "He is free to be my food, settle down its ok," to a non-cannibal tribe member? Do you agree with the cannibal? Is ok for him to eat you?
Earthlings was the most difficult film I've ever watched. I litetally cried through the entire thing. It is "emotionally devastating" I'm happy to say I've been vegan over 5 years and it's the best decision I ever made.
your videos always make me tear up, but in the best way ever, cause i see how much effort u put into it and how beautiful it can be to feel all this compassion towards the animals, thankyou
I watched dominion after a vegan friend had recommended it to me. I always considered myself someone who stands up for social justice and who looks out for everyone and everything, empathy is my most important value. I also am a bit of a debate nerd, I like rhetoric and outwitting someone in an argument. "This vegan stuff is so silly, I'll get through this film ready to take on any argument thrown at me". But that film literally changed me, dominion is so heart-wrenching and painful, it took me multiple hours to finish due to crying and needing breaks. I went vegan the next day and it has been a little over a year since. Going vegan is literally as easy as ever and it has only improved my life. Everyone says it but it's because it's so true, my only regret is not doing it sooner. (Ed's videos also helped me learn a lot and scratch that debate nerd itch so I appreciate him for that).
Dominion was extremely powerful for me too. I watched it earlier this year because I had checked out a vegan podcast and it was mentioned on there. Slaughterhouse footage never really did it for me, because it was always footage of 'some other country'. But Dominion was more powerful for me because I lived for years as an international student in Australia. I actually ate that stuff. And as a student, I always chose the cheapest option in terms of meat, milk, eggs. I chose caged eggs at Aldi because I vaguely heard something about how there's no difference between caged eggs and free range (probably not the message vegans are hoping the public take away from that statement). For me, it's not the concept of killing animals that got to me. Watching Anonymous for the Voiceless videos, it struck me how far removed people in the west seem to have become frim thr meat they consumed. They will happily eat meat but refused to see a chicken being slaughtered. Or how they would see eating stuff like innards and chicken feet as 'weird', and make fun of other cultures for eating them. (And that's why I was always qhite supportive of people like Gordon Ramsay who talked about needing to know where your food comes from, and wasting nothing from the animal). What got me though are the conditions in industrialised agriculture. The conditions we have now is a far cry from what it was like for my grandmother growing up where they raised and slaughtered their own chickens. When the global population was just a fraction of what they are now, and when people ate meat infrequently because it was an expensive luxury. The first thing I dropped was milk. I like milk, a lot. But learning why cows produce milk made me decide it's not worth it. Gassing chambers for pigs just made me ask 'Why?'. For me, I thought: "That can't possibly be true. Why in the world would you choose carbon dioxide out of all gases; are you trying to choose the most painful way to kill the animal?" So I looked it up, and I looked up proper scientific journals because I have a science background. And I learnt that you can't use nitrogen because it is less dense than air and won't stay in the pit, and you use carbon dioxide because it is more dense than air. And then I realised that this was actually legit. It's been a month since I started diving down the vegan rabbit hole. I stopped cooking and buying animal products at home, but still eat what I'm served when I go to my grandmother's on weekends (maybe 2-3 meals a week). I have started checking out vegan restaurants in my area. The main thing keeping me from going all in on veganism at this point is a fear that it would damage my relationship with my family. So many dishes and traditions linked to meat. I have a cousin, and her parents, who are vegan. And they are always kinda slightly apart from everyone else during family gatherings. There's also a part of me that thinks; hey, maybe it's not that bad here (in malaysia). Our 'kampung chicken' is actually free range, not legal loophole free range like in the west (and you verify it on your plate because the meat is stringy and the bones are thicker and stronger). Not the chickens with weak bones that grow too quickly like you see in these videos. But 'kampung chicken' is expensive and everything else is pretty much a product of industrialised agriculture. And practically all our beef comes from overseas (the cheap stuff is buffalo from India, the expensive stuff is aussie; both of which dominion covered). And our milk (whole and powdered) is mostly from australia and new zealand. And the seas are overfished even as we reclaim over coastal mangroves and breeding grounds for fish, and fishmeal is an amazingly inefficient food source for farmed fishes. And oh yeah, the land area required for growing animal feed in general. So yeah.... pretty much everything else isn't that great. I'm not quite onboard the whole vegan thing on all killing of animals is inherently wrong. Like I probably won't shed a tear for insects, or cochineal production. And I think farming bivalves are sound from an environmental perspective. But as I dip my toes into trying out veganism, I think I understand the vegan perspective of saying 'all animals'. Because there is also the sheer mental exhaustion of trying to figure out the ethical implication of each animal you eat. The worry of loopholes being exploited. It's might just be easier to just cut out every animal if you don't know the exact conditions in which it comes from. And as I try this out and learn that I am capable of cutting out animal products from my diet, there's suddenly a lack of a 'need' to go the extra effort of looking for some sort of animal food too. From an environmental perspective, I think that the world needs to cut out industrialised animal agriculture. And eating the insane amounts of animal products that has encouraged its existence in the first place. It's not even climate change for me (which I have kinda resigned to as being somewhat inevitable), but more the loss of biodiversity you have from replacing so much wildeness with agriculture. We can't expect natural systems to be resilient against climate change when we are actively chipping away at it like that. Maybe animal agriculture can be justified with utilising food waste, but that's going to be a lot less than what exists right now. So, I haven't gone Vegan, but I might eventually do so. From what I understand now, 'big V' Veganism kinda carries with it the philosopical position as well, that obligates one to take the active position. As someone who trained parkour, the analogy for me was saying that I 'trained parkour', or call myself a 'parkour practitioner' for a really long time, before I dared to call myself a 'traceur'. It's a mindset shift, and a way to view the world. So maybe one day I will say that I practice veganism. And I might say that for a long time before I even call myself a Vegan.
@@elaiej As a Singaporean, I agree with you about kampung chicken. I feel it is probably most ethical when it is sourced and distributed amongst a community, but of course there's always demand, from restaurants etc that results in industrialised agriculture, large - scale and regular slaughtering of the chickens, even if they are 'bred better'... and so when you consume a dish made with kampung chicken, you can never be 100% sure of how the chicken was brought to your table unless you're rearing and slaughtering the animal yourself.
@@orangeworm Yeah, and that's the conclusion I have come to for now. I just don't know. If I had the opportunity to visit and see what it's like, I would be obligated to. Singapore is doing some pretty cool stuff with the 30 by 30 program. Because of its size, all of the stuff that they are investing in also happen to use the least land, and would generally be the most sustainable. I hope that some of the best practices spill over the causeway to ourside side too. If something is proven to work in singapore's climate, there should be no excuses for malaysia to be able to implement the same thing. I spent my teenage years (8 years) living in singapore btw. My malaysian relatives drive the shortest distance instead of walking, and they find my family weird for being ok with walking so much. They always say that malaysia is too hot, and I always point at singapore (malaysia does also need better sidewalks, etc too)
I hope you guys like this one! I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of you for being here and for all of your support. I have lots of exciting things planned for 2021 that I can’t wait to announce. And if you’re still in lockdown like I am, I hope you’re handling it okay.
Make my work possible by becoming a supporter of my activism here (thank you!): www.earthlinged.org/support
Make the switch to vegan & get all of the support you need: switchtovegan.co.uk
Great work Ed ✌️👍🙏🌱🌾
Hi Ed thank you for all the work you do! I've tried downloading the free e-book, but it never sends to my email?
Respect,Ed,as always!
Thanks, such a great video again!!
love you ed, feel hugged. vegan since 2013 with my wife i know since 1998
“It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.”
- Joaquin Phoenix
Such a good quote. It takes the smallest effort on our parts to save a life or eradicate suffering. Thats why I went vegan 4yrs ago.... there really was no excuse not to!
I think it does and doesn't. It really doesn't, but there's a... perception of superiority, and being kind to animals can disrupt that view, and people don't want to disrupt that view.
@@Jessicace It's not actually a view, it's reality. We are superior to every other creature
@@georgewashingtom6516 Nice try funny troll man
@@georgewashingtom6516 humans are unique, yes. But the perception of pain is the same in most animals.
the seed is planted AND has flourished! Been vegan for a month now! absolutely 0 regrets. Thank you for your work
same! :)
Welcome!
:)
Amazing! 💛💛
That‘s great!
@Isabel deMaria why
Been vegan for 10 years. It's a very fulfilling emotion to know that you are not contributing to this global atrocity. Feels amazing to be standing on the right side of history.
😅
It's crazy for me to believe that you have been vegan for less time than me, yet you are so much more evolved and enlightened than I am. I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your work and your journey. Keep it up, my friend, you're making the world a much better place than 99% of us would ever have the energy to
I suggest you read his free ebook, it has some very logical arguments that we can all use when talking to non-vegans. You can find it in the description.
Indeed, I've been a vegetarian for 10+ years, didn't really understood vegans until I started to get more informed as to make a realization of how wrong I was. It's been hard for me but I've completely ditched milk and been ditching dairy progressively since last year. Kudos to Ed and his elevation on his diet and his influence, he was destined for it 🌱👏
You guys sound like you're in a cult.
@@Lunnalee100 you sound like a troll
I guess everyone contributes in their own special way. Some people are good with speeches and words and some prefer to stay out of spotlight. But just by being vegan, you’re already doing much more than most. So I’m proud of you too! 🥰
It is sad that good, compassionate and "animal-lover" people don't even realize how much pain they inflict on animals. I was one of them.
I feel like most of us here were those people at one time. I know I was. Thank goodness we're on the other side now
@@kittymeowmeow93 same. I have a strong feeling that in the future a lot of children will be raised vegan. That’s how I will raise mine if I ever have kids. Have a nice day!
@@hansohasashi1538 I do as too :) I plan on raising my children vegan as well if/when I have them! Thank you I hope you have a nice day as well!
@J F Mate science proves vegan diets healthier. Why do you thing vegans have a 7-10 years longe life expectancy? Better sources of protein is beans, lentils, nuts peas and soy. Those sources of protein don’t contain the unhealthy stuff that meat does like saturated fats and cholesterol which meat is packed with. We really do not need that in our diets.
@J F Mate facts are facts and talk to me some other time when the effects of your magic mushrooms or whatever herbs you are on wear off. Saturated fat and cholesterol is not good for you they are the biggest things that cause heart disease, stroke and heart attacks. Every cell in our body is actually made from proteins not cholesterol. Our bodies wouldn’t produce something that harms us. You are in denial mate. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and say: you know what, I am wrong.
It only makes it worse when you make stuff up and go into denial.
You know what they say it’s hard to win a debate with an educated person but impossible to win one with an idiot (not that you are an idiot just that you’re in denial)
Because of YOUR and Joaquin Pheonix influence, I’m celebrating 1 year being vegan. Thank you! 🌱 I’ve been vegetarian for 8 years and I regret not going vegan sooner.
Well done! 🌱
GREAT to hear that Karolina! That is INSPIRING to know that what I, and other vegans share INFLUENCES people positively!
I'm happy for you 😍
@@josephineb8916 I like burgur
@@hypn0tic109 you're pathetic 😂
Vegan for 3 years and I am the same as Ed, my only regret is that I didn’t go vegan sooner
That's every vegan's regret... I feel you.
same
Same! 3 years here
Yep, same! 8 years vegan for me exactly now in March, but it could have been some more, definitely!
Same.
I went vegan because of the animals, of course. But YOU were the one who opened my inner eyes; the eyes of my soul. You, Ed Winters, are the reason why I connected the dots. Since your video on why vegans don't consume honey, I was shocked. Why would we steal from another species? Why would we cause unnecessary suffering to sentient living individuals? So I stopped consuming the flesh of innocent hens and their ovulations (since they were the only animal products I consumed) from one day to another. Your existence is truly a relief to the world. That article about the chicken truck caught your attention for a reason. Those chickens died for a reason. Because their death made you vegan, and so you made me and thousands more vegan too. Thanks again for yet, another amazing video.
What a beautiful message
@@michaellopez-lq5fn I understand your ignorance towards the ETHICS of veganism. Because it's not a diet. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. Would you slaughter a member of your family to eat their corpse even if you love them? 😇I don't think so. So, farmers like the ones you describe care as much as factory farmers: ✨they don't✨All they care about is profit. When their "loved" animals stop producing the money they want, they kill them and sell their bodies to be "processed" and made into either gelatine or ham, or beef. They don't grieve; they don't give a 💩 And I know vegans can become deficient in some nutrients; JUST LIKE NONVEGANS if they eat inadequately. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬: 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬' 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. And even if I was deficient (which I'm not; quite the opposite. I'm healthier than ever) I would NEVER pay for someone to be killed on behalf of my health. I'd rather die first. So, no. I'm never going back. I'd rather have a bullet go through my skull before the one of an innocent non-human animal. #GoVegan
@@didakoko3723 OG MY GOD THERES VEGAN TEACHER OFFSPRINGS OML
@@michaellopez-lq5fn blah blah blah
@ lol, like I said, you vegans are incapable of handling the fact that living being die.. all of us.. innocent, evil and everything in between. What matters is that we REALLY live when we have the chance, for a cow that’s running out with the crew onto some fresh spring pasture and for us it is actually being nutritionally sound enough to enjoy our life and not be sick the whole time. Please do yourself a favor and study some biochemistry, then come back and tell me retinol might as well be beta carotene.. tell me that copper from plant sources functions the same in our bodies as from animal sources. These two nutrients missing will have you so sick. Like you said, you are part of a cult now so you’d rather die than break your rules. You have no idea the emotions people go through when they bring down a cow from their heard. I hunt even then, with my first interaction with the animal I kill it is not a cheery moment, it’s heavy and in it is the recognition that this is what surviving on this planet means. I couldn’t imagine how much more feels there would be if I raised the animal myself. You’re clearly very anti human, you’d rather see people sick and dying than a wholesome farm 🤦🏻♂️ look at the Swedish homestead, look at people like Takota Coen.. there are many farms near me I personally go to and are just like these idyllic representations of what farming could be. You vegans watch earthlings and think that’s the only option.. brainwashed. Earthling Ed and humane Hancock both admit it is the stories of great suffering that drove them vegan.. once you’re in the cult however ANY death is just the worst possible thing in the world.. lol what’s up with the bugs and bunnies in your monocrop soy fields? It’s like a chemical warfare zone so you can eat your beyond meat and soy milk.. the Geneva convention made chemical weapons illegal for us to use on each other so now they use that stuff on our plant food! Yay. Trust me meat production can be cursed the same way.. feeding those toxic plants to the animals we want to eat (biosolid fertilizers) the difference is is that you CAN grow meat in a wholesome way in most climates, way harder to do plants in a wholesome way
Vegan for 4 years. Even after loving bacon cheeseburgers and vanilla milkshakes. And even while working as a dishwasher at one point. If I can do it, anyone can.
@Luca & Rocky Good for you, everyone lives differently :)
@Luca & Rocky Here, have a reply since you're craving attention.
@@karazu121 No! what's the #1 rule of the internet? Don't feed the trolls! 😆😝
have you tried bacon from rice paper? :D it´s really good
@Luca & Rocky make sure to remember your own statement and to enjoy your diseases and health breakdowns when they get to you as well
Before going vegan I almost commited suicide multiple times due to depression and indescribable pain from rheumatism. Today I'm pain free for 3 years almost and I'll never ever ever look back. Veganism saved my life!
Glad you are here!!!
Same here... im suicidal depressed and my compassion for animals remembers me that my problems are nothing compared to theirs and my problems got smaller...if i wasnt vegan i probably wasnt here anymore too :(
@@OnesFan1 Happy to have you with us my friend! Let's fight for the animals together! 🙏♥️
Oh, wow. I'm glad you're feeling better.
@@OnesFan1 I'm sorry you're depressed. I hope you start to feel better soon.
Hello Algorithm please show this video to more people
@My Passion Natural Medicine I cannot see the problem in that.
@My Passion Natural Medicine You're VERY welcome my friend
yes
heheh sameeeeeeee
yessss please the whole world should watch Ed's videos!
I've been vegetarian since the age of 4 when I regularly saw my father slaughter chickens and pigs for the table and saw eggs come out of carcasses bloody and without shells. I knew it was wrong to do this to animals and refused to eat their flesh or eggs. I still drank milk as at that age I didn't realise that our cows and calves went off to slaughter eventually too. I'm now 72 and only became vegan 8 years ago too - like yourself Ed - when I became aware of the evils of the dairy and egg industries. I couldn't watch Earthlings in one go (had to stop after 40 mins as crying relentlessly and took 2 days for me to go back and watch the rest - I believed I knew of the atrocities it would show me still going on. It saddened me deeply to be living so long in a kakopian world. Thank you for all the work you have done and still do for those innocent creatures. I had cancer last year (recurred 10 months ago) and I dream of a world where animals are respected and left in peace but do not believe it will happen in my lifetime. Human beings are so incredibly self-serving and carelessly or callously unkind. I shall be glad to leave this world behind and hope I don't come back as an animal.
Always inspiring to see older vegans even if you had been vegetarian for most of your years. I am making the switch from vegetarian and this video along with your story reminds me that not everyone switches instantly, there are sometimes steps but that's okay. Also good luck with your cancer and as someone who is skeptical of any afterlife or reincarnation, just rest easy when you are free from our chaotic world my friend! 👍
Have you tried Mc Chicken? I don't know if I'd ever give it up
@@davidtran6928 As an ethical vegan who believes animals have the right to their own lives and bodies I never even think of them as 'food' or any business of mine. If you don't get the sanctity of life thing then you are never going to get where I'm coming from. Animals are here WITH us not FOR us.
Take care Robyn. Don't be too hasty to leave this world, we need kind and strong people like you.
@@robyndaniels1381 how are you now Robyn?
I'm 60 and very stubborn. No one could have convinced me to go vegan. It took a health crisis, hitting bottom before I would change. Then I evolved to animal compassion and sustainability.
I went vegetarian as a kid, but only went vegan 5 years ago. I was genuinely too naive to realise the egg and dairy industries were really an issue.
those industries don't want the public to know and hide what they are doing.
Same plus we have it programmed into us from a young age how important drinking milk and eating eggs is x
@@Ganpignanus yet they couldn't cover it any longer, those industries are already dying and they know it
Same
Same here
I remember as a child I really felt horrible eating meat; yet my parents kept forcing me into it so I just accepted it and moved on. Years later I was looking up recipes and saw a slaughterhouse video. It horrified me and I started reading comments... one caught my eye and made me change my tune fast. "You may not be killing the animals yourself but you pay them to do it. So it is happening because you are keeping them in business." That got me. And soon after I went vegetarian for a year and then went vegan. Almost 4 years soon and never going back. I feel a million times better and actually going vegan made me find out I had an allergy to gluten! So my digestive issues got better too :)
❤
How do they kill animals in slaughter houses? If they use guns what caliber or magnum?
@@simplehuman3907 They usually don’t use guns in bigger slaughterhouses, it all depends but the methods are horrifying nonetheless. Bolt guns are a common method for cows and other large animals, they shoot a metal rod through their head meant to stun them unconscious before their throat is slit, but many times it isn’t effective. There are also gas chambers, usually carbon dioxide I believe, you can hear the pigs and other animals scream loudly through that. Birds like chickens are usually latched upside down to a conveyor belt and then drawn through a hot electric stun bath before their heads are cut off with an automatic blade, many aren’t stunned though if they lift their head. There are other ways but these are the ones I saw in Dominion and elsewhere which I think are most common, I’d recommend watching that documentary or other slaughterhouse footage to learn more, it’s heartbreaking but it’s so important that people know what’s going on.
@@faris9832 they use guns near where I live
@@faris9832 you say bolt-action rifles, what caliber? 30-06, .338, .470?
I’m 16 year old girl from finland and next month i’ve been vegan 1 year! The best decision i made🌱💕
With such beautiful forests full of awesome game? Incredible!
Nice! Celebrate your anniversary with some great food!
hii, I'm 17 years old and I've been vegan for 7 months and just wished I turned vegan sooner, like you! congratulations for realising what is right
Atleast wait till you're fully grown and developed.
@@frazer4470 "It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes."
This is the official statement from the largest body of nutrition in the world. Thinking you need to wait is unreasonable and does reflect the reality of things.
Nonetheless, anybody should be educated on nutrition and eat balanced for sure, but that doesn't soely apply to vegans.
Your girlfriend awoke a lion in you my friend, and for that I give my respect to her.
Thank you for what you both have done for the animals and for the planet. Keep it up!
Google "Little Tyke" the VEGETARIAN lioness!
Love that you shared the fact that it was your girlfriend that was instrumental in making you a vegan by watching Earthlings and knowing your curiosity would make you join her. Hats off to her! ( and you for watching it)
Ed was skinnier when he was eating corpses; so much for that argument
he was anorexic then too
you should visit your ophthalmologist more often.
@@mrsthatcher9815 I love how vegans use words like "corpse" to antagonize omnivores. Animals are food therefore they are worthless
@@georgewashingtom6516 I love how non-vegans use words like "meat" to help themselves cope with their cognitive dissonance caused by being against animal cruelty but also paying for it to happen at the same time. Also I hope you realise humans are animals too? 😂
@@georgewashingtom6516 You're an animal too you know ? So you are saying you're worthless if you don't want to be eat. Logic...
I started crying... I've been vegan for one year and two months now. I just wish I went vegan sooner. And I'm sad that so many of my friends still eat animals :( It's hard.
Ayyyy same here, one year and two months :)
I can’t call anyone who would kill and eat my friends (any animal) a friend.
@@sarahdeshay1394 I just DUMPED a CARNIST female 'friend' today, and kindly explained why as well.
@@sarahdeshay1394 bullshit talk tough on the internet
Yeah it’s hard for me w/ my family bc they all still eat animals too :( stick with it obviously tho! You’re doing the right thing no matter what your friends say, which is amazing
I love that you use more animation now
helloo Magoo!!
woah woah, origin story of Earthling Ed the vegan superhero. This is going to be a treat and it's animated!
WHOA!
i thought i was one of the only people to go vegan after noticing all the veins in meat, good to hear i wasn't the only one 😳
One of the major seeds for me was high school biology class. We were studying vertebrates, and the teacher told us that the bone in a T-bone steak was a vertebra. I immediately announced, "I don't want to eat someone's spine!" and went vegetarian. Which in due course led to being vegan. The seeds are everywhere.
That was my final boss with fish. I found some deeply unsettling tube in a catfish 😢
"Protein deficient, time travelling hippy tree hugger" lmfao
I wouldn't mind being a time traveling tree hugging hippie.
@@lisaandbeans9645 yeah that’d be really cool
@@lisaandbeans9645 haha and the only way to travel is you have to hug a tree. I'd be all for that :)
That's me.
@@luminvader8911 you are correct lia I am a time traveller and you actually walk through the tree and come out the other side at a different time
Vegan of 4 years here, thank you for doing what you do.
This story gives me so much hope for all the prevegans out there right now.
The truth is most people are already vegan - at heart that is. If one can't kill an animal, they are vegan at heart. It's just that their external state, be it the food they eat or shoes they were, hasn't caught up to their internal state.
@@elenasingleterry5854 Yup, I totally agree. I believe nearly everyone (except for the psychopaths) is a prevegan. It just takes aligning your morals with your actions. We learned speciesism through our parents purchases and the rest of society but now it’s time for change.
@@elenasingleterry5854 only in us
@@Letthembelightpeaceonelove CONsuming DEATH, esp for years actually makes one INSANE! It's a catch 22 scenario! Research Dr. Cousens.
@@elenasingleterry5854 If you can’t watch a cow get slaughtered while eating your steak then you’re prevegan. That’s my big litmus test for being prevegan or not.
This is a great topic really for a video. Shows how vegans are just normal people who realised the truth about animal exploitation. I think we all agree, "I only wish I had changed sooner", hence wanting to guide others to change.
Nope. We definitely don't all think that. statistically the majority of people that attempt veganism will quit it. If vegans truly only want the best for their precious cause they need to reflect on why so many people cant even sustain this diet for their whole life, having the same talking points over and over and never admitting there is so much wrong with the vegan movement will only thwart and de-legitimize your cause. Which is why the biggest thing standing in the way of veganism is vegans, their notorious reputation, and ridiculously unsustainable diet.
@@danny6397 because veganism isn't a diet... it's a philosophy against the exploitation of animals. Most people that would quit would not have started it to be 'vegan', but rather to eat a plant-based diet, of course people will quit something like that, just like any other diet.
Find the same amount of proper vegans (ie people who actually care about animals) and see how many of them suddenly quit one day.
@Myth Tree Veganism is not a diet. Veganism is an ideology and an ideology can't ruin your health. Also that's just you. It's absolutely not true that vegans are unhealthy. All people need to monitor what kind of food the eat whether they are omnivores or vegans. You just didn't have a diet suitable for you personally. And you weren't a vegan cause you don't seem to know what veganism is. You were just on a plant-based diet. There is no excuse for anyone to not fight against the explotation of animals.
Almost a mirror of myself. And, like Ed, wish I had become vegan sooner.
same
Yep, me too.
And me.
Same here!!
In the mirror where your not a vegan do you look nt malnourished
Been vegan 5 years now. My story:
On and off vegetarian my whole life, dairy made me ill but still was addicted to it.
After I had surgery that went wrong on my jaw in 2016 I couldn't eat and lived on liquids and smoothies. I lost half my body weight in 6 months. At that point I became overly sensetive to what I was consuming, I felt guilt eating meat, stopped. Kept telling my mum to not keep putting cream cheese in my soups, she thought I needed it because I needed to fatten up, It made me feel ill and something felt wrong about consuming dairy now (note I was unaware of what happens to dairy cows this point or barely knew what vegan was.)
I still was eating eggs but rarely until one day a few months later, I was offered a cooked runny egg from my friends parents. They would normally get thiee eggs from thier grandparents chickens. I only ate "free range" so thought yeah why not its from thier hens I ASSUMED. I ate it and it tasted.. blander and more disgusting that I remember eggs. Later on I wandered into thier kitchen to put the plate away when I saw the carton of eggs on the worktop, large packet of cheap "eggs from caged hens". My heart sank knowing I ate from battery hens like I'd been duped.
That day I thought and thought hard and decided to never eat anything from an animal again not knowing what happens to them. I barely knew what to eat and lived on smoothies and soft tomato pasta for MONTHS. Until I looked online and found out what vegan means and how to eat.
My mother followed months later, she said to me: she saw how disgusted and sad I was when I had to buy her eggs milk etc, refusing meals, she picked up on it and turned vegan too and now is very active activist. My brother soon followed.
Ah, I wish I had family that understood me like that. My mother is a hunter and so is my grandfather. My father considers veganism immasculine, and my brother thinks Joe Rogan is smart... so he is considering the carnivore diet. It's very frustrating. To top it all off, I'm the only one in my family who believes in climate change, and I'm studying to be an ecologist. Whether they say it or not, my family essentially thinks my degree is bullshit. I'm just happy my husband is vegan.
gosh wish I had a family like yours lol
I went vegetarian at the age of 15, vegan now 5 years and happily for life
That is so cool
Fuck. Vegan at 15 whilst you were still growing and developing. Long-term detrimental issues incoming very soon.
@@frazer4470 nah I’m in the best health. In fact since going vegan my asthma is gone completely. My buddy who eats meat has diabetes and was told to take B12 otherwise s she will have serious problems.
@@frazer4470 you didn’t even take the time to read the comment, it said “vegetarian at15”. Personally I’ve been vegetarian since the age of 15 and vegan for the past 4-5 years and have not had the need for any medical attention or even an aspirin for many many years. So my guess is that you are incorrect.
I'm 15 and went vegetarian when I was 14, I'm definitely going to go vegan eventually but at this point I'm still learning more and slowly transitioning and exploring alternatives :)
amazing video
you’re so lucky that you and your girlfriend agree on this, finding a partner who is on the vegan journey with you is precious
You got that right. When you've been with your partner for 11 years and 10 of those years you have been vegan and they have NOT, it can be really frustrating.
@@marcdeneus977 I wouldn't stay with someone like that with whom I have incompatible moral values
sounds like a dream, i long for a vegan partner :/
This is such a high-quality video Ed!
Similar story here, Ed. Never even thought I'd be vegetarian. Then I did. I thought that was enough. Then I saw a video like you and vegan now 5.5 years, just shy of you....
@Pablo B oh wow, that's an amazing transformation. I'm the same way with sidewalks, etc., too. Thanks for sharing...
it's too easy for us to ignore what happens to these poor, poor animals behind our backs 🥺
Why do you believe animals are being mistreated?
@athesit humanist First off Rude! Second many livestock operations actually supply there animals with nice comfortable lives and there are regulations in place that aim to keep animals calm and comfortable at all times with mistreatment being illegal and highly frowned upon.
@@BadNewsChief You keep telling yourself that buddy, anything to keep dining on animal flesh :)
yeah, just admit that they're being misstreated, and i am not vegan or vegetarian, and i have no inmediate plans of becoming one, but i recognice that they're being misstreated
i used to make fun of vegans alot when i was younger... I'm so ashamed of myself for doing so now
Yep, I did it as a vegetarian too 🙈 what a nob I was haha
@@FightingForAnimals-Jean i did too not long ago but im vegetairan now, and im on the path of vegan
@@thinginground5179 Get away from that path while you still can
@@georgewashingtom6516 no thanks. I had a magic mushroom experience that completely changed my view on the world including living creatures, so no, ill follow the mushroom.
@@georgewashingtom6516 you're in the flesh eating cult no doubt. your comments are very telling.
Thank you little Rupert, for showing Ed that everyone is someone. 💚
tribute to rupert the hamster for showing ed the truth and helping him become the legend he is today 💚🐹
Very well said. Earthlings documentary is a brutal reality that industry hides.
The worst part is waiting for friends and family to come to the vegan conclusion as well and being powerless to change their mind right now.
I can relate. My family eats meat, cheese, milk on a daily basis, they are repulsed when I try to make them taste the food I eat. Always talking about balance and generally just dismissing any kind of conversation about the topic - saying they couldn't do it, that it's not right. And they still claim they're animal lovers.
@Myth Tree You went vegan without researching how to do it safely. That doesn't mean that there's no vegans out there who consulted with a dietician or who studied nutrition.
@Myth Tree Then you probably have an underlying condition that isn't being addressed. I know Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, when untreated, can cause tons of different symptoms when you eat certain vegan protein sources (and it is largely undiagnosed). And in my case, I went undiagnosed with Crohn's disease for a long time, and when that's active, fiber is harmful. There's a lot of illnesses like that, and when they're treated and under control, veganism isn't an issue.
There's a lot of science that veganism can be incredibly healthy, and much better than other diets. So if it doesn't work for your body, you need to investigate, because that isn't normal. And I'm not saying this to be rude; I'm saying this out of genuine concern.
My sister tried to go vegan and got incredibly sick. She thought it was because of veganism not being healthy, but later I pursued testing and it turned out I, as well as most of the rest of my family, had Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. It wasn't the veganism. It was the soy and canned beans. This was remedied by cooking beans from scratch in a pressure cooker, among various other dietary changes.
And just so you know, by sick, I don't just mean digestive issues; MCAS can cause headaches, migraines, facial flushing, concentration issues, even depression and anxiety or joint pain. In response to food.
It doesn't help that MCAS was only discovered in 2007, only being officially classified as a diagnosis in 2011, so the vast majority of people don't have a diagnosis and don't know they have it; even most doctors outside of the research hospitals in Boston don't know about it, just because of how new it is in science (it was discovered in Boston). And it's estimated to affect up to 17% of the population. Honestly when I hear someone went vegan, had issues, and couldn't stay vegan, that always seems like a red flag to me.
@Myth Tree Okay. Give me your proof. And just so you know, it was the same with my sister; because she stopped being vegan and therefore stopped eating so much soy and canned beans, she got better too. But it didn't treat her underlying condition at all; it just made it so she wasn't experiencing symptoms nearly as much.
And here's my proof for my statements:
www.brighamandwomens.org/medicine/gastroenterology-hepatology-and-endoscopy/advances-newsletters/reducing-gastrointestinal-symptoms-using-mast-cell-disorder-identification-and-treatment
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3787002/
Why do you want to impose your beliefs in your family? Don't be that guy
This was so very relatable, I was a vegetarian for a long time until it didn't make sense anymore and I made the leap to becoming vegan. It's been four years now and I'm never going back.
Amazing animation job 👍🏽
It’s the weirdest thing what makes it click for people.
I kinda always knew vegans were right. Even when I made fun of them. I knew they were right, I never convinced myself with stupid arguments I kinda brushed the subject off with humor. Until I decided to honestly listen to vegan arguments and I went vegan over a a couple of days. I toyed with the idea of still eat fish for a day, but that made no logical sense. So I went vegan.
It’s hard to find the right trigger. No one could have ever forced or guilted me. My Defence mechanisms were too strong. I’m damn sad it took so long in hindsight.
As humans we're hesitant to embrace change, because form an evolutionary perspective any behavioural deviation from what we know could potentially lead to death, it's just in our nature. Of course it would be great if everybody had the realization faster and we wouldn't needlessly kill animals on an unimaginable scale, but I, for one, am glad people make the connection at all. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad you did
I always felt that veganism was and still is the superior and idealistic form of diet for humans. Too many studies show people who eat high levels of animal based foods have the most complicated health problems than people on a planet based diet. I also question studies that are sponsored by the meat and dairy industries as any science that only seeks for profit is always corrupted.
There was a bloke called Dave who, when I was a young lad, was my swimming teacher, he was our window cleaner and he was my driving instructor, he taught me a lot, not so much about cleaning windows. One driving lesson, summer 1989, we were sat in a nissan micra on those Oldham streets where terraced houses used to stand, I had just practiced three point turns, we were next to a slaughterhouse listening to the cries of distressed pigs and had a conversation about it. Since that day I have not eat meat and I'm a bit older now, but I never went back, the overriding thought always being, 'who am I to be the one to decide to eat another sentient beings flesh?'
Then please consider cutting of dairy and eggs too. They also land in a slaughterhouse just a bit later after a hellish life.
I love this, I just did a video asking people to film themselves saying why they went Vegan. I think it is a great form of Activism for all Vegan's to share their story
truly inspiring
My only regret is I didn’t did my research and go vegan earlier.
That's what EVERY vegan has in common, so never feel any guilt. Consumer of vile animal products for 26 years... then, Dairy Is Scary came through the RUclips algorithm's pipes and blew up in my face 😅😆😜
@Cunningcatfish Cunningcatfish are you here to tell us we're all crazy ?
@Cunningcatfish Cunningcatfish yeah i mean all. Like everyone haha. Nah, all I mean is what do you really know what you're talking about ?
@Cunningcatfish Cunningcatfish you're a good person. But, I think we're all crazy
@Luca & Rocky Pretty sure destroying the worlds natural environment is worse then annoying the world. but okay.
"Never underestimate the power of a seed"
chickens' blue veins and blueish-white skin with goose bumps in a supermarket, just like mine that winter, made me go vegan overnight. There is something about veins.
That's an interesting one, never heard someone say that.
Since I was a kid, I was really empathetic toward animals, "even" bugs. My family indoctrinated me with the idea that vegetarians were all pale, skinny and sick, exactly like you said in the video, so I accepted eating animals as a survival necessity. Then, when I was 18 years old, thanks to Krishna's devotees I finally discovered that there were many people who were healthy vegetarians and vegans. The great thing is that, me and my Dad became vegetarians in the same time, without even talking each other about it. It has been such a wonderful surprise. :)
Now I've been vegan for 12 years!
vegan for 6 years? congrats!
Six years of malnutrition and deficiencies. But apart from that great job.
@@frazer4470 oh my
@@frazer4470 no worries, Tom. You can be healthy and vegan, every good nutritionist will tell you this! But sure everyday kfc is soooo much healthier 😃😉
@@helloitsme4381 And you can be healthy and non vegan.
@The pigeon Weirdo Same for non vegans.
Please, RUclips, recommend this to more people! 💚💚💚💚
Thanks!
When I was in kindergarten I went on a trip where I lectured a hunter over the animal heads he hung in his home while eating hotdogs and hamburgers.
When I was 5, I saved amphibians from being run over, eating meat on bread as a snack during breaks. When we were kids, we copied our parents. We didn't know better.
It just goes to show that I was born to be vegan long before I was even introduced to the concept.
@@cmntr_ IS YOU A VEGAN TEACHER IN DISGUISE???
@Anon Anon Getting close to 7 years. BiteSizeVegan was my introduction to the concept and a full day of watching undercover factory farm and slaughter house footage cemented my decision.
comment for algorithm
Thanks to JP, I became vegan overnight at the end of 2019 and I don't regret it. When I see certain animal foods that I used to like to eat, I occasionally think: it was delicious. But I saw the truth and now I know what it's all about. Then I'll be happy when I come home, open the fridge and see my broccoli. ;-) I understand Rupert the hamster. Thanks for your hard work!
thank you, person reading this, for caring about animals with your heart and with your actions and choices. it matters more than you know.
Vegan for 3 years. I didn’t know your partner was one of the pushes for you to go vegan. Kudos to both of you and I love the animations:)
Tree hugging is awesome. I tried it recently just to see, and it's amazingly relaxing. I got my nephews to try it too and the younger one said, 'I want to hug more trees!' Later, as we were leaving the park, he said, 'I'm going to tell mummy about this and she's going to think I'm crazy. Mummy and Daddy already think you're crazy.'
You are an inspiration to us all.
I went Vegan at the start of lockdown, and watching your videos was a big factor in making the change. It must be hard to find the resolve to keep fighting sometimes, as the deck is pretty stacked against us. But you are making a difference by taking a stand for those who can't. Thank you, truly, from someone you have helped live a kinder life.
So awesome. I think the biggest issue is people are ignorant to what these animals are going through. I know I was. I even went through the vegetarian phase and thought it was enough but it truly isn't. It is so sad that at this point in the world, information is so abundant, but people just do not take the time to do the research. I truly believe that if all humans had to watch these animals suffer, so many more people would go vegan.
nah, i think ppl just dont care about animal suffering (like me) and that is why there are so non vegan (i'm not vegan)
@@vencedor1774It's cool you can admit to that but may I ask why you don't care about animal suffering? When I see what animals have to go through in slaughter footage videos my soul shatters and I feel utterly powerless and I feel intense empathy. What makes it easy for others to ignore something that is so serious for the animal or for the people watching...
@@enchantmentforests ig the taste of it or the fact that i dont give a fuck or why should i care... That tyoe of stuff
Your videos were my final push to adapting a vegan lifestyle after being vegetarian for some years. I have never watched a documentary about animal cruelty because they upset me too much. I remember watching one of your videos that showed a clip of animal farming no more than a second, and it brought me to tears. For a long time I also didn't see the point in veganism, but in that moment I realized that I had been avoiding the truth that I could not handle. I just want to thank you for what you're doing, because your voice is making a big difference.
25 years veggie, vegan 3 and just wish I’d been vegan for 25 years!
you will be one day.
Wow that's amazing, just think how many lives you saved being veggie for that long tho! I've been vegan 5 years, veggie two years before that... But I ate animals products for 25 years before that... It's so weird though because it feel like a different person that ate animals for all those years.
My only regret is also not doing it sooner! 🌱
46 and 5 for me and I’m so sorry the truth about dairy wasn’t discovered sooner myself. At least you only missed 22 years and not 41! Thanks for being you.
You made me change what I eat three days ago. I emptied my freezer and cupboards of animal products and filled the fridge with a garden. I hate that it took me so long. It was like a light bulb in my head when I saw one of your videos. I already knew everything you said, but you worded so profoundly that I cried. Now the thought of eating anything animal based sickens me. I can’t believe it took me so long to think this way. It was like a switch. One minute I was craving chilli con carnie and the next I was spewing it down the toilet. I want to scream at my past self and just tell myself to listen to what vegans have to say! I wanna shake myself so much. I feel so guilty for liking that food. It’s literally been three days but my life has changed. Thank you sir. You made me see sense.
Best of all, you know you're being ethical and never causing suffering to animals from now on ❤️🙏👍
You’re a shining light in an insidious world
In a world full of people that look to gain, you look to liberate and it is so inspiring
I’m guessing your ignoring the fact he gets money and donations from this🤦♂️
@@Assassin99584 I really pity you. You have no life apart from shit posting under Ed's videos. What a waste.
@@Assassin99584 Okay and?
@@yuxutin so clearly he has a gain
@@Assassin99584 He is helping animal cruelty awareness, it's his job. That doesn't change the science, or his ethics.
Algorithm
Algorithm indeed
+1
A very similar story for me and my girlfriend Rachel. The one regret we both have is that we didn’t become vegan sooner 💚🌱
Big THANK YOU to all the trolls here in the comment section, you are a help for pushing our videos through the RUclips algorithm!! 😉💚
yes, they are annoying but they have their uses...
@@Ganpignanus sure, yes, but they are all also potential vegans, haha!
Some are just young and do not know how to overcome their ego and deal with their insecurity and defense mechanism when their belief system is confronted by others.
@@DonnieX6 i hope you're right. some of them are very nasty
@@DonnieX6 Ahahah!
I'm not getting emotional here, I'm just cutting onions I swear 😥
Me too. Lot's of onions ;)
It blows my mind how much our journeys parallel each other. It's almost identical, even the time line. Thank you for EVERYTHG you do Ed. You're very much appriciated.
The movie Free Willie, that I watched as a young kid with tears streaming down my face, contributed to my passion for animal rights for sure
Me too!
aww i love that movie 🐋
Haha the vegan community bonds over their love for movies involving sea animals :D
Almost 5 years ago one day I was eating mutton curry with my family. While eating the leg piece I suddenly realised that I was eating someone's leg.. "someone's"..not something. After that I could never eat mutton. But I used to eat chicken and fish and dairy products. In 2020 lockdown period my sister showed me a "Kinder World" video which revealed the cruelty on chickens and after watching that I stopped eating chicken. And I am intolerant to eggs..this is like blessing to me..now I don't eat dairy too..but I have to eat fish till now because my parents don't listen to me when I tell why not to eat fish.
Ed, I’m 20 years old and your story is almost identical to mine. I also had a KFC addiction and would get KFC almost daily. I went vegetarian when I was 14 after making the “how is a chicken any different to my pet dog?” Kind of connection. But I was a vegetarian who thought vegans were extreme. Then I learned about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries, then discovered your channel. and now I’ve been vegan for 5 years.
this was brilliant, really interesting seeing your transition to veganism! Thank you for helping me become vegan too!
"my only regret is not going vegan sooner"
same
Same too!
same
Same!
Same!
same
I have been a vegetarian my entire life, and recently have turned vegan. Sometimes people often ask me what my religion is, and I often reply by saying, “I’m simply vegan. I believe in veganism. No caste, race, god, but just a lifestyle I pray to.”
Your videos give me so much strength to continue this journey!
Vegan 2 years vegetarian 7 years. I wish I went vegan sooner.
I'm eternally grateful to my parents for being vegetarian. Now it's time to go vegan
I was a vegetarian for 6 months before travelling a bit and coming home and reading Peter Singer's, Animal Liberation, i went vegan overnight and haven't looked back for over 11 years now.
True. That book was horrifying but eye opening. I remember a picture of an old ad for animal testing equipment - a restrainer for rabbits. The slogan read “the only thing that will wiggle is the tail”. Although I was already a vegetarian, I was blown away by cruelty and cynicism of that “tongue-in-cheek” line
Three years vegan. Husband won't change his views and still eats meat but he's mostly on a vegan diet because I'm the cook!
same here :)
divorce him
@@zahravardin1283 yes
@Myth Tree Any diet can be unhealthy if you don't get the required nutritiants your body needs daily. What necessary nutritiants do you feel are missing in a vegan diet?
@Myth Tree So going with anecdotal evidence isn't good enough. All the vegans you know are sick, all the vegans I know are healthy. It gets us nowhere. I care about data, it's a more accurate way of determining truth.
That being said, could you bring up one point or anything to go on? Saying there's thousands of videos isn't that helpful. Can you explain why or link to a video that explains why the vegan diet isn't healthy? All I've seen is evidence to the contrary provided you have a well balanced diet getting the nutritiants you need.
I cry every time I see one of your videos. My heart is heavy and it truly makes it hard to continue my day but I know you are providing this information for a good reason. I completely support everything that you do. I just can't shake the sadness I feel every time my family or friends eats meat. Sometimes it puts me into a depression and forces me to confront the realization that the majority of our society does not care about the meat and dairy industry.
i feel the same :(
It is out of your control, the suffering of the world is not your fault or for you to correct. You're doing all you can, which is enough. Rejoice in the fact that you have reached this point.
Ed doesn't just teach me things about veganism with his videos, but useful vocabulary too 🙏
Thanks for sharing, Ed. Deep down most of us would probably cringe at ourselves if we saw our behavior before we actually took the plunge. It's great to be open about this because 99% of this community wasn't born vegan. This video is an excellent example of introspection of what people LOOK like as they're conflicted with the notion. Hope this makes the rounds outside of our community and lands on open minds. Cheers!
since i discovered Ed, i always thought if he has a girlfriend, she is super lucky bec Ed is super smart, patient and environmentalist person..
Considering she made him watch Earthlings, I guess she's a great fit for him
I used to think vegans were odd, now when I meet new people, within less than 5 minutes I have told them that I’m vegan and how great it is now
@J Lyon well they're proud, as they should be. why not tell people.
Sometimes it's practical to say it right away so that people do not offer you food that you don't eat (at least that's why I do it at work or within a friendly circle).
@J Lyon most definitely don't believe that. & also, id hold cows compared to insect's on much different levels when referring to sentience.
@J Lyon so you dont eat any vegetables and neither do the cows you eat? Im sorry but the insect argument is stupid
Story of my life😅
It's "funny" and kind of ironic: I have always seen myself as an animal lover, even when I ate meat, dairy and eggs and wore leather and used animal tested products.
Today I see it as very strange that when it comes to animals, this is - as far as I can think off - the only issue were we can pay for enormous violence and abuse and still see ourselves as "loving" towards the one abused. Love should never entail abuse, violence, exploitation or murder.
"Animal welfare" is used to destribe the practices of animal use (abuse) in my home country, but if we were to treat any group of humans in any way resembling how we treat non-human animals, it would never be regarded as welfare, but as torture and abuse. Same goes for pets. If we were to shoot dogs or cats in the head and cut their throats, no one would ever use the word "welfare" or "humane" to describe it.
My sense of care and love for animals haven't changed since I became vegan, but my perspective of what constitutes care and love certainly have.
Omg Ed, your beef experience as a kid was my exact experience too - finding some sort of artery in a bolognese sauce was the shock I needed to stop eating meat. Super gross!
Love this video, thanks so much for sharing, and for everythin you do.
Much love 🙏🏼💚✌🏼
Veins and tendons are the best parts!
@@vojtechotava1417 humans too. Babies especially
@@Debate_Bot Can't judge...
Where are you from? Mogadishu? 😃
@@vojtechotava1417 youre nuts. and cruel.
@@Ganpignanus Just the truth...
It's crazy how so many of us have a similar story, I feel like people don't realize that many of us vegans were just like them before. We thought veganism was silly and pointless, but we researched and learned and we let the truth change us. It's such a beautiful feeling once you figure it out. If you're reading this and you aren't vegan, sure you can reply something stupid that no one will find funny, or you can go do some research with an open mind and find that the truth has been around you all along. Good luck 😊
I'm not vegan, but the seeds are planted, they have been for some time.
is something stopping you from making the decision?
Honestly just go for it man, it’s a life changing decision. If you do decide to do it, there’s a whole lot of people ready to support you on the other side.✊🏼
@@Magani79 probably the fact that a plant based diet is usually more expensive due to how subsidized animal products are
try some weed repellent until it's too late.
@@Magani79 yes, society, family, culture, peer pressure, routine, what I'm used to, I could go on. And I do know, change yourself blah blah. I am ready for change and as I said seeds are planted, but 'life' does make things extremely difficult. I am with you though all, ready for a revolution. Veganaism is 100% the future and what is inevitable to human kind.
I think the seeds are already planted with lots of pre-vegans
This whole seeds thing is a bit of a rebuttal
@@Assassin99584 thank you for your valuable input on this topic, my dear assassin, and thanks for feeding the algorithm 😉💚
and good to see our princess Emma here, binged a lot of your old interviews recently!
@@Assassin99584 What do you mean by "rebuttal"? Rebuttal to what? Are you sure you know what that word means?
@@fearofaveganplanet8513 The vegan argument is an emotional argument. Animals do not have personality nor feelings nor free will. They are biological machines that react to stimuli, and they only follow their primitive instincts.
On May 1st I will have been vegan 1 year. I went vegan after watching land of hope and glory. Initially I said I'd try it for a month, but I've never gone back! Best decision I ever made! Thank you Ed, for making me see the reality of the consequences of the meat and dairy industry
Great video Ed, I'll be four years Vegan this coming Patrick's Day☘ really wish i aligned my ethics & actions sooner but delighted I finally got there in the end.🌱✊🌍
There is no hell for animals, they are already in it. "Victor Hugo"
YES! Great quote!
its ok once they are cooked they are free
@@bullcogs7975 Death is not freedom. Go back to the damn middle ages where that concept makes sense.
@@alekz112 they are free to be my food, settle down its ok
@@bullcogs7975 What if someone from a cannibal tribe said to another member of his tribe, "Once he is cooked, he is free." By "he," the cannibal is referring to you. What if the cannibal said, "He is free to be my food, settle down its ok," to a non-cannibal tribe member? Do you agree with the cannibal? Is ok for him to eat you?
Earthlings was the most difficult film I've ever watched. I litetally cried through the entire thing. It is "emotionally devastating" I'm happy to say I've been vegan over 5 years and it's the best decision I ever made.
your videos always make me tear up, but in the best way ever, cause i see how much effort u put into it and how beautiful it can be to feel all this compassion towards the animals, thankyou
If everyone would be this flexible there would be way more Vegans out there. Thanks for sharing your story.
I watched dominion after a vegan friend had recommended it to me. I always considered myself someone who stands up for social justice and who looks out for everyone and everything, empathy is my most important value. I also am a bit of a debate nerd, I like rhetoric and outwitting someone in an argument. "This vegan stuff is so silly, I'll get through this film ready to take on any argument thrown at me". But that film literally changed me, dominion is so heart-wrenching and painful, it took me multiple hours to finish due to crying and needing breaks. I went vegan the next day and it has been a little over a year since. Going vegan is literally as easy as ever and it has only improved my life. Everyone says it but it's because it's so true, my only regret is not doing it sooner. (Ed's videos also helped me learn a lot and scratch that debate nerd itch so I appreciate him for that).
Dominion was extremely powerful for me too. I watched it earlier this year because I had checked out a vegan podcast and it was mentioned on there.
Slaughterhouse footage never really did it for me, because it was always footage of 'some other country'. But Dominion was more powerful for me because I lived for years as an international student in Australia. I actually ate that stuff. And as a student, I always chose the cheapest option in terms of meat, milk, eggs. I chose caged eggs at Aldi because I vaguely heard something about how there's no difference between caged eggs and free range (probably not the message vegans are hoping the public take away from that statement).
For me, it's not the concept of killing animals that got to me. Watching Anonymous for the Voiceless videos, it struck me how far removed people in the west seem to have become frim thr meat they consumed. They will happily eat meat but refused to see a chicken being slaughtered. Or how they would see eating stuff like innards and chicken feet as 'weird', and make fun of other cultures for eating them. (And that's why I was always qhite supportive of people like Gordon Ramsay who talked about needing to know where your food comes from, and wasting nothing from the animal).
What got me though are the conditions in industrialised agriculture. The conditions we have now is a far cry from what it was like for my grandmother growing up where they raised and slaughtered their own chickens. When the global population was just a fraction of what they are now, and when people ate meat infrequently because it was an expensive luxury.
The first thing I dropped was milk. I like milk, a lot. But learning why cows produce milk made me decide it's not worth it. Gassing chambers for pigs just made me ask 'Why?'. For me, I thought: "That can't possibly be true. Why in the world would you choose carbon dioxide out of all gases; are you trying to choose the most painful way to kill the animal?" So I looked it up, and I looked up proper scientific journals because I have a science background. And I learnt that you can't use nitrogen because it is less dense than air and won't stay in the pit, and you use carbon dioxide because it is more dense than air. And then I realised that this was actually legit.
It's been a month since I started diving down the vegan rabbit hole. I stopped cooking and buying animal products at home, but still eat what I'm served when I go to my grandmother's on weekends (maybe 2-3 meals a week). I have started checking out vegan restaurants in my area. The main thing keeping me from going all in on veganism at this point is a fear that it would damage my relationship with my family. So many dishes and traditions linked to meat. I have a cousin, and her parents, who are vegan. And they are always kinda slightly apart from everyone else during family gatherings.
There's also a part of me that thinks; hey, maybe it's not that bad here (in malaysia). Our 'kampung chicken' is actually free range, not legal loophole free range like in the west (and you verify it on your plate because the meat is stringy and the bones are thicker and stronger). Not the chickens with weak bones that grow too quickly like you see in these videos.
But 'kampung chicken' is expensive and everything else is pretty much a product of industrialised agriculture.
And practically all our beef comes from overseas (the cheap stuff is buffalo from India, the expensive stuff is aussie; both of which dominion covered).
And our milk (whole and powdered) is mostly from australia and new zealand.
And the seas are overfished even as we reclaim over coastal mangroves and breeding grounds for fish, and fishmeal is an amazingly inefficient food source for farmed fishes.
And oh yeah, the land area required for growing animal feed in general. So yeah.... pretty much everything else isn't that great.
I'm not quite onboard the whole vegan thing on all killing of animals is inherently wrong. Like I probably won't shed a tear for insects, or cochineal production. And I think farming bivalves are sound from an environmental perspective.
But as I dip my toes into trying out veganism, I think I understand the vegan perspective of saying 'all animals'. Because there is also the sheer mental exhaustion of trying to figure out the ethical implication of each animal you eat. The worry of loopholes being exploited. It's might just be easier to just cut out every animal if you don't know the exact conditions in which it comes from.
And as I try this out and learn that I am capable of cutting out animal products from my diet, there's suddenly a lack of a 'need' to go the extra effort of looking for some sort of animal food too.
From an environmental perspective, I think that the world needs to cut out industrialised animal agriculture. And eating the insane amounts of animal products that has encouraged its existence in the first place. It's not even climate change for me (which I have kinda resigned to as being somewhat inevitable), but more the loss of biodiversity you have from replacing so much wildeness with agriculture. We can't expect natural systems to be resilient against climate change when we are actively chipping away at it like that. Maybe animal agriculture can be justified with utilising food waste, but that's going to be a lot less than what exists right now.
So, I haven't gone Vegan, but I might eventually do so. From what I understand now, 'big V' Veganism kinda carries with it the philosopical position as well, that obligates one to take the active position.
As someone who trained parkour, the analogy for me was saying that I 'trained parkour', or call myself a 'parkour practitioner' for a really long time, before I dared to call myself a 'traceur'. It's a mindset shift, and a way to view the world.
So maybe one day I will say that I practice veganism. And I might say that for a long time before I even call myself a Vegan.
@@elaiej As a Singaporean, I agree with you about kampung chicken. I feel it is probably most ethical when it is sourced and distributed amongst a community, but of course there's always demand, from restaurants etc that results in industrialised agriculture, large - scale and regular slaughtering of the chickens, even if they are 'bred better'... and so when you consume a dish made with kampung chicken, you can never be 100% sure of how the chicken was brought to your table unless you're rearing and slaughtering the animal yourself.
@@orangeworm Yeah, and that's the conclusion I have come to for now. I just don't know. If I had the opportunity to visit and see what it's like, I would be obligated to.
Singapore is doing some pretty cool stuff with the 30 by 30 program. Because of its size, all of the stuff that they are investing in also happen to use the least land, and would generally be the most sustainable. I hope that some of the best practices spill over the causeway to ourside side too. If something is proven to work in singapore's climate, there should be no excuses for malaysia to be able to implement the same thing.
I spent my teenage years (8 years) living in singapore btw. My malaysian relatives drive the shortest distance instead of walking, and they find my family weird for being ok with walking so much. They always say that malaysia is too hot, and I always point at singapore (malaysia does also need better sidewalks, etc too)
“May all that have life be delivered from suffering.” - Buddha 💚
Right message but given by a person who failed to stay true to their own message
Buddha was a meat-eater.
@@eliohtvivanco8315 Fr tho🤣 just love the quote and live by it
@@1endlesssoul Sure, do whatever helps you sleep better
@@v.a.n.e.
Then they made a mistake. Doesn't diminish the value if the quote.