I never imagined this would happen.
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 13 май 2024
- 📚 Get your copy of my new book How to Argue With a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time) here: howtoarguewithameateater.com
🌱 Make my work possible by becoming a supporter (thank you!): earthlinged.org/support & / earthlinged
🎤 Organise a speech at your workplace or university: earthlinged.org/contact
♻️ Shop my ethical clothing brand I.D.E.A. Studios: weareideastudios.com/
TODAY'S VIDEO:
Today marks ten years to the day that I came across something that changed my life forever and became a major catalyst for who I am today. So, in today’s video, I wanted to talk about what happened, how it changed my life and what it actually taught me that became so important.
MY PRODUCTION SET UP:
Equipment I use to film my content: kit.co/earthlinged
How I get my copyright free music (get 2 extra months free): bit.ly/3DASdmH
Where I get aesthetic copyright free footage (get 2 extra months free): bit.ly/3S8NA7t
☄️ Connect:
Instagram: / earthlinged
TikTok: / earthlinged
Facebook: / earthlingedpage
What moment stands out to you when you reflect on how you became vegan?
🌱Make my work possible in 2024 by becoming a supporter (thank you!): earthlinged.org/support & patreon.com/earthlinged
when i realised that 'vegan' is the food dogma of new age spiritualism as described in 'the celestine prophecy' i just had to re-read the book. i was enjoying it until i got to the last couple of chapters where its revealed to be nature worship, promotes dep*p of humanity to under 500 million and the main guy reaches enlightenment and becomes an ethereal being of light (lucifer)
find god, dont believe in this pseudo religion of human hatred
there have been two moments in my life:
1. when i was a child, i found out that "morcilla" (blood sausage) was made from a pig's blood. At the moment i found it disgusting, but everybody seemed to not care. It was so established that people found it completely normal.
2. Watching your Ted talk debunking anti-vegan arguments last December. It caused me to think a lot about my decisions and, ultimately, led me to become vegan. Thank you, Ed!!
for me it was someone saying vegetarians are hypocrites (which i was at the time) and that kinda annoyed me so i started doing research into why someone would think or say that
and then i found all the disgusting animal abuse in the industry also veganism helped a lot of with my health
but yeah thats kinda how it happened for me i watched docus like "what the health" and speeches from you gary yourofsky, and a lot of content from joey carbstrong
all that made me go vegan on the spot and never looked back even once
👋
*2024.................Year of the Vegan Activist!* 🏆
I became vegetarian and subsequently vegan after I entered university to study animal sciences with the hope of becoming a vet. I discovered that Animal Sciences is more about production than it is about medicine. I had to go to all the farms, slaughterhouses, see all the horrible things that happened within the meat and dairy industry. I never looked back. Best decision Ive ever made.
It's the same with veterinary nursing. I had to do all those awful things to animals. I blocked it out of my mind for years.
My vegan naturopath told me that cows have to be lactating to produce milk and were forcibly impregnated. I had naively thought that they just produced milk all the time, never made the link. The penny dropped - I went from vegetarian to vegan overnight. Has been 13 years now and I am 66 years old
The first ever documented positive experience at a naturopath, well done!
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
I thought the same about the continual producing milk until I learnt the ugliest truth about constant impregnating. I thought a nice lifestyle until I realise how disgusting and filthy environment and how much the dairy industry has fed lies and brain washed people and hidden so many truths
So many many experiences as a child being fed animals rabbit heart liver kidneys brain I understand what it was.
As soon as my parents weren't able to stop me I became veggie.
The vegan transition was much later 30 plus years when I realised who we get cows milk that hens eggs are their embryos! So that was it for me. Then I gave it a go and it was sooooo ludicrously easy!
Wish I'd done it sooner decade's sooner
Do you mind sharing your vegan naturopath!? I’d love to find a vegan one to work with!
Just out of university I spent a year working on a dairy farm in New Zealand. All the cows were clearly distressed when their calves were taken away, but one of the cows was allowed to keep her calf longer than normal. Her grief was like nothing I’ve seen before or since. Every day she would race ahead of the herd to the milking shed, the last place she saw her calf, and bellow and bellow until eventually she lost her voice and all she could raise was a hoarse croak. It was heartbreaking to watch. To my shame, it took another 30 years for me to adopt a vegan diet, but as Ed says, a seed had been planted.
fffffffffffk dairy farmers just watch this regularly.
Love some good veal
very sad to read your experience of the cows' experiences.
Some of these stories are so sad 😢
@@lauratanln
Lol
A significant moment for me happened when I was around 4 years old. I had caught this bumblebee in a cup. I thought it was really exciting and shook the cup for a while. Suddenly, the bumblebee didn´t move anymore. My father told me bluntly that I had killed it. I can remember it as something falling into place. I understood that the poor bumblebee had a life and its own individual experience and that I had taken its life away from it, which really upset me. We buried it in a flower pot, and I think this was the starting point for my empathy towards other animals and, eventually, going vegan.
Went vegan overnight 5 years ago. What stands out after making the change is the feeling of isolation that I never felt before (being a quite extroverted person). Being judged by the negative and sceptical attitudes of friends family and coworkers, made me feel like I was different and that I needed to always be ready to defend myself. Those relationships have improved but are still very different from pre-vegan me.
In 1985 I was driving and got stopped next to a cattle truck. One of the cows lowered its head and looked directly at me through one of the vents in the truck. In his eyes I saw such sorrow, and fear. I honestly felt he was begging me for help. I became a vegetarian and over the next 2 decades I finally quit eating seafood, eggs, & dairy.
I've seen those trucks and seen the cows looking out and they look so fearful, same for the sheep. It leaves me ruminating for quite some time
That made me cry 😢
11 years ago I went vegan and all I regret is that I didn't do it sooner.
I had to get 33 years old to recognize that a cow doesn't "give us milk" - she hast to be a mother as all mammals do.
After that embarassing moment of "What the hell was I thinking? I am a grown up and a mother myself?!" I made the connection and did the only right thing: #GoVegan folks.
Just do it!
🌱💚🌱
Vegan for 9 years here and yes it’s crazy how many people are simply disconnected and believe in weird fairy tales.
I had the same realisation when my vegan naturopath told me that cows have to be lactating to produce milk and were forcibly impregnated. I had naively thought that hey just produced milk all the time, never made the link. The penny dropped - I went from vegetarian to vegan overnight
Me too
Vegan for 13 years now and there is no going back at this point.
Agree. One of the most disturbing things I've seen since going vegan is videos of farms that have tours, where mothers with their children watch cows being pumped by machines and act as if this is cute and normal. I find it sickening especially when mothers are not vegan.
I often talk to people about how I would spend most weekends volunteering at an animal shelter, walking dogs, playing with kittens, helping out. And then without fail, every time, I would leave and go to the same cafe and order the same chicken panini for lunch. I remember so distinctly sitting there one time and thinking "why are THOSE animals worthy of my free-time and adoration, and THESE animals are for eating?" and it was the first crack in my carnivore mentality. 5+ years vegan now and never going back.
not carnivore, but carnist.
I feel ya. When the dots connect it seems so obvious, and yet for many of us the connection doesn't happen. Or hasn't happened yet. So congrats!
About 7 years ago my ex pointed out that it seemed hypocritical to call myself an animal lover when I consumed animal products every day. I argued against it as most meat eaters do, but that conversation planted a very important seed. I remember buying a sausage sandwich a few weeks later and being very uncomfortably aware of the fact I was eating a pig who was killed and I told myself I should try more veggie options in future. I spent a couple years as a vegetarian and committed to going completely vegan in 2020. It's the best decision I've ever made and wouldn't dream of going back. 💚
For me it was clicking on a suggested link on RUclips, no idea where it came from, it was your talk: You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again. It was 5 years ago and I believe it was the most important moment in my adult life. I went vegan right away and never looked back! It was like I was ready and the teacher appeared. Thank you Ed.
I really love that video too. ❤ #vegansforlife
One of my moments of truth:
For several years, my husband and I had been fostering kittens as a way to assist our local humane society. We fell in love over and over again with these babies. Caring for kittens was fun and entertaining, but also gave us a deep satisfaction in knowing we were helping to save these kittens from suffering and helping the cat community as a whole. One night, while relaxing on the couch, the way I perceived our current foster kittens completely shifted. I had been having some serious thoughts about animal agriculture, and probably been watching some Earthling Ed videos. But I hadn't yet made the connection with the animals in our own home. I suddenly thought of how it would be for our kittens to be cooped up in a box barely bigger than their bodies, never able to scamper about, release their kitty instincts, or even get comfortable. I thought about how their only feelings of sunlight and fresh air would be when they were driven to slaughter. I thought about them being hoisted by their kitty ankles and dangling in distress. I processed these terrible thoughts while literally looking at them frolic and play in our family room.
These thoughts were so disconcerting. Why was I working so hard to save the lives of *some* animals, yet willingly participating in the suffering/torture of others? My mind started to shift at that point. I became vegetarian for a few months, then vegan.
Thanks, Ed.
Thankyou for sharing, very moving ❤️❤️❤️
It never fails to shock me as to how cruel and needlessly violent humans can be. And at the same time we want to live in a peaceful world. At some point, we need to confront this conflicting attitude, otherwise nothing changes for the better. Enjoy your 10 year Veganiversary Ed - (mine is coming up soon) ☺
My moment came after seeing vegan activists expose the horrors of the dairy industry (I had been vegetarian most of my life). 💚🌱
I'm vegetarian since 33 years and vegan since 6 years.
I became vegan when I found out about the diary industry
I was not aware of how cows were treated for milk.,
I'm now a sponsor for 3 cows and 5 goats.At least they are safe from cruelty.🙏
Thank you again Ed for your words and commitment ❤
"Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission -- to be of service to them whenever they require it." -- St. Francis of Assisi
In high school, I used to walk to Burger Chef for lunch. My walk took me past a university ag school. One day, there was a cow at the fence. I looked into her big brown eyes, looked at my bag o' burger, and put 2 and 2 together. Vegetarian for 50 years. No regrets, no cravings, no temptations.
Vegan took longer. A Mercy for Animals video showed a worker in steel toed boots kicking a newborn calf... at a 5th generation family farm near me. Family farms are healthy and happy, right? Turns out there are sadistic monsters everywhere.
I went veggie from age 10 back in 1990. Mum always brought me up to care for and respect animals. It was when I was in my mid later 30’s. I saw the interview of James Aspey after he’d had a year of silence and then spoke about veganism and animals. I then did some research and heard Ed talk at Brighton Vegan Fair and that was it. I was vegan from then. No going back. Proudly vegan for the animals and a proud activist also. Thanks Ed!
A few years before fully committing to veganisim, I went to a magic show where a woman sitting next to me in the audience hysterically burst out crying over how one of the magicians on stage was performing a vanishing trick with a real live dove. At first, I was defensive in thinking that she might have been "over reacting" or behaving "too dramatically" over the treatment of a single bird but then on the way back home, I found myself wrestling with the reality of people who regularly eat birds and my disturbingly passive ability to stay quiet about it unlike that remarkable woman who justly spoke up. I still cry to myself when I think about the hold that my internalized speciesism had over my critical thinking skills and I oftentimes fantasize about encountering that one audience member one day and giving her a joyful fist bump in solidarity. I wish I could tell her that she effectively planted a seed in my then-carnist brain that I will never forget as now-vegan
i 100% agree with what you said about the transition of our mentality - after i went vegan, going to the supermarket and walking past the butchers, fishmongers etc was a whole world different through my eyes, even though i’d done the exact same thing as a meat eater
And the smell from the fish and seafood department,didn't smell too fresh.
My "moment" was the film "Earthlings." I think everyone (all human Earthlings) should be required to watch this film. Everyone should be aware of the suffering inflicted.
Since im vegan already i have opted out of watching. I know i am not contributing to the suffering and im certain i will find it unbearable to watch
@@mesCheerios I don't blame you a bit.
@@mesCheeriosif you’re already vegan I wouldn’t recommend it… I watched it with a vegan friend because both of us told carnists to watch it, and we felt like we needed to see what we were recommending to people… we had both been vegan over 5 years at the time and we have done activism at actual slaughterhouses and have seen the violence firsthand, and we still had to stop the film 3 or 4 times because we were crying so hard 😬 it was brutal.
I couldn't sleep for days after watching 😭 I was already vegan and I was watching with my boyfriend at the time, hoping to help him become vegan too.
Same
The day I stopped paying for animal cruelty I was 49 two years ago was the day I looked down at my English Bulldog who somewhat resembles a cute little pig. And I was cutting up chicken at her same time. I instantly felt sick to my stomach. That was the day I stopped eating meat. I was terrified. I was like am I going to die not eating meat? Because I knew I couldnt go back. And I was a minority plus my husband of 30 years still ate meat. my husband still eats chicken but we both have been off dairy before I went vegan. I watched Gary Yourofsky speech and your speech you will never look at life the same way. I honestly have never craved meat after that day. It makes me gag. I cant watch the shows that show the farming because it would be to traumatic. I have seen little clips and wow it’s herendous. I will never go back no matter what. Thank you for everything you do. I cried the first month at every meal I ate knowing there was no animal that had to die for it. All I can tell anyone is stay strong. I never realized what it was like to be a minority and carnivores will come at you, laugh, make jokes. Educate yourself. Read Eds book! Research.
I decided go try a plantbased diet the day I watched The Game Changers just over 4 years ago. I decided to do so from a health perspective as the potentials seemed so clear cut.
That same night, I fell into yours and Joey Carbstrong's "rabbit holes" of RUclips content, watching the ethcial arguments beind veganism all night. I remeber only sleeping a few hours that night because I couldn't let go of this new insight I got from you guys. I remeber Joey recommending Gary Yourofsky's The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear, and I wactched it the first thing in the morning. After that, I called my best friend offering him all my animalproducts which he picked up shortly after. From that point, I have lived a vegan lifestyle with everything that comes with it.
Thank you Ed, Joey Carbstrong, Gary Yourofsky, CosmicSkeptic (although not vegan anymore) for showing me the ethics and imperatives behind veganism, and Gaz Oakley for showing me how delicious plant based food is, something that was also crucial for me in the beginning 😋
In ‘95, I saw a clip of a farm documentary of cows in tiny stalls. They could not turn around and their calves were no where on the grounds. I went in the kitchen and washed out my bowl of frozen yogurt. Went vegan right then and there.
Wow, just wow
I threw my Mayo and reduced cream, and condensed milk after watching HOPE What you eat matters
@@jessicataylor2753 ever watch something that made you super nauseous? Yeah, better chucked down the drain than in the toilet.
That's beautiful 😍
"Out of the blue" my medical lab results revealed that I was one point from being pre-diabetic. I looked for the best diet. Thankfully, I found whole food plant based direction. THEN I saw what happens to animals that are raised for "food." I was traumatized. Empathy, guilt, and incredible sorrow overtook me. THEN I started listening to what we are doing to our environment in order to raise / kill animals for "food." The most difficult thing for me has been that I learned, and consequently changed... but no one around me is even remotely interested in changing.
I've totally been the "baCOn" or "mY fOoD eAtS YoUR FoOd" guy in the comments.
Got a kid and decided it was time to look into whether he also should get a Christian upbringing.
Alex O'Connor was amongst the many religious and non-religious channels I listened to to come to assist my decision making.
He dropped the "A meat eaters case for veganism" video and it just hit me.
Vegetarian within a month as I still thought eggs and dairy were needed for protein, vitamins etc.
A year later watched "Gamechangers" and dropped eggs and dairy on the spot.
Insane experiences and have not looked back since.
I was also watching Alex for his atheist content. It was "the worst of cognitive dissonance" that got me
I am also a fan of Alex and his USA "look alike", i can see where you're coming from
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
So great to hear. ❤
Great to read a story like this 😊 will check out that video
Who else hasn't watched but knows Ed will never stop being vegan 🐤🌱
Yes, Mr. Edward “Winters” Gaunt’s understanding of metaethics is beyond reproach, which explains why he condones the MURDER of poor, innocent humans before they have the opportunity to even see the light of day. 👶 The fact that he repeatedly asserts that “humans are animals” shows what an abject hypocrite is that MURDEROUS sinner. 😩 Furthermore, it is debatable whether Ed is truly vegan in his outlook, since he recently stated on the national television programme, GBNews, that he believes we ought NOT to ban animal agriculture! “I’m not even saying that we should ban meat, dairy and eggs right now”. Mr. Ed Gaunt, So-called “VEGAN” activist. 😐 ruclips.net/video/Sl5GpxLXnuI/видео.html Go to the 8:15 mark.
Of course!
I give him 5 years before he's back to eating meat.
When you live vegan you don’t go back in your beliefs
@@-_soy_-888Unfortunately you are wrong.
4 years ago I went vegan overnight thanks to you and Joey carbstrong! Love you Ed 💯🙏👍❤️❤️❤️
Respect for doing it overnight, almost everyone I know including myself and my partner needed a 6-12 month period as a vegetarian first!
@@kyletopfer7818 WOW well done for making the change! My husband went vegan one month later and we both love vegan food. We don't like avocados though lol. Good luck to you both on your kindly journey!👍😊🙏❤️
@@LisaCooper-thevegan-123 vegan for 3 years now, my partner 5 years!
@@kyletopfer7818 WOW well done both!👍😊🙏❤️
Me too, nearly five years ago. Dominion and a number of people sharing with me. 🌱
I was in my second year of uni, a couple of days before my final exams of the semester. I was procrastinating by watching youtube videos, when I suddenly came across one of your debates. The video was long enough and I REALLY didn’t want to study, so I decided to give it a watch. I was vegetarian at the time and somewhat familiar with plant based eating thanks to Pick Up Limes, but your vids were the final push I needed. Been vegan ever since and I’m also celebrating my veganniversary this month ❤️
One of my moments was a Passover dinner. We were having lamb shanks and mine still had its knee joint attached and i was about 11 and I found it fascinating i kept on moving the knee joint back and forth and back and forth and my family around me was getting very shifty and uncomfortable and i couldn't figure out why i later sorta thought that maybe they were uncomfortable because they didnt realise/were forced to recognise that the lambs we were eating were actually living breathing beings it didn't make me make the change right away but years later when i met a vegan and was discussing veganism etc. this memory played a big role in my reflections etc. before making the switch
I’ll keep this video close to my heart. It has gold nuggets of wisdom.
Love this video Ed... My overnight vegan story if anyone is interested:
I've always avoided duck and lamb, those "meats" always gave me a picture of the animal in my mind and therefore I've always had the connection there deep down..
I was 22 and I got two pet rabbits who were my whole world instantly. All the old blokes I work with kept making jokes about "putting them in a pie".. that definitely flicked a switch.
One day, I couldnt get this thought out my head: why do humans drink cows milk?? Whats so special about cows milk that makes it "good" for humans...
So i googled that question, went down a masssive rabbit hole, then pretty much went vegan the next day! All my friends doubted me which made me more determined, 7 years later and here I am 💚💚
Ever since I was a child I had so many moments but I never went vegan, I guess all these moments were indeed building up until one day something really clicked when I read a story about how cows are treated and what’s really happening with the rest of the animals that humans consider to be food. Then I watched Gary Yurofsky speech and tried watching Earthlings and that was it. Never eating animals or buying products made from animals ever again. We are human and we have to act human. So go vegan, it’s the best decision you could ever make. 🌱 ❤
1981/2 went vegetarian after seeing the Animal film about slaughter houses, it was like a snuff movie. Once seen never forgotten. I was horrified as I have always loved animals. About 8 years ago social media drove me to admit eggs and dairy was just as bad so I became vegan. Thank you for all you do for the cause.
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
@@VeganSemihCyprus33dis, dat, andy udder ting?
@@Trolloftruth Are you OK old son? You sound like you are having a medical issue.
@OM617a no medical issue here...happy healthy satisfied meat eater! Always will be
@@Trolloftruth This is a lie, or you wouldn't have to troll vegans. You do this because you are insecure.
VEGAN GAINS turned me vegan. The year was 2015. I went on a mission to prove him wrong. I couldn't do it. He was right. I've been vegan for 9 years. I just needed someone to yell at me I guess. His approach worked. It is not for everyone though.
Nothing would ever convince me to give up what makes me happy
lol
I too stopped going to zoos, a long time ago. Your story jogged my memory, Very similar in fact, I remember the grass had been worn down to make a circular track where a bear had been just circling, he must have been so depressed. I found it really upsetting at the time.
It’s almost 6 years to the day for me. Had been pescatarian, then veggie, then vegan. The final push was your land of hope and glory film, and that was it overnight.
My life honestly just then felt completely in alignment. It’s like there was no stress in what I ate. That’s the only way I can describe it.
I thank you for that.
I also feel that the word vegan has been demonised by the media which makes it so much more difficult for people to understand it.
As a kid I remember when I started asking questions. I'd say "is chicken made from chickens" and my mum would say "do you think fish fingers are made from fingers". Well, I was little and I guess she temporarily tricked me but one day I saw a black bit of something in some battered fish and I was convinced it was a baby fish I was like "you lied to me!" That was it. As soon as I cognitively understood that someone died to be eaten I was done. Hearing you say you had previously never had empathy for chickens, never really thought about them as something other than food was quite eye opening for me. I guess I always assumed everyone thought about it and secretly felt bad but were actively ignoring it to fit in or because they tell themselves they "need" it.
Wow this is amazing to me because my mom told me I refused to eat meat after one day asking her “is this chicken a chicken?”, and she responded yes…
I’m glad she was honest with me about it (even though my parents tricked me into eating meat several times when I was too young to understand). It’s amazing that as very little kids, probably raised thousands of miles away and in different years, we made the same connection! Kids have unbridled empathy for the animals until we brainwash them 💕
@@fieldofreeds8581 Ha that's amazing we said exactly the same thing!! I agree with you 100%! Intuitively it just doesn't make sense. I'm glad your mum was honest with you 🥰
@@julesdeacon1531 me too!
I went vegan about 22 years ago after being vegetarian for years on end. Then I went back to being vegetarian after about 8 months (I'd been campaigning for a single animal rights issue rather than fully looking at the bigger picture). Now, I've been vegan for 12 years and would never look back, unwavering vegan forever.
My lightbulb moment was after my fiancé and I had a conversation about our dear beloved cats. We discussed how they were so different; Barnaby-Bear will only eat biscuits and will dab and meow at the cupboard there kept in if you try and give him anything else; how Elsa will always do a big stretch to greet us; how Simba always meows when one of us sneezes and checks to make sure we are okay; how my little Jasper has a fear of shoes and how my Hagrid loves water and practically sits in his water bowl! Basically we discussed all their little individual personalities and quirks. That conversation then got us thinking about how they were no different to other animals and at that point we went vegetarian. We had no idea what the egg and dairy industries were doing to these darling innocent animals.
A year later we made friends with a vegan who explained to us about how dairy cows were impregnated and how their babies were stolen to give us milk and we were horrified?! How was this being allowed to happen?! My fiancé then went onto RUclips and found you Ed… Your ‘you will never look at your life in the same way again…’ video and he immediately came and found me upstairs and said “watch this, we’re going vegan!” 2 and a half years later here we are!
Like you Ed I too had had moments where I questioned what was happening. I had a moment in a zoo where I saw this beautiful orangutan in a tiny enclosure and he made eye contact with me next to the glass and his eyes looked so sad and it broke me, I felt so guilty for being there. I could only eat meat if I didn’t think about what it was (or rather who it was!) If someone mentioned it being a cow on my plate when I was eating steak I’d get angry and tell them to shut up and I’d feel sick and wouldn’t want to eat it! So why did I continue!? Because it was the norm and everyone else around me was doing it and so I didn’t question it much further!
Going vegan is the best thing I have ever done and I am so glad I had my awakening and that spark moment. I will never turn that light off again!
Thanks for everything you do Ed, looking forward to seeing you in July! VCO baby 💚⛺️🌱
i was 4 years old. my dad came home from fishing. he carried in the dead fish dangling from his fingers sticking up into the gills of the fish. Blood ran from the mouth or eyes or both. i was HORRIFIED!!! i thought fish were our friends. remember "one fish two fish red fish blue fish?" my body began to tremble and i ran away screaming "murderer!!" (its a family joke now...sigh) i remember it like it was yesterday. im 64
wow that's so intense ! funny story, I love it ♥
Whoa! I was the same as a child, my dad fished and hunted - I remember crying to him at the door to not go on his trip to kill deer. I was always both heartbroken and grossed out.
That’s strong, especially considering how long ago and how young you were. Blessings 💚💚💚
Mediterranean diet is a good diet to practice. Eat plenty of fish
@@Agenthoneydew33 fish feel pain. we are decimating our oceans. why harm when you can be harmless. why kill when you dont have to
I had the overnight moment and switched from vegitarian to vegan. I am learning a lot from you on how to respond when challenged my non vegan friends.
I still remember this experience when I was around 6 years old eating a burger king sandwich. I asked my mom what it was made of to taste so good, and after she explained it to me it was made of cows, I put it down and became vegetarian after that. I think a lot of people have these types of thoughts when they are children, we intuitively know eating animals is wrong, but unfortunately most kids end up having to follow along with what their parents do and eat meat. I’m lucky that my parents themselves were already mostly vegetarian (south asian) and let me make my own choice.
Then I read Eating Animals by JSF last year and turned vegan!
I remember the day I was in the passenger seat of a car on the freeway, and I watched a cattle truck go by. Seconds after smiling and waiving and telling them I love them, I broke down after it hit me. That day change. The rest. Of my life. I’ve been vegan for almost a year, and I’ll never regret it.
One moment that really impacted me was seeing a truck stuffed to the brim with chickens on the highway, heading to a slaughterhouse. My mom excitedly yelled out something along the lines of “Look at the chickens!” completely unaware of what they had gone through and where they were going. She went silent after I told her that they were heading to the slaughterhouse. Rest in piece to those poor babies. We see you, we are fighting for you, and we will never forget you.
Thanks for your great content, always. I have been following your on yt since the very beginning, and I was a fan since day 1. At age 3 I found out certain 'foods' were dead animals, and from that day I never ever had meat in my mouth again, the idea is the same as for other people it would be to eat human flesh. I should also mention that I had a baby pig as a pet, that I fed with the bottle, but even if that had not happened, I would never have eaten dead animals if I would have known. The animal that was mentioned was a cow, apparently there was something on the table made of cow. I was in shock, and asked what other foods were made of dead animals, and I told my parents I would NEVER eat those foods again, and I didn't. For me the best example to describe why I can never eat an animal is this: yesterday I heard a story about a restaurant owner who decided to serve meat at her previously vegan restaurant. She mentions that a group of sheep were killed by wolves. The wolves did not eat the sheep. Her husband than divided all the dead sheep between the people who lived in the neighbourhood. And she said that at that moment she thought: "that is a good idea, why waste all those calories." And to me, this is THE SAME as if an accident would have happened where healthy people died, and we would say "let's eat them, and not waste all those calories." Mammals, fish, birds and octopus and certain other sea animals are highly sentient beings, with highly developed nervous systems, and a sense of self. I was born in 1979 and I had never thought that the world would change so much for the good, and veganism would become more and more wellknown. Thanks for all the amazing work you do for the animals, Ed!!!!!
My neighbours cows made me vegan and I am so thankful for it 😍💚 now our six people household is 90% vegan (3 actual vegans and 3 flexitarians who mostly eat plant based)
35 years ago, a girl at work said 'with your attitude to animals I'm surprised you're not vegetarian'. Very good point, she's right, I thought. Under her guidance I then became vegetarian. I can picture her to this day, she was Irish but annoyingly I can't remember her name 😢. I will never forget her. I did a lot of research and became vegan shortly afterwards.
You rock, dude! Good job being vegan so long.
I was physically/mentally abused by my "father" and "step-mother" and neglected/mentally abused by my "mother."
I had to deal with bullies at school and gang violence in the streets.
(My mom died when I was 17. I hope my dad lives a long miserable life.)
Life was not easy, then I joined the Marine Corps after high school and did two back to back combat tours. I watched my friend get shot in the head, got traumatic brain injuries(too many explosions), fucked my back up, and (more)PTSD.
As you could guess, my mental health was not good.
I'm glad to say that according to my therapist and many years of therapy, I've broken the chain of abuse, and I'm doing a great job as a parent. If not for my wife and kids, I'd be dead.
I've been vegan since 2018. I've seen, caused, and been through enough pain and suffering.
If my broken heathen ass can do it, you can too! Lol 🌱💪🏽🖖🏽
Amazing
Bless you!❤
You're a huge inspiration 💚 I also went vegan during a stay at a psych ward. Activism has given my life meaning ever since. You have the potential to inspire many people with your story! I wish you all the best ✨️
You deserve so much happiness, I wish you the best!
You are such an inspiration! Life has put you through so much. And I am sorry to hear that but you were brave enough not to give up yet keep fighting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! You made it!! And being vegan is just so appropriate, such a ‘peaceful’ choice… you feel at peace with yourself because you know you are not harming any other individual or sentient being. Well done! Sending you lots of hugs all the way from Italy! 💚🌱🤗
Sending you lots of love! Happy ten year Veganniversary! 😘 ❤️ - Mary
Happy 10 year anniversary 💚
I wish I could download (Matrix style) your calmness and well-spokenness and share the vegan message like you do!
Yessss
I am glad my eyes have been opened, however the way I see the world now puts me in an even deeper pit of despair, I am aware of the suffering we put animals through, and people's ignorance. Your videos give me hope though :)
Now that I've gone vegan 6 months ago, I feel that constant despair also. I can be quite consuming
@dellisgibbs5823 just know you aren't alone. I recommend reading this book: 'Vystopia: The Anguish of Being Vegan in a Non-vegan World'
by Clare Mann.
I'd been vegetarian for 20+ years and it was really a combination of things i saw on social media which made me realise that the lies I'd been told about dairy were exacty that. Around the same time i rescued a disabled bird and watching her care for her eggs in such a beautiful way just made that last bit click. Vegan now for 9 years but happily and healthily meat free for 32. 💚
I've had a lot of vegan moments throughout my life. I always felt humans were hypocritical for claiming life was special yet we treated other animals like they were nothing.
I saw some horrible stuff online of cats in cages as a kid. I remember hearing about how pigs were smarter than dogs. I remember vaguely seeing footage of chickens suffering on the TV in sheds, i think. Many small moments. And I've always had these thoughts at the back of my mind. It didn't make sense for me to not be vegan. The push that lead me here was seeing a video of a cow being forced into a slaughterhouse. That's when I made the change as an adult.
Wise inspirational words. Thank you for what you do for those who cannot speak.
I was high on shrooms and left my body, went into the dna of the chicken wings I was eating and saw the life of the chicken from its eyes. I experienced it's throat being cut and all the fear, pain and confusion. I realized I was supporting that and making my own cells out of that suffering and soon became vegan.
Wow that is so crazy… and so awesome!!!
I had a similar experience at a zoo as a kid)): there was a beautiful white tiger pacing back and forth in a small metal cage very clearly distressed and it made me so sad 😖 I always think about that now when people talk about zoos 😢
I was in the "Hebrew roots" denomination which belives in clean and unclean animals. Driving by farms on day I heard "stop eating animals". I fought the voice for 18 months because The Bible said clean animals were "good". I finally obeyed my conscience and left the denomination. I now find using th The Bible to argue for flesh eating disgusting and follow my own path which is the teachings and life of a Vegan Jesus. 🙏
Eden was vegan before the Fall. Jesus fairly clearly was vegetarian. 🥑
I'm glad you broke free of the meat eating and religious chains at once.
Peace!
@@HuplesCatHow do you get that?
Jesus in the bible didn't have naything to do with the Garden of Eden story.
@@BoogieBoogsForever he gave a few sermons outdoors. Traditionally it was meat based at those. He served fish.
jezus that said to slaves to obey their masters and introduced the current concept of eternal suffering in hell?
This was when my daughters and I went vegan. I don't remember this event but it was also ten years ago in the spring when I learned that we didn't need animal products to survive.
It's that shift in the way we see things as vegans that has surprised me the most. I started this journey trying to be morally better in my approach to food, but I saw dairy as the norm and felt a bit unsure about plant based yogurts simply because it hadn't been normalised to me. I don't know at what point the switch happened in my head because I didn't notice it, but when thinking I might have consumed animal products a little while ago (I hadn't) I felt a panic rise and I realised it wasn't just because I hate the cruelty involved, my mindset in terms of what is palatable has changed.
I remember before becoming vegan, being horrified that dairy milk is allowed to contain a certain amount of pus, but at some point that switch has meant I view all animal products in the same way as I do pus. It is all tissues and secretions to me now and the thought of accidently consuming it makes me feel a bit ill. I didn't see that coming either.
five years vegan, i recall watching you and rachel ama while making my first vegan grocery list. theres no debate, ill never go back
Banksy's Truck Full of Wailing Toy Animals. I've stumbled upon it while surfing on the Internet.
I've always made fun of vegetarians. And vegans? They were not funny, they were just mad idiots for me, starving their pets and kids to death. They were refusing to eat the best food out there for no real reason, making themselves unhealthy in the process. But when I saw this truck, something inside of me just snapped. My eyes filled with tears, my whole body was covered in goosebumps and I've cried. I've realized that the animals I adore so much are treated so horribly each day. They are being tortured and killed in billions and I was the part of it by paying for it. I quickly became vegetarian and soon I've met a wonderful person, who was vegan and who really liked spending time on discussing ideas. We've discussed veganism for days. Nutrition, morality, influence on the Mother Earth... I just couldn't argue with his arguments. Each day we met he was referring to various studies and each day I was going home trying to unsuccessfully debunk it.
I'm a happy and healthy (both physically and mentally) vegan for 8 years now. Something that I was sure is impossible these 8 years ago. 🌱💚
💚
You're the greatest Ed. I wish there were more out there like us.
I welcome the insight of planting the seed of an idea and not being dismayed at not being able to induce instant “conversions”. I became a vegetarian about 50 years ago for reasons that were perhaps a bit flimsy at the time. 10 years earlier, as a schoolboy I had written an essay that envisaged a world in which no one any longer exploited animals for food. It was a preposterous contrarian view and I did it slightly tongue in cheek as a thought experiment and accepted the teacher’s opinion that it was a good essay but far fetched. A quarter of a century went by after I became a vegetarian and I felt an increasing discomfort at my vegetarian position and was pleased to give up dairy, eggs and honey too following my wife’s diagnosis with cancer and the idea that dairy produce could be a culprit. Even then I was exercised by the mechanics of going over to a vegan diet. I was and still am much concerned with the environmental aspects of animal farming and shooting although I had gone out shooting, fishing and been close to livestock farming in my youth. It took a while longer to do some reading and in due course social media opened up new avenues. I started to look seriously at the ethics of veganism, to challenge my own thinking and to work hard on the subject for the first time. So mine was a back to front sort of evolution into veganism.
6 years and a few days ago, I came across one of Ed's videos and have been vegan since 💚 Still so grateful and glad to see the books are being translated into different languages!
The turning point for me was Gary Yourofsky's famous speech. Never has my entire worldview been so drastically flipped. I discovered your videos soon after.
Me to!
Same here
Same in 2016
Lol isn't gary non vegan now in a mental institution?
For me...I was told to watch Dominion, and the "speech"...I watched that movie and speech...never even paused for 1 second from consuming animals and animal products
One moment that stands out is the moment when I was talking with my dad about what pizza toppings we would like. I suggested ham, my dad said no. I asked why (we had had ham as a pizza topping before), and he said that he had seen footage of sick and injured pigs in dirty conditions.
Other thing that stands out, this might be the biggest one, is that I started thinking how strange it is to drink and use the milk of another species, as human milk is for baby humans, why is cow's milk for humans, adults and children?
1979, 12 years old, I raised a piece of steak from a restaurant doggy bag to my mouth and just before biting into it looked at it and suddenly couldn't do it anymore, just grossed me out too much. forty-five years later I do it 100% for ethical reasons.
I'm 45 and I became vegan 5 years ago. I was vegetarian for a few years before cutting dairy out of my diet, and it was Joaquin Phoenix's speech when he won the best actor award at the Oscars for Joker that changed my mind. The documentary Earthlings was also a big moment for me, and I can't believe I felt any other way than I do now. Thank you Ed, and namaste to all of you. xx
For me there was this teacher on my high school who is a vegan. I was laughing at him at that time and I feel ashamed now. But after some time I was thinking about it and searched for some informations. I started to understand his view but still was eating everything. And after some more time I decided to watch a documentary about animal food industry in my country (so I couldn't say it doesn't happen here). I went vegan immediately.
So this teacher didn't make me vegan like at that very time but he gave me the first though into my head. He even had some problems in the school because of that and I don't understand why. He wasn't forcing us anything. He was just reacting on a class that we had about healthy eating. But I'm very grateful to him. I even texted him about that so he knew about the impact he made. He said it was worth the problems
I can't be sure about this, but I have a feeling that the purpose of that news article about the accident with the chickens, was to show that there was a lot of "wasted food", not to make people empathise with all those poor chickens. If that is so, you empathised with the chickens accidentally which is great because now you are sharing that spark of your very own with so many people around the world that come across your videos. I love the way you explain and spread the important ideas about veganism. I'm mostly vegan since I met you a couple of years ago, but I also became vegetarian 10 years ago.
Latin america, needs someone like you but in spanish, things are tough around here.
It is indeed very interesting how we all connect the dots. I shared my story on my channel in case anyone is interested. 9 years Vegan for the animals! 🌱
I haven't been vegan forever. I didn't stop eating non human animals and supporting their exploitation until I was 32 years old. But I've loved animals my entire life. It was only when I was able to connect the dots that a change was made. It took a few things to get me there. I adopted rabbits as animal companions, and after a few years I started seeing things about what happens to them in the meat industry. I had never heard the term "meat rabbit" before. I was appalled. I couldn't believe how awfully they were treated. It broke my heart into pieces. Then something made the connection... what's the difference between rabbits and cows/pigs/chickens? I had seen a video of piglets being rescued from a pig farm and it all just clicked. The emotions in all their eyes. The filthy, cramped surroundings and noticeable difference in their behavior when they were shown afterwards playing in a green field. I vividly remember saying outloud to myself, in an epiphany-like moment, almost without even thinking "This is how they should be living... This is how it should be." When I was presented with the uncomfortable truth and it was laid before my eyes what really happens in the animal agriculture industry, and that each non-human animal is a sentient individual with their own thoughts and feelings that value their own life (and in some instances even the lives of others), I made the change to vegetarianism, then veganism, after.
a well known (jewish) Dutch lawyer has famously said that the intensive animal farming industry is auschwitz for animals.
Earthings Movie is the Reason I've been Vegan since December 2018. Ed and Joey have Encouraged Me to Educate Other People about the Scale of Abuse and Harm of Animals at the Hands of Humans. Lots of Love and Thank You Ed. 💖
It's food cope
I went vegan gradually. So many things I had never noticed before started to pop up in front of my eyes. I became vegan. But. Even after going vegan, sometimes I craved a croissant or even meat. So what I did was I had a croissant or a bite of something that had some kind of animal in it and instead of feeling guilty I just went back to being vegan. Until one day, I realized what I craved was the fat and the umami in those things. I never craved anything from animals again 🙏🙏🙏
Went vegan overnight 3 years ago & didn't even know what I was doing, except not buying any animal exploitation products anymore. But then I learned pretty quickly thanks to vegan content on RUclips. Your channel was one of the first, I looked up & subscribed, too. 💚🐾🌱
Wauw, that is so impressive!
make sure ignore any dietary advice that is not science based. Those exist for both carnists and vegans.
@@DoctorOnkelap Of course.
I remember this story too - it was the fact that the chickens were endangering people and more importantly traffic was disrupted - I love that this was a catalyst for you and you had a revelation. You are brilliant, for me it was the remains of a christmas dinner, this broken body before me that I had caused to be there, it was an overnight change over 13 years ago. I had been on and off vegetarian before but that previous Summer I had met a vegan and was amazed by how lovely they were. Sometimes it's a lightbulb moment but mostly it's a percolation, brewing compassion.
My top reason is health. I stopped eating any dairy by 2008 because I became lactose intolerant after avoiding dairy for a few years to breastfeed my dairy-allergic child. My mom died of Alzheimers in early 2021. I read a few books about health and longevity, like Dr. Michael Greger's How Not To Die and within a year I was eating whole foods plant based, no meat at all. Around that time, I discovered YOU, Earthling Ed. I stopped eating eggs -- the only animal product I really liked -- probably mostly because of you and other vegans on RUclips. You have definitely been my strongest influence for becoming ethically vegan. I think even though I didn't start out with ethical reasons, those are what will keep me from ever considering eating any animal products ever again. They gross me out now. Besides, what I eat now is so much more varied and flavorful than the boring food I ate previously. My favorite vegan chef teachers are Rainbow Plant Life and Pickup Limes. ❤
In 1982 I went to college and learned that there were these people called vegetarians who didn’t eat meat. And my first thought was “wow, that could really piss a lot of people off!” One of my great regrets is that I didn’t continue with that train of thought and ask myself why that would be. And it would be 30 more years before I finally got it
Veganism for me is understanding we have a moral obbligation towards the animals. They are unprotected by the law and by the indifference of the large majority of people. The moral imperative makes us what we are. I went vegan because inspired by other beings I consider morally superior to the average human...♥️👍💚
A must for good people who want to know the truth 👉The Connections (2021) [short documentary] 🌳
No
VeganSemihCyprus33 dis, dat, andy udder ting?
@@Trolloftruth What language is that? English from Cyprus? A friend of mine is from Cyprus(Elena) but nothing like that...
@josiecirigliano9134 I don't really know what gibberish that idiot speaks...sure isn't anything I ever heard before
Congrats on your anniversary, dear great, wonderful Ed!!! 🥳💚🌱I went vegan on November 4th 2011. It happened on the spot, I clicked on Gary Yourofski’s speech and just a few moments later I knew I’d never go back. Thanks for continuing to make the world a better and more vegan place! Love love love 💚💚💚
Listening to the Food Revolution about 12 years ago flipped the switch from vegetarianism to veganism. I still listen to it most years. Decent source of info and support.
Thank you Ed for being a voice for the animals . You inspire me daily as a fellow vegan.❤
My brother being vegan, my sister being vegetarian and your Disclosure Podcast. The podcast was a godsend because I get that I could listen to it in provosts without being judged or questioned for listening to it.
I initially went vegetarian after watching Earthlings, but what made me go vegan was learning about antispecisism from activists like you and other ones on the internet. Watching the footage of animal exploitation wasn't enough, I needed to deconstruct the idea that animals are here for us. That's why today I make activism through both showing videos and talking to people on the streets 😊
Thanks!
❤ you are amazing. Thank you for defending the animals. The future is vegan and that will happen soon thanks to your incredible work and all the other activists.
Look up The Cambridge Declaration On Consciousness. It was a very important event for the recognition of self-awareness in animals. It didn't lead to any changes in the paradigm, but it might if it were required reading in schools and colleges.
."..it is indisputable that all vertebrates, including fish and reptiles do possess the neurological substrates of consciousness, and that there is further very strong evidence to support that invertebrates, including but not limited to decapod crustaceans, cephalopod molluscs, and insects, also do..."
Hi Ed and thank you so much for all you’ve been doing! Well, my first ‘sparkle’ came from YOU, from one of your videos, I think back in 2017… As you said about the bear at the zoo… after watching your video, I realised that ‘something was wrong’ but it didn’t completely click.
Few months later my beloved cat got very ill and then passed the rainbow bridge. I was devastate and only then, that ‘something’ clicked. I thought: why am I so sad for this loss while I’ve been eating other animals? I made the connection that there was no difference between a cat and a cow or a pig/chicken etc. I kept eating fish, dairy and eggs though.
One year later I watched a video on RUclips about the dairy industry (I’m from Italy, the video was in Italian, about the production of ‘Parmigiano Reggiano’ which is considered ‘Eccellenza Italiana’). I had no idea what was hidden behind the production of milk. I was horrified! Same with the egg industry. I have to say the most difficult thing to give up was fish 🐠 Fish suffer in silence, fish don’t scream. I think we don’t talk enough about how much they suffer. But when I realised that fish were “animals” too then I became totally vegan.
As you said it’s an ethical way of living and there’s no way back! As most of us my only regrets is that I wish I would have done it earlier. I am now 53.
I have done cubes of truth, vigils at slaughterhouses and marches/demonstrations as an activist.
I must say I still suffer every single day for the animals. For the atrocity they have to cope with. I try to give out my ‘sparkles’ every day, hoping that someone could make the connection and see the world through different eyes.
Thank you Ed for reading this and for what you have been doing throughout the globe! 🙏🏼💚🌱
Great vid and message. Veganism is a gateway to a more compassionate way of thinking and a more critical way of thinking as well. It causes you to reflect and refine your philosophical/ethical commitments. At least it had that effect on me.
It was about ten years ago today too. It was the end of my freshman high school year and my cat was ran over. I’d loved her but honestly did not treat her as well as I should’ve which is how she ended living outside. I wish I gave her more love. But later that week throughout May I decided that I would try out living vegan without fully even understanding that meant not consuming dairy and eggs. I think her death subconsciously stuck with me and helped me make the connection because here I am 10 years later and still vegan.
So right Ed 💚 one thing can spark a massive change in our thoughts and life!
Today marks the day I went Vegan 1 year ago! 💚 I went vegan overnight after coming across a post about vegan, which lead me to a vegan page and I saw things I’d never saw before. I Wept all night.
I went from meat eater until about 20 years old and then vegan about 46/47 years old.
I became vegetarian largely for health as I have autoimmune Axial Spondyloarthritis amd my ex was veggie and I read about health benefits,
Then 26/27 years later, I saw a video where they crushed baby chickens alive. I watched the video as it was recommended in a book about Buddhism and Vegetarianism
Happy 10 year veganiversary Ed. Thanks for being such and inspiring and intelligent voice. After going vegan late 2017, your videos really resonated with me and how I think when it comes to interacting with meat eaters then and now. Keep up the wonderful work.
I'd say the Cowspiracy documentary really sparked my interest in veganism. Then I had a school project where we had to make a drastic change to our life for a couple weeks. I chose a juice cleanse/liquid diet (was big into bodybuilding at the time) so the lack of solid food meant I had to smoothie almost everything this made me realize all my meals were pretty much vegan and it was already not too bad even without solid food. I didn't really lose much of my weight and fitness so I stuck with it. Afterwards, I found the wonderous variety of vegan food/restaurants out there. So it was already well worth it for me in terms of health and taste.
Later, I was made aware of the ethics and everything, and I went truly vegan for the animals after hearing the logical moral arguments form the many activists such as yourself Gary/Joey Carbstrong/James Aspey etc...
1 person makes a difference. 4 years ago I became vegan largely from watching Ed's outreach.
And then I became an activist with a youtube channel who turned other people vegan and encouraged other vegans to become activists.
The ripple effects extend far and wide, don't let anyone tell you one person doesn't make a difference. 🌱
I’m so impressed with your activism (what I’m able to see of it) and the videos you’ve created have been excellent 🤘🏻 I can tell how much you are invested in being a voice (educated, at that) in this movement for animal liberation. If anybody reading this hasn’t followed @DebugYourBrain yet, I suggest it 100%
I’m stunned it’s only been 4 years for you given the wealth of superbly researched, in depth and well produced content you’ve created. Over the past few years you’ve produced some ever so needed content. Much respect to you for dedicating the time and effort in doing so. 🌱☮️🌍💚
Love your work! ❤
You're a legend
Justin produces some of the most intelligent content out there, and I'm not just talking about vegan content. I absolutely love his work.
We thought, "This little piggy went to market," it went shopping. We have completely removed butchering from our view.
humane washing / so many euphemisms is built into children's literature. some from the industries themselves providing material for schools.
Well spoken Ed fair play, very sad indeed.🌱🐔💚
Thank you for your work!
Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them as it is for us. Even worse because they cannot help themselves.
🌱🕊💚
The seeds were planted when I was 12 and watching a documentary on Netflix called "you are what you eat: a twin experiment". That, coupled with a few Alex O'Connor speeches, made me go vegan.
My original catalyst moment was 13 years ago after my 15th birthday when I had a dream that I was walking around in a slaughter house. I had eaten ribs with my family the night before but had always considered myself an animal lover. I can still see the pig in a cage so small she couldn’t turn around and the grey, cold walls and floors. Cages everywhere. I woke up the next morning, told myself and my parents that I was never going to eat meat again and never did. Then, 3.5 years ago my (now) husband and I did research on dairy and eggs (I know, took me long enough), and never consumed dairy nor eggs again. Now, we have an 18 month old sweet little vegan boy. 💚
Telling the story about the bear in the zoo brings back a haunting memory from decades ago at Chester Zoo. I watched a tiger in a small enclosure literally pacing up and down with a loping gait about 8 paces. It was a concrete enclosure yet where he was pacing there was a deep groove carved out by his pacing demonstrating that he had beeb doing this probably every day for years. It was so unutterably sad.