Thanks everyone, so glad you found this valuable. Like Christa said, it’s important to keep ourselves educated! I was happy to learn all of these and thought it important to share. =)

@ Alyssa – I understand what you’re saying, but I think that the common conception of “vegan vs local” is a misconception! I eat almost exclusively local by shopping my farmers market and my co op. The rest of the stuff (coconut oil, Earthbalance, alt milks when I’m not making my own with local nuts, etc) are a fraction of my diet and honestly, I don’t sweat it.

I do not believe that ‘eating local’ is as simply superiors as the local-vore movement presents it. There is a great interview on this here, if you’re interested. The author wrote Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. Worth checking out as an alternate perspective to the dominant narrative.

The truth is that animal agriculture is very resource intensive, even on a small scale (more or less so depending on where you live). And this doesn’t even include the ethical argument. For me, dairy would never ever be an option. I believed that dairy was wrong when I went vegan, but once I became a mother it was absolutely solidified in my mind. As I’m sure you know, cows must become pregnant (almost always forcibly impregnated) in order to produce milk. The milk is for their calf, and by taking it we are taking from the baby and interfering with that mother’s natural relationship with her calf. Obviously in a CAFO the calf is taken from the mother all together. Maybe on a small farm the calf can stay for a while, but we’re still taking it’s milk and supplementing with something inferior. And if the calf is a male, what then? On small farms they can’t afford to just house and feed 50% of the babies born, for the duration of their lives (20 years), with no return. Of course not – they are sold for slaughter. Which is exactly what happens to the dairy cows once the intensive cycle of constant pregnancy and lactation leaves them sick and dried up at an early age. Then they, too, are sold to slaughter. There are VERY few ‘small farms’ that could afford to let all their bulls and spent cows just live out there natural life. It just doesn’t happen. That’s what you get when you keep animals in a commerce situation – money always drives decisions – and that’s why I don’t believe that a non-exploitative situation can exist when animals are used for human’s purposes.

As for chickens eggs, the line does blur a bit more, but the same principle as above will apply. What happens to the males that are born? What happens to the ‘spent’ layers? Do the chickens enjoy eating their own eggs? If they do, then they’re really not ours to take! When I realized this about my own chickens (that they love eating their own eggs) that really changed the way I viewed the idea of taking what I had previously regarded as ‘discarded and unwanted’.

Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts. Sorry to go on and on! But hopefully there’s something helpful in there, haha. =)

@ Alyssa – Ah yes. Well when it comes to health and processed foods I do understand the quandary. For me, my moral imperative to not use animals overrides the issue, but likeI said I understand that perspective. So for me, I just try to use less processed alternatives. I make my own nut milks when I can, but when I can’t I buy the unsweetened boxed stuff and I don’t let it bother me – they’re fortified and I appreciate the occasional extras! =)

I’ve pretty much omitted Earthbalance by using coconut oil, which is much less processed and very good for you. It took me a spell to get used to it but now I LOVE it, to cook/saute with, on cornbread or toast like butter, in baking, pretty much everywhere. I really adore it! The only time I use Earthbalance is in my cupcake frosting, and that’s a very rare treat.

Nina Planck and Sally Fallon have some nice ideas, like soaking grains, cutting out all processed foods, eating ferments . . . basically eating REAL food. But I have done a lot – like, a LOT – of research into the WAPF and their ilk, and the truth is that they are agenda-driven, lobbyist-supported, and their ‘science’ just doesn’t stand up. I get very frustrated because they are marketing geniuses and the story they spin is sure a seductive one. Obviously, since it sucked me in enough so that I’ve dedicated a ridiculous amount of time to learning and fact-checking their theories.

Basically, abstaining from animals can be really tough – it’s not the easy road even though it’s the right one. But if you can make people believe that they should eat animals, and are, in fact, *righteous* for doing so, well then that’s a pretty easy sell – you’ve told them just exactly what they want to hear. It’s sad to me that so many well-meaning people buy into that happy meat bull$@!*. Very frustrating. But I digress.

Again, you’ve got me ranting! =D Obviously these are issues that I’m very passionate about . . .