A few months later, my dad, who had been vegetarian for 40 years, said that he was thinking of becoming vegan for ethical reasons. Veganism was a foreign idea to me. If cows producing milk and chickens laying eggs are natural, what’s so unethical about purchasing those products?

Soon the answer to that question became apparent. It’s painfully simple: Cows, like all other mammals, produce milk for their own calves. No one else. Not for baby, teenage, and adult humans, who are the only species that drinks a different species’ milk. However, because society demands cow milk, few people question its necessity.

When I saw how the dairy industry actually operates, I was beyond disturbed. Female cows are consistently inseminated, and when they have been abused to the point where they are so exhausted they often collapse, they’re sent off to a slaughterhouse. All of this torture just so humans can steal their calves milk and drink it?

I stopped eating and drinking anything that contained dairy products after I discovered this. However, I was still unaware of yet another torturous system. I found out in a video from the nonprofit organization Mercy For Animals, that every single day hundreds of thousands of male chicks are ground up alive or thrown away to suffocate to death. All of this suffering simply for the reasons that they won’t lay eggs and don’t grow fast or big enough for the industry to profit off of their meat. Workers in these factories use a machine to chop off a portion of the female chicks’ beaks (which are very sensitive) so that they won’t be able to peck at each other when crowded together. They are cramped so close to each other that they can’t even spread their wings, and remain in those conditions until brutally slaughtered.  

In addition to reducing animal cruelty, there are more benefits to the vegan lifestyle that I found out while doing my research.  I learned eating a plant based diet was much more sustainable than a diet that includes animal products. The United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP), states that “impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products ... A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products."

As someone who cares about the environment, I was angry that I was funding an industry that actively destroys it. I couldn’t call myself an environmentalist while supporting this industry.

Considering that I was finally informed about the cruelty of the meat, dairy, and egg industries, as well the environmental harm it causes, I no longer had any excuse to support this business, so I became vegan.

Since I made this transition, I have felt happier and healthier. I’ve been exposed to amazing foods that I used to be reluctant to try because I was so accustomed to the fatty and salty foods I ate on a regular basis. I’ve met some of my best friends through the growing vegan community, and continue to do so. Becoming vegan is the best decision I’ve ever made -- for the environment, for the animals, and for myself.