GO VEGAN

FOR THE EARTH

The evidence is clear that no-meat diets drastically reduce environmental destruction. Animal farming is the number one cause of water consumption, pollution, and deforestation. Animal agriculture has a higher greenhouse effect on the atmosphere than fossil fuel consumption. What’s more, a significant amount of fossil fuel is consumed during transportation and processing of meat and dairy products, loading the atmosphere with unneeded carbon dioxide. The meat industry is the leading cause of rainforest destruction, soil erosion, habitat loss, species extinction and dead zones in the oceans. Considerably lower quantities of water, energy and crops are required to for a vegan diet, making the switch to veganism the most effective way to help the environment.

Go Vegan For The Earth

FOR THE ANIMALS

Do you care about animals? Do you want to help stop their suffering? Then go vegan! Cutting out animal products and being vegan means voting every single day of your life with your knife and fork and by your choice of clothing, cosmetics, household products and entertainment. Your vote says no to animal cruelty. Some people go vegan in a day, others take a few months to adjust. The most important thing is to make a start and use each day to work towards the goal of a compassionate vegan lifestyle. In a lifetime a meat-eater will consume a huge number of animals. By switching to a plant based diet, not only will you stop contributing to this mass slaughter of creatures, but you will also save those animals from a lifetime of suffering.

Go Vegan For The Animals

FOR YOUR HEALTH

Veganism is the healthiest diet choice. Vegan diets provide significant amounts of vital nutrients, lots of fiber, and are rich in antioxidants while being low in saturated fat. This renders veganism ideal for fighting the majority of chronic conditions of the modern era, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and obesity. Vegan diets are highly effective for people wanting to shed off excess weight. Numerous studies have shown that vegans live longer. Switching to a well-balanced vegan diet is your best bet to avoid cardiovascular disease, the chronic condition responsible for more than 1 million deaths per year in America alone. Removing meat from your diet also cuts down blemishes, body odor, and foul breath, and nails and hair thrive on a vegan diet.

Go Vegan For Your Health

Why Veganism?

A vegan (pronounced Vee-g'n) is someone who tries to live without exploiting animals, for the benefit of animals, people and the planet. A vegan is someone who does not eat any meat, poultry, fish, dairy products (milk, butter, cheese, cream etc), eggs, honey or any other animal derived by-products such as gelatin and whey. They also avoid wearing leather, suede, wool and silk - as these have all been obtained from animals - and toiletries, cosmetics and cleaning products that have been tested on animals or contain animal based ingredients. Instead, vegans choose from thousands of animal-free foods and products.

Veganism is a philosophy, not a diet. This philosophy is the belief in the right of all sentient beings to be treated with respect, not as property, and to be allowed to live their lives.

IT'S A HEALTHY CHOICE

A balanced vegan diet (also referred to as a ‘plant-based diet’) meets many current healthy eating recommendations such as eating more fruit, vegetables and whole grains and consuming less cholesterol and saturated fat. Balanced vegan diets are often rich in vitamins, antioxidants and fiber and can decrease the chances of suffering from diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. Well-planned plant-based diets are suitable for all age groups and stages of life.

IT'S COMPASSIONATE

Many people become vegan through concern of the way farmed animals are treated. Some object to the unnecessary ‘use’ and killing of animals – unnecessary as we do not need animal products in order to feed or clothe ourselves.

Public awareness of the conditions of factory-farmed animals is gradually increasing and it is becoming more and more difficult to claim not to have at least some knowledge of the treatment they endure. Sentient, intelligent animals are often kept in cramped and filthy conditions where they cannot move around or perform their natural behaviors. At the same time, many suffer serious health problems and even death because they are selectively bred to grow or produce milk or eggs at a far greater rate than their bodies are capable of coping with.

Regardless of how they were raised, all animals farmed for food meet the same fate at the slaughterhouse. This includes the millions of calves and male chicks who are killed every year as ‘waste products’ of milk and egg production and the animals farmed for their milk and eggs who are killed at a fraction of their natural lifespan. Choosing a vegan diet is a daily demonstration of compassion for all these creatures.

IT'S BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical Western diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ‘products’ to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet’s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals. Farming animals and growing their feed also contributes to other environmental problems such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation.

IT'S DELICIOUS

There are mouth-watering plant-based dishes from around the world: from India, vegetable curries and dhals; from the Far East, tofu stir fries; from Italy pastas and salads; from Turkey, hummus and babaghanoush; and from Mexico beans and tortillas… the list goes on! Many familiar foods have vegan versions - vegans can enjoy pizza, vegan sausage and mash, casseroles and even chocolate cake. The variety of vegan food available in shops and restaurants is growing all the time – eating a vegan diet has never been easier.

WHY NOT?

Choosing to live a life free from animal products means choosing a path that is kinder to people, animals and the environment. In fact, there are so many good reasons to reject meat, eggs and dairy products and so many delicious animal free alternatives that the real question is not ‘why vegan?’ but ‘why not?’.

Ⓥ Compassionate Choices

"Compassionate living" is a concept based on the belief that humans have a moral responsibility to treat animals with respect, and that the interests of humans and animals should be considered equally. This means that in any decision that could potentially affect the life of an animal, that particular animal's interests should not be dismissed simply because it is inconvenient for us to consider them. Although it may not always be easy to determine accurately the best interests of an animal, we can safely assume that animals generally prefer to live, to be free from pain and to express their natural behaviors.

The failure of humans to consider an animal's needs/interests as equal to those of humans is an expression of prejudice called speciesism. Defenders of speciesism often argue that humans are superior to other species because of their greater intelligence. Taken to its logical extreme, this argument would imply that humans with higher I.Q. scores should have more rights than humans with lower I.Q. scores. However, we have developed the sensitivity to extend basic human rights to all humans, whether or not they meet any criteria for intelligence, capacity or potential. But animals are commonly experimented on without their consent, and even killed, if it suits human purposes. This gross inequality is what we are trying to address with the concept of "animal rights".

Compassionate Living

Ⓥ Ethical Choices

Ethics addresses questions of morality, such as what makes our actions right or wrong. Animal ethics focuses upon the constantly evolving way in which society thinks of nonhuman animals. Through our use of animals as goods for food, clothing, entertainment and companionship, animal ethics is something that we all interact with on a daily basis. Environmental ethics is the philosophy that considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world. There are many ethical decisions made by humans with respect to the environment.

When we begin to explore our behavior towards animals and the environment, we find that what is presented as acceptable conduct is often inconsistent. While we love and value the nonhuman members of our family, such as the cats and dogs who share our homes, we distance ourselves from the lives of billions of wild animals, farmed animals, animals used in experimentation, animals used for clothing and animals used in the entertainment industry. Our consumer choices shape our daily lives and it is through them that we have come to regard some animals not as individuals, but in terms of the financial value placed upon them. The distance we maintain between their lives and our own allows our use of their bodies to continue unchallenged. Can this inequality in how we regard other animals ever be truly justified?

Ethical Choices

Adopt An Animal

Make a difference for animals and the environment!

Give a gift that will help WAF to preserve and protect the planet and its animals. Your symbolic species adoption supports WAF's efforts to help wild animals, companion animals, farm animals and the environment. Wild animal and farm animal adoptions are the perfect gift for holidays, birthdays, or any special occasion...for a friend or yourself. Animal Adoption Kits can be shipped to any country. Each wildlife or farm animal adoption is symbolic and your contribution will help World Animal Foundation preserve and protect wildlife, wild lands, companion animals and farm animals. Your WAF Adopt An Animal Kit comes in a Deluxe WAF Folder and includes:

Glossy Photo of Your Adopted Animal
Adopt An Animal Adoption Certificate In Deluxe Cover
Fact Sheet About Your Adopted Animal Species
Animal Action Cards Packed With Information On Animal Issues & How You Can Help Animals And The Environment

The ultimate gift for the animal lover you love...

Adopt an animal for yourself or order an Adopt An Animal as a gift. Have it sent directly to your recipient by supplying their information for shipping. WAF's symbolic adoptions are a one time fee and helps the World Animal Foundation to preserve the planet and protect its animals.

Adopt An Animal

About ⓋWorld Vegan Foundation

The World Vegan Foundation is a project of the the World Animal Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the planet and the animals that inhabit it. WAF works with other not-for-profit organizations dedicated to planet preservation and animal issues. WAF works through public education, research, investigations, animal rescue, legislation, special events, and direct action.

WAF is an all volunteer organization. The organization has no paid officers and uses all donations towards animal and environmental programs: direct rescue, educational programs and animal sanctuaries. Utilizing volunteerism, WAF has kept operating costs to a bare minimum while maximizing our ability to help animals.

WAF has members throughout the world and on every continent. Through our volunteer network, the World Animal Foundation attempts to make the world a more compassionate place for all animals - wild animals, companion animals, aquatic animals and farm animals. Through grass roots action and activism, WAF bridged the gap between animal and environmental issues. The Foundation has directly rescued thousands of animals and supports wildlife sanctuaries throughout the US. In addition, WAF engages in Trap-Neuter-Return of feral cats, animal adoptions, low cost spay-neuter programs and numerous animal concerns campaigns.

Join Us

WAF has recruited members from around the globe to educate the public about environmental and animal issues. Our large and informative website acts as a one-stop information portal for people wishing to learn more about animals and the earth. Visitors can print dozens of free flyers and fact sheets and surf hundreds of articles regarding wildlife, endangered species, companion animals, aquatic animals and farm animals.

Membership in the organization is free. Donations are always appreciated and needed to carryout our crucial mission of helping animals and the planet.

Help make a difference, join us today!

Join WAF

PO Box 136, VERMILION, OHIO 44089