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Matt Walters

Brian Tanck

October is national vegetarian month. There are many good reasons for choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, from environmental motives to health reasons to concern for the wellbeing of human workers or animals. Many members of the Calvin community are vegetarian or vegan and most of them are more than happy to share their stories. Here are just a handful!

>Matt Walters, student: vegan

I am vegan because I love good food.

And not just good in terms of taste, although taste is very important to me, but food that I can feel OK about buying and eating. I now regularly enjoy cooking and eating good food. I want to know the origin of my food — and, even better, the farmer. I want food that minimizes harm to the environment and living creatures.

People do not need animal products to survive. At least, rich Westerners do not.

Farm animals are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. Both their abilities for social interactions within their species, and their desires to avoid pain and seek pleasure make clear that we have no right to kill them and eat them. Especially when we can thrive on other foods. Pigs, chickens and cows all suffer when confined and killed, and seek to avoid suffering whenever they can. I want to live in a world with less unnecessary suffering.

The environmental devastation and waste caused by animal agriculture also reinforces the case for avoiding animal products. On all fronts, using animals for food causes unnecessary harm. These reasons compel me to be vegan.

Sometimes I am not a good vegan. But, I do my best to avoid products that necessarily and egregiously harm other creatures. I do this because animals should not be taken advantage of, and neither should the environment. Especially if a taste for a certain kind of food is the only justification.

>Brian Tanck, student: "wannabe vegan”

For me, being a vegetarian is often like being the person standing in the corner of the room with that secret you’re not ashamed of, but you really don’t want to have to share ... again. Inevitably someone says, “No burger? Whaaaat?!” So I decide which reason to give for subjecting myself to the agony of not eating meat. Often the question emerges in a garbled “What, why, how, uhh?” I’ll just answer in that order.

What: I am a wannabe vegan who is at times broken by cheese and baked goods, but I haven’t given up.

Why: Because this is God’s world, not ours. Animals — including chickens, cows and pigs — were made by God and for God. Creation was called “good” by God before humans existed. So how can an animal’s purpose, its flourishing, be birth, life and death so people can experience a certain taste or have a more convenient meal? If I kicked my dog, force-fed him until he developed arthritis and muscular collapse and locked him in a closet so he had to sit, stand and lay down in his liquid and solid waste for my gain or convenience, that would be immoral and cruel. Yet these are the pre-slaughter conditions of 9 billion chickens, 32 million cows and 103 million pigs each year in this country alone. Isaiah 11 gives Israel a vision of hope — there are animals there. “The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” Animals, these “beasts” that we exploit, will no longer destroy for their own gain. Can we, the redeemed, ask anything less of ourselves?

So now the question, “how?” I’m always left asking, how can we not? Nutrients can be found, taste buds will adapt, costs are reasonable, and at Calvin, help is abundant. Eleven apostles were martyred for Christ and his redeeming work. In this light, not eating meat seems like a rather small cross to bear.

>Adam Wolpa, Calvin professor of art: vegan

At age 18, I decided to become a vegetarian. I had just arrived at the University of Virginia, and knowing that the first-year college experience is a time to reinvent oneself, I seized that opportunity. For the next fourteen years, my food choices were deliberate and considered. Food and the communities that it creates really mattered to me. I held nearly every position in the food service industry and even considered culinary school before deciding to pursue an MFA in Printmaking. I was passionate about health issues and generally opposed to the idea of killing animals for food, but it wasn’t until I became aware of hidden truths about industrial animal agriculture that I adopted a vegan lifestyle. I have been vegan for about four years now, which means I don’t purchase or consume any animal products or products tested on animals and I don’t support institutions that make use of animals for human entertainment or education. I believe that compromising the most basic interests of another species for comparatively trivial, aesthetic interests of our own species violates a call to living compassionately in G-d’s creation. Insidious practices of cruelty are inherent to institutions of animal commerce, including food, clothing, research, and entertainment, and I have made a deliberate choice to abstain from supporting these institutions. As it turns out, animal factories are also a major contributor to the problem of global climate change and environmental degradation, global hunger and inequality of resource distribution, human rights violations, and the escalating public health crisis. These are all areas of suffering that compel me to advocate for the vegan lifestyle as a simple way to pursue justice at least three times a day, seven days a week. I would like to encourage each reader to do the research on their own and consider the process of making deliberate food choices that prevent suffering and affirm compassion.

>Nick & Andrea Baas, students: vegetarians

I (Nick) became a vegetarian about three years ago. When I took a class in which we looked at the ethical reasons for being a vegetarian, I found myself in a new world of ideas about why we eat what we eat. For me, becoming a vegetarian did not come down to animals rights; it came down to the issue of my concern for my impact on the environment around me. When I realized that I could save significantly more of the world’s resources by becoming a vegetarian than by owning a Toyota Prius, I slowly shifted my diet to one that no longer featured meat. On top of the energy that is saved by not eating meat, giving up factory-farmed meat works towards the elimination of pollution. Massive amounts of animal manure laced with antibiotic drugs go into landfills every year because of factory farming and our consumption of meat and dairy products. These landfills pollute the natural waterways and water sources of our land. So for me, this was more than a good enough reason for changing my diet. After all, “not eating meat” does not mean “not eating well.” In fact, giving up meat came with an added bonus: I lost a significant amount of unnecessary body weight and became much healthier overall.

I (Andrea) was introduced to vegetarianism by Nick when we first started dating. He challenged me to think about my ordinary diet and its environmental and dietary effects. But the largest factor in my becoming a vegetarian was actually this relationship with a vegetarian. The only way that I could fully understand him and where he was coming from was to join him in his beliefs and convictions — I gave up a small part of my diet to understand Nick better. I did my own research and talked to many people, but I did it partly to identify with my now-husband. We’re vegetarians for some of the same reasons, and we try to help people understand why we eat what we eat, without judging them for their eating habits, hoping to be treated the same.

>C.J. Majeski, student: vegan

My name is C.J. Majeski and I am a vegan. This means that I — in as much as I reasonably can — abstain from using products made from animal parts or made as a result of forced animal labor.

It looks like this: I don’t eat meat, eggs or dairy, and I don’t use cosmetics made with animal parts or tested on animals. Rather, I eat plants and attend to ingredient lists on the products I purchase. I also learn about things commonly derived from animals and avoid them. This puts no strain on my life: it’s easy. But why do this?

My original reasons consisted in two things: an argument and a moral principle. The argument was something like this: (1) it’s morally wrong for anyone to cause suffering if they lack a morally sufficient reason for causing the suffering; (2) animals can suffer; (3) therefore, it’s morally wrong for anyone to cause animals to suffer if they lack a morally sufficient reason for causing the suffering.

But this argument says nothing about using things that involved the suffering of animals, just about causing the suffering. We need the following principle: (P) it’s morally wrong for anyone to be complicit in wrongdoing if they lack a morally sufficient reason for being complicit. The conjunction of (3) and (P) makes it wrong to buy stuff produced in a way that involves animal suffering.

Anyone who accepts (3) and (P) is committed to the following: veganism is the morally appropriate stance on the animal issue. But less analytically: animals matter. Their suffering is significant. People who hurt animals without really, really good reasons for doing so are either evil or ignorant (of relevant facts) or cognitively impaired. Further, mean, cruel people and their supporters behave in a really unattractive way. And it’s always better to be beautiful. So, be beautiful: be vegan.

>Michelle Loyd-Paige, dean for multicultural affairs: vegan

This November will mark my sixth anniversary of beginning a vegan diet. I eat like a vegan about ninety 98 percent of the time. The other two percent of the time, I eat like a vegetarian for social reasons. For example, there are times when I will eat a small piece of birthday cake at a friend’s party, or eat the spaghetti with a little cheese in the sauce — but no meat — at a church potluck dinner because someone tried to accommodate me. Since my days as a graduate student, I have experimented with meatless meals on and off for varying periods of time. In January 2003, I went on a Daniel fast for the month. This was the first time it was introduced to the difference between vegetarianism and veganism. I felt great while on the fast, but as soon as the fast was over, I started eating dairy and meat again (but eliminating red meat) and suddenly I wasn’t feeling so great anymore. In November 2003, I was starting to experience major hot flashes and sought my doctor’s advice on how to curb these power surges naturally. He suggested more soy in my diet, which triggered memories of the Daniel fast earlier that year. It was also around this time that I had lectured on food distribution and how, in my opinion, a plant based diet was a sustainability issue and a justice issue. Then, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was out shopping. My husband asked me to pick up a six-piece chicken wing snack. I started thinking, “six wings equal three chickens, what happens to the rest of the chicken? And how many chickens are killed just for a snack?” Standing there in the line, all of these thoughts about diet, food distribution, health and the number of animals used for food converged into an “aha” moment. From that point on I resolved to eat like a vegan. The choice to eat like a vegan, for me, is less about animal rights and more about social justice and healthier eating. It is not always easy to maintain, but it is worth the effort. Changing my diet has helped me to be more conscious about food production and distribution, to be more sensitive in my efforts of hospitality, to be and feel healthier and to be part of the change that I want to see in my world.

>Luis Oliveira,student: vegan

I believe that one ought to do one’s best not to consume and/or purchase products that were obtained through the killing and/or suffering of other sentient beings. If that’s what being a vegan means, then I’m a vegan. As I see it, this belief is just an extension of moral intuitions that most of us already have.

It is intuitively clear that it is wrong to kill another sentient being unless you have morally relevant reasons to do so. We call ‘sentient’ the sorts of beings that have interests, that suffer, that form meaningful relationships, and so on. These beings deserve respect. That’s why you don’t kill your loud roommate or his annoying cat. We don’t need an ethical theory to tell us that much. And if that’s true of roommates and cats, then that’s also true of cows and pigs and chickens. They have interests, they suffer, and they form meaningful relationships just as you. 98 percent of the time, hot dogs and eggs just don’t cut as morally relevant reasons for this kind of disrespect.

It is also intuitively clear that it is wrong to inflict pain on another sentient being unless you have morally relevant reasons to do so. You just don’t hurt a dog for fun and you just don’t hurt a ferret because you like the way it squeals. We don’t need an ethical theory to tell us that much either. And if that’s true of dogs and ferrets, then that’s also true of cows and pigs and chickens. They feel and avoid pain too. 98 percent of the time, hamburgers and cheese just don’t cut as morally relevant reasons for the infliction of pain.

But if hot dogs and eggs are not good enough reasons to kill, and if hamburgers and cheese are not good enough reasons to inflict pain, then how is it that we can justify consuming and/or purchasing products obtained through the killing and/or suffering of other sentient beings? We can’t. That’s why we should do our honest best not to eat or buy meat and dairy products. That’s why I’m a vegan. And that’s why you should be one too.

>Cara Kochanski, student: (mostly) vegan

My first challenging confrontation with issues related to food happened towards the end of my high school years. My friend and I started talking about the ethics of eating meat, which inevitably led to a conversation about factory farming. It wasn’t until I went to college, however, that I began to take these issues more seriously. Newly liberated from the dietary constraints of an intensely carnivorous family, I adopted vegetarian-ish eating habits without a label. Then with the help of a few readings in Matt Halteman’s intro to philosophy class, I claimed a full-fledged vegetarian commitment. My convictions related to the ethically, environmentally, and socially exploitative nature of industrial animal farming, my indirect involvement in such a system when I chose to consume animal products, and my ultimate pursuit of minding the implications of everyday decisions put me on a track to veganism. Today, veganism is a lifestyle I strive for, but I try not to let such choices taint interpersonal interactions and relationships. With careful planning and gentle explanation, I can usually accommodate my vegan leanings, but every so often I find myself in particular situations with family or situations with cross-cultural complications, both of which require me to temporarily adapt. Although I try hard to avoid the preconceived assumptions and judgments that often come with labels, I consider myself mostly vegan with an aim to live out my values while avoiding the rigidity and alienation commonly associated with veganism.

>Tim Perrine, student: “conditional moral vegan”

I’m not a vegan; vegans believe it’s wrong to consume animal products. I don’t think it is. I’m what I call a “conditional moral vegan.” I believe that is wrong to consume animal products given certain conditions or circumstances. Those circumstances are when one’s consumption of animal products financially contributes to factory farms. Factory farms are what I call — following Terence Cuneo — “essentially cruel practices.” (Other essentially cruel practices include slavery, torture, concentration camps, etc.) Factory farms needlessly inflict immense amounts of physical pain on animals. In a word, they are cruel to animals. Further, they are essentially cruel; they are created intentionally to be cruel to animals. It is clearly wrong to give money to an essentially cruel practice (could it be anything but wrong to give money to concentration camps?); so one shouldn’t purchase animal products which financially contribute to factory farms.

How pervasive are factory farms? Very. There is literally no meat, cheese, milk or eggs that do not originate in a factory farm. So the conditional moral vegan lifestyle appears very similar to a vegan lifestyle. But I differ from vegans because I think that there are circumstances — very rare — where one can morally consume animals products. If one can consume animal products without contributing to a factory farm, then it isn’t wrong. My view is very similar to that of people who refuse to buy shoes made in sweat-shops or coffee from an exploitative farm. Those people don’t think its wrong to wear shoes, or drink coffee. They think that give certain conditions, it’s wrong to purchase certain shoes, or coffee. Similarly, I don’t think it’s wrong to consume animal products; I think that given modern farming practices, it’s wrong to buy animal products. You shouldn’t do it.

>Betsy Sneller, student: vegetarian

I’m a vegetarian mainly for environmental reasons. As it turns out, industrial meat production wreaks some serious havoc on the environment, and I figured abstaining from eating meat was an easy way for me to do a little bit of good. Added benefits: it’s both cheaper and healthier for me.

Still, I wouldn’t have a problem eating meat that was raised locally, or meat that has been hunted or fished by someone that I know, though I’m not the biggest fan of the taste of meat anyway.

This loophole in my vegetarianism is hard to explain succinctly, so I usually just say that I don’t eat meat when people ask, or when I go to someone’s house for dinner. The last time I ate meat was a roll of eel sushi this past summer, which was delicious but definitely not worth the stomachache.

The only problem I’ve run into being a vegetarian is that my poor grandparents, who are pretty traditional and Dutch, are horrified every time I pass up a ham bun or a pig-in-the-blanket.

>Sam Lefurge-Mcleod, student: vegetarian

Vegetarianism isn’t just good for cuddly farm animals; it’s the best means of staying alive. Literally. No one wants to be just another lemming waddling toward the cliff of colon cancer. Eat compassionately for your own benefit. But if you are too altruistic, do it for the ozone, and the guy in Burundi.

Vegetarianism offers a solution to America’s energy crisis. Anyone who read the London Guardian on July 19, 2007 knows that producing one kilogram of beef (2.2 pounds) releases 36.4 kg of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. In practical terms, that’s equivalent to driving 160 miles in a sedan. Ask yourself this question: Would you rather drive to Green Bay for a relaxing weekend, or eat one-fourth of a Delmonico steak and increase your risk of an early death? I’d rather see a Packers game.

Forgoing the steak helps out the guy in Burundi. Livestock farming remains very inefficient. The solution to global hunger does not require one to fly to a third world country and live like a hermit. If one chooses to cut back on one meat-centered meal per month, he can rest easy knowing he’s helped save the world.

Additionally, vegetarianism amps up one’s prestige. While sitting by Walden’s pond, Henry David Thoreau thought up this motto for conscious eaters: “I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals.” Thoreau doesn’t have much selling power on the magazine rack, but he carries a heavy amount of sway in literary circles. There’s no shame in becoming a vegetarian because one’s favorite celebrity eats progressively. Personally, I want to roll with Bob Barker, Moby and Casey Affleck.

Vegetarianism provides a practical means for bettering one’s own quality of life. Eliminating the meat from one’s dinner plate helps to curb the energy crisis, protect the colon, give the guy in Burundi a hand and boost one’s own credibility.