Additional Ways To Live A Vegan Lifestyle
There are a few different things you can do to further your positive impact on the planet and lessen animal cruelty. I’ve been vegan for a little more than three years, and recently I’ve doubled down on my efforts to adopt a more sustainable and cruelty-free lifestyle.
This being said, I understand that change takes time, and not everyone is willing to push it past a certain point.
What’s interesting, though, is that the more involved you get, the more passionate you become about areas where social and animal justice is void.
For example, I refrain from buying clothes from companies sourcing their products from China, Southeast Asia or the Middle East because 1) Long-distance transportation causes immense pollution, and 2) The number of companies that take advantage of workers in third world countries is ludicrous.
The only way I buy clothes from those countries is only if the companies are fairtrade certified.
Anyway, these are things that may come to you eventually… but for now, let’s stick to animal cruelty and the environment.
Avoid Animal-Tested Products
Animal testing is quite common in the health and beauty industry.
There are entire lines of beauty and skincare products, from anti-aging creams to hair conditioners that are first tested on animals before being released to the public. We’re usually not aware of these ill practices, but they happen in the background.
Do you think you’d eat meat if animal farms had glass walls? What if you could witness animal experiments beforehand?
What happens in an animal farm is gruesome to watch, and it can traumatize most people. The same type of cruelty takes place in laboratories, where beauty and skincare products are tested to validate their safety to users. And where these frail animals are also tested ‘purely’ to fuel discovery.
In these experiments, animals are either:
- Forced to inhale toxic gases;
- Pushed into situations where they’re prone to feel fear or anxiety;
- Have their tissues or organs surgically removed;
- Exposed to radiation, and
- They’re forced to ingest potentially harmful substances.
The good news is that in regions like the EU and certain countries like India and New Zealand, animal testing and animal-tested products are banned, and we seem to continue moving in that direction.
Search For The Cruelty-Free Logo
If you live in the U.S, I’m afraid animal testing is still an ongoing practice.
As such, your best option is to look for products with a cruelty-free logo. Brands or products with a cruelty-free logo usually have to meet rigorous requirements, that include:
- No animal testing in the entire supply chain;
- A monitoring system must be in place to closely oversee that supply chain;
- The brand must allow 3rd party audits to take place randomly; and
- The entire product line must comply with the same cruelty-free standards.
And the difference between an EU ban or a ban anywhere else, and the cruelty-free logo — is that cruelty-free products cannot be sold in countries where animal testing is mandatory. As a result, consumers know that the brand selling that product doesn’t conduct animal testing outside zones where a ban is installed.
At the same time, while a product may have a cruelty-free logo… that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s vegan. Always check for the ingredients!
