Podcast

A summary of the conversation is provided below.

Step One: Vegetarian. Step Two: Vegan.

Jess became a vegetarian after taking an ethics course in her undergraduate studies. From Aristotle to Kant, Jess applied western political theory to animal rights. Their professor drew on the work of Peter Singer who wrote a utilitarian argument for animal rights. Jess asked why humankind ignores animals’ interiority, the ability for feeling, emotion, and self-conception, when making moral decisions.

Overtime, they became more cognizant of meat-eating and became vegetarian. Then, the transition to veganism followed a similar path.

“I knew that it was inconsistent if I care about the suffering of animals,” Jess said.

In current dairy practices, animals still experience suffering. Most arguments that convinced Jess not to eat meat also applied to avoiding eating animal products in general, Jess explained.

Vegetarian(ish). Vegan(ish).

Vegetarianism for Jess is to not eat meat or eat animal products that cause animals to die. From a philosophical perspective, one could argue there is something about animal death that is different than animal suffering.

Veganism’s common definition is to avoid eating animal products. Jess elaborated that this immediately raises a question at what is defined as an animal product. Does honey constitute animal product, for example.

They said that we should work to be our best moral selves but there is room for forgiveness because we may not always live up to that.

“People can make their own choices in what they choose to prioritize,” Jess said. “I can respect that for some that is not the case, and people’s situations are different.”

The standards we set for ourselves are personal journeys, Jess believes. Setting the example of being a vegan is one way Jess explores their own pursuit of living a moral life. Jess said to think about how we can make small changes for greater impact. They recommended doing a meatless Monday as a way to make small changes.

“Surely there’s something we can each do,” Jess said.

Making Veganism More Accessible

Jess acknowledged that veganism may be easier in certain geographies and urban environments. They continued that time is also a variable, not just the cost. Many more hours are spent cooking or preparing to eat vegan than one would realize just getting started.

To lower barriers, Jess wondered about providing easy and inexpensive starter recipes that would lessen the time and money required to be vegan. On a systems level, Jess said to think politically and structurally to get governments and our systems of agricultural production to make veganism widely available and feasible.

“Really think about what we need to do, what does the world need to do in order to be sustainable for everybody who is living on earth,” Jess concluded.