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Marisa Deichert
Professor Bedell
CAS 137H
4 December 2015
The Rise of Veganism
Maslow created a hierarchy of needs to illustrate the succession of desires which humans
wish to fulfill. People are motivated to fulfill these needs; the lowest level that must be satisfied
first is the biological and physiological needs, which include air, food, drink, shelter, warmth,
sex, and sleep (McLeod). Most of the basic needs are relatively simple to fulfill, but food and
drink have a plethora of variations and options that leave the choice of fuel up to the consumer.
The typical meat-based American diet has changed dramatically over the years, which led to
increased levels of meat production and factory farms, detrimental effects on the environment,
and rising numbers of chronic and degenerative diseases. There has been a subsequent rise in
both celebrities and researchers who are aware of the negative societal effects of increased meat
consumption and want to change it, thus leading to a rise in the vegan diet.
Only about five percent of the United States population is vegan or vegetarian, according
to a report by Cym Gomery in her article The Tipping Point, published in the magazine CCPA
Monitor in 2014. Although more adults than children and adolescents seem to be vegan when the
Animal Rights Foundation of Florida polls their audience during their numerous presentations of
101 Reasons to Go Vegan, it has been found by Gomery that the younger population tends to
be more passionate in the vegan lifestyle. It has been concluded that younger individuals seem
to adopt veganism more willingly and for more compassionate reasons compared to their

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parents and grandparents cohorts. Older folks seem to prefer a more measured approach, eating
less meat than before but often balking at vegetarianism or veganism (Gomery).
The rise in veganism has been quite significant from the late 1900s and early 2000s to the
present. Anjali Sareen reported in her article in The Huffington Post Interest in Vegan Diets On
The Rise of a 2012 study conducted by Vegetarian Resource Group that found a one percent
increase in the population who identified themselves as vegan since 2009, reaching 2.5 percent
of the population in 2012. Also, three times as many people have Googled vegan in 2015 than
in 2004, which illustrates the growing interest in veganism (Sareen). Part of the explanation for
the dramatic increase in interest in a vegan diet is due to the increase in celebrities who are vegan
as well as the growing number of vegan activists. Some examples of vegan celebrities, noted in
Lauren Zupkuss The Huffington Post article These Celebrity Vegetarians Wont Be Eating
Turkey This Thanksgiving, include: Paul McCartney (singer/songwriter), Shania Twain (singer),
Carrie Underwood (singer), and Ariana Grande (singer). The influence of these celebrities aligns
with the psychological trend of common people aspiring to be similar to ones role models.
When we see beautiful, thin, clear-skinned celebrities, we want to know what they do to look that
way. Then, when one researches to find out their secret, they learn that some of these celebrities
achieve their looks through a plant-based diet. Celebrities views have an effect on the choices
people make; vegan celebrities have the ability to draw the public eye towards veganism,
confirmed by Natalia Irmin in her article Do Vegan Celebrities Help Promote the Vegan
Cause? posted on The Vegan Woman, and activist groups capitalize on the spotlight.
In addition to the multitude of celebrities who are vegan, there are many activist groups
who emphasize the moral, ethical, and environmental arguments of veganism. Examples of such
activist groups range from PETA, who primarily uses blogs as a medium of exchanging

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information in a more professional manner, to the YouTube channel The Friendly Activist, who
voices his opinions through videos, often utilizing humor. These activists promote the vegan
lifestyle in different ways, although both provide legitimate information and include research
from which their argument is based. Lastly, individuals who spread the word about living a
vegan lifestyle aid in the growth of the vegan population. These individuals are present on
YouTube and social media, and their primary purpose is to demonstrate the normality of living a
vegan lifestyle, despite many doubts from those who believe that an omnivorous diet is the only
sustainable way to live. These individuals explain the misconceptions on a more personal level,
which helps to better connect the presenter with the audience. One YouTube channel in
particular, lauraacanfly, aids in making the vegan lifestyle seem easy by posting videos while
going through a grocery store and pointing out the vegan foods sold there. These individuals help
in promoting the vegan lifestyle that targets a younger audience, while also being adapted to the
more technologically affluent society we live in today.
The psychological side of the American diet is based on our cultural beliefs and customs.
Primarily, the ideas we hold today about our diets have followed a distinct path: we are taught
one way of thinking, which may or may not be the healthiest or most efficient way to live; this
idea is passed down from generation to generation until it becomes tradition and part of our
culture. However, this tradition that has formed a specific culture is not always morally
acceptable. Therefore, we did not choose our diet, but our diet was a learned behavior based on
our culture. This culture then tells us that dogs are pets, and pigs are food, for example. It then
becomes difficult to break these habits that our culture has formed for us as well as the
associations society gives with various animals (101 Reasons to Go Vegan).

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There is a generalization that All earthlings have one desire to live and to avoid pain
(101 Reasons to Go Vegan). The moral reasoning of veganism is evident in this statement. When
animals are in pain, although they cannot express their discomfort verbally, they are able to show
these feelings through their reactions and expressions. It becomes hypocritical that humans put
animals through suffering and pain for consumption while sharing a common desire to avoid
pain, which is why vegans do not want animals killed for [their] benefit, confirmed by Dixe
Wills in his article We Must Stop Eating Like This posed in Reform Magazine in 2013. There
is also a shift in which side humans stand with animals: in reality, humans slaughter animals for
personal gains. However, when these animals that we consume are the stars in a movie or a
television show, we rally behind them and want them to live. Our views toward animals shifts
depending on the situation they are presented to us (101 Reasons to Go Vegan).
Factory farms are a major cause of the shift toward a vegan diet. The side effects of
factory farms have a negative impact on the animals, environment, and the public health. Since
99% of all animal products come from factory-farmed animals (Made by Pumpkin), these side
effects are prominent to the public eye. Without federal laws to protect the animals living in
factory farms, ill-treatment is a commonplace (Made by Pumpkin). These unethical conditions
are elaborated in the presentation 101 Reasons to Go Vegan: animals are confined to the closequarters of a warehouse, forcing them to live practically on top of each other while preventing
natural ways of life. For example, chickens who are confined four to six per cage the size of a
milk crate become violent; hence, their beaks are cut off in order to prevent injury. There has
been a shift to free-range animals, but in reality these animals are just crammed into tight
quarters without the wire cages while many still have not seen the sunlight until they are driven
to the slaughterhouse (Made by Pumpkin). These tight living quarters are conducive to not only

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injury but also to disease; thus, animals are given antibiotics in order to subside diseases.
Seventy percent of the antibiotics produced in the United States are fed to farm animals in order
to keep them healthy, although people are dying in hospitals because of inadequate antibiotics.
(101 Reasons to Go Vegan). The abuse of animals in factory farms, which monopolize the way
that animals are raised for human consumption, is changing the public eye of how animals are
treated, making individuals enraged. Hence, lifestyle changes like veganism are made in order to
boycott these terrible acts.
The rationale of humane slaughter is somewhat comical. Ten billion hens, pigs, and
cows are being slaughtered a year for food, which equates to 300 animals being slaughtered
every second (101 Reasons to Go Vegan). Individuals are surprised to learn that animals are not
treated humanely. However, there cannot be better conditions that have the end result in death;
violence cannot be humane, just like theft and rape cannot be humane. In Animal Rights: The
Abolitionist Approach, Gary Francione explains in his article The Paradigm Shift Requires
Clarity About the Moral Baseline that animal slaughter is wrong because it involves speciesism,
which is violence inflicted on members of the moral community where that infliction of
violence cannot be morally justified. If all species were equal, just like all races, ethnicities,
sexual orientations, etc., this would then imply that human abuse would be permitted similar to
the animal abuse that happens in factory farms (101 Reasons to Go Vegan).
The use factory farms and increase in number of livestock also has an adverse effect on
the environment. 18% of all the worlds greenhouse gases are produced by livestock (Wills).
This 18% is greater than the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the entire transportation
sector cars, trucks, trains, boats, and airplanes which only totals 13% (101 Reasons to Go
Vegan). The toxins that are produced at the farms get mixed into the streams, eventually leading

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to the oceans where the toxins create a hostile environment for fish and other sea creatures.
Deforestation is also a result of increased animal production; the land is used for the animals to
range or for the production of feed for the animals (The Friendly Activist). Along with the
pollution created from factory farms, raising animals also uses up much more resources than it
takes to grow plants. To make one pound of ground beef, it takes approximately 16 pounds of
grain and 5,200 gallons of water. Comparing these values to the 23 gallons of water per pound of
tomatoes, which are a water-intensive plant, it takes a lot more resources to raise beef than to
grow plants (Wills). The increase in awareness of the environmental effects caused by factory
farming parallels the shift in increased awareness of the causes of global warming. As the
population grows, the consumption of animal products also increases and therefore the amount of
greenhouse gases and pollutants increases. As the population rises, the only alternative to combat
the environmental hazards of eating animal products is a shift to a vegan diet (Carus).
There has been research showing that a plant-based diet has many health benefits, while
diets that include meat, eggs, and dairy result in health consequences. According to the U.S.
Surgeon General report, 68% of all diseases in the United States are diet related (101 Reasons
to Go Vegan). Although humans have been consuming animal products for a long time, this diet
is unhealthy and unnatural because our bodies are not designed to eat meat, like other omnivores
and carnivores. Humans share similar qualities with other herbivores, such as our plentiful, dull
teeth, jaw used to grind food, lack of claws, and longer intestines. The largest and strongest
animals on the planet eat a plant-based diet and have a long life span, which suggests the ability
to sustain on this type of diet (101 Reasons to Go Vegan).
The adequacy of vegetarian diets (a close cousin to veganism but including dairy, eggs,
and animal by-products) in the 1960s was considered to be at a higher risk of deficiency than a

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meat-based diet. This deficiency was thought to occur because of restrictive or unbalanced
vegetarian diets; malnutrition to those individuals in a growing state amplify the effects of an
unbalanced diet. However, this assumption that a vegetarian diet is inadequate is made only by
discussing the health risks and not the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet. Joan Sabat, the
author of The Contribution of Vegetarian Diets to Health and Disease: A Paradigm Shift?
published on The American Journal of Clinical Nutritions website, notes that about half of the
literature on vegetarian diets from 1966 to 1995 focused on the inadequacy of this type of diet,
discussing issues such as deficiency diseases, nutritional status, and growth or anthropometric
indexes (Sabat). This topic of vegetarian readings decreased to one quarter over the following
two decades, expressing a linear trend (Sabat). In place of these health risk articles emerged
publications on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, such as the preventive and therapeutic
aspects. This shift in topic for vegetarian literature can be explained by the decline of prevalent
nutrition deficient diseases and the rise of chronic and degenerative diseases. In addition,
research on a vegetarian diet was limited at the time, and only the short term effects were
studied. This excluded the long term effects on chronic diseases and longevity that vegetarian
diets are now known to help. Lastly, the focus on the health risks of a vegetarian diet thrived
because most of the researchers consumed a meat-based diet, making a plant-based diet a
cultural anomaly. Until the 1970s, those following vegetarian diets were assumed to be part of
the antiestablishment, underground culture or a religious sect and the avoidance of meat to be
practiced for reasons other than health (Sabat). The primitive knowledge about vegetarian diets
in the second half of the twentieth century and the bias against a vegetarian diet created a
negative stigma until more research and opinions supported the health benefits of a plant-based
diet (Sabat).

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With more research done in the past ten to twenty years, evidence of the health benefits
of a vegetarian diet are expanding. In addition, research also shows that diets based on animal
foods contribute to the causation of human diseases from excess, unbalance, and deficiency of
nutrients or other food compounds appears to be noticeably different from earlier estimates
(Sabat). The original model postulated in the 1960s that a vegetarian diet has a higher risk of
deficiency has been overturned to a more favorable risk-to-benefit ratio for a vegetarian diet. In
conclusion, recent scientific advances seem to have resulted in a paradigm shift: diets largely
based on plant foods, such as well-balanced vegetarian diets, are viewed more as improving
health than causing disease, in contrast with meat-based diets (Sabat).
The human body is like a machine one wants good quality, proper fuel in order to
maximize efforts. There has been a shift in what is believed to be the optimal diet due to the
increased knowledge and research about the human body. The American diet, a meat-based diet,
has given rise to a number of negative societal and individual consequences, such as animal
abuse and cruelty, environmental impacts, and health risks. As we come to know more about
these consequences, there has been a rise in a plant-based diet that respects animals, has less of
an environmental impact, and helps to fend off diseases and increase longevity. Society has
become more open to this plant-based diet, exemplified in the support of vegan celebrities and
desire for more knowledge about the vegan diet. The largest hurdle in the shift to a vegan world
is the culture that we as Americans are raised in one in which the young are taught that is
acceptable to eat particular animals, so they pass this knowledge on to subsequent generations
until a tradition of eating meat has become the American culture. However, as the increased
awareness of the detrimental effects of a meat-based diet and positive effects of a plant-based
diet become more widespread, the demographics of the American diet are bound to change.

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Works Cited
101 Reasons to Go Vegan. By Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. Perf. James Wildman. 101
Reasons to Go Vegan. Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Oct.
2015.
Carus, Felicity. "UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-free Diet." The Guardian. Guardian
News and Media Limited, 2 June 2010. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
Francione, Gary L. "The Paradigm Shift Requires Clarity About the Moral Baseline: Veganism Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach."Animal Rights The Abolitionist Approach.
Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach, 09 Jan. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
The Friendly Activist. "What Is Veganism? [After Watching This You Will Go Vegan]." YouTube.
YouTube, 31 May 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Gomery, Cym. "The Tipping Point." CCPA Monitor 21.3 (2014): 42-43. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Irmin, Natalia. "Do Vegan Celebrities Help Promote the Vegan Cause?" The Vegan Woman. Ed.
Sivan Pardo Renwick and Anna-Claire Vaughn. Vegan Gal, 4 June 2013. Web. 28 Oct.
2015.
Made by Pumpkin. "Our Cause." Factory Farming Awareness Coalition. NationBuilder, 2014.
Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
McLeod, Saul. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Simply Psychology. Simply Psychology, 17 Sept.
2007. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Sabat, Joan. "The Contribution of Vegetarian Diets to Health and Disease: A Paradigm
Shift?" The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. American Society for Clinical
Nutrition, Sept. 2003. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

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Sareen, Anjali. "Interest In Vegan Diets On The Rise: Google Trends Notes Public's Increased
Curiosity In Veganism." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Mar. 2013.
Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Wills, Dixe. "We Must Stop Eating Like This." Reform Magazine (2013): 13. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Zupkus, Lauren. "These Celebrity Vegetarians Won't Be Eating Turkey This Thanksgiving." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.