This post was inspired by a comment regarding someone who believes going vegan is useless because what difference can one person really make?
A man walking on the beach after a storm comes upon a person picking up starfish on the sand and flinging them back into the ocean. The man looks around. Starfish litter the sand all up and down the beach. “Excuse me, don’t you realize that there are miles of beach, and starfish all along it? You could work all day and not make one tiny bit of difference here.” The other stoops, picks up another starfish, flings it into the ocean. “Well,” she says, “I made a difference to that one.”
All of us have the power to make a difference, no matter how small it may seem. Our actions undoubtedly effect much more than we realize. The Butterfly Effect is an idea rooted in chaos theory (the study of sensitive dynamic systems) that one small difference initially can lead to very large changes in the long term. For example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill might roll down into any of several ending positions, depending on slight variations in the initial position of the ball. The differences in the final resting positions of the ball could vary greatly due to very small differences in the starting positions.
Something that may seem very small or inconsequential to us, like giving up meat, can actually have a very profound effect in the long term. The obvious consequence of going vegan is saving the lives of animals. It is estimated that a single vegetarian saves 50 animal lives per year and a single vegan saves 100 lives per year. While one single vegan working for compassion alone may not move mountains, the collective power of all the vegans together will. According to a Vegetarian Times study, 7.3 million Americans are vegetarians, 1 million of these are vegans. With, 6.3 million vegetarians saving 50 lives a year and 1 million vegans saving 100 lives a year, that gives us (6.3m * 50 + 1m * 100) 415 million animals saved in the US every year! There is no disputing that this is a phenomenal number.
And don’t forget the profound effect vegetarian and vegan diets have on the environment. (I know I’ve used these facts a few times before but they’re so powerful so here they are again.) The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations reports that overall, livestock production is responsible for a bigger share of greenhouse gas emissions than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, buses, trains, ships, and planes in the world combined. Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that going vegan is more effective in countering climate change than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius. The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook points out that “refusing meat is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.” Even Environmental Defense, a group that was called George W. Bush’s favorite environmental group for its less-than-radical stands, calculates that if every meat eater in the United States swapped just one meal of chicken per week for a vegetarian meal, the carbon savings would be equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road.
But, the true Butterfly Effect doesn’t come in the form of individual animals saved or reduced units of carbon in the atmosphere. It comes in the influence you have on others around you. Whether you realize it or not, you are inspiring others with your compassion. It may be something as simple as someone asking you why you decided to go vegetarian (which we get asked again, and again, and again). Your answer just might light someone’s candle of thought. I once had a co-worker say, “I’ll order whatever you order because I know you eat healthy.” Just my daily act of eating a vegetarian lunch had inspired this co-worker to go meatless, even if only occasionally. I recently received an email from a friend saying, “I just wanted to let you know that I only eat meat once a day now.”
In fact, it’s likely that you were inspired to go vegetarian by another vegetarian, either through their book, or website, or by talking with them. Someone out there will be motivated by your actions to take action themselves. (But they likely won’t tell you about it. Think about it: how many great teachers did you thank? I didn’t thank any! Even the ones that inspired me to pursue my current career! Inspiring others to do great things is often thankless.) Imagine what happens if the current 7.3 million American vegetarians (who are saving 415 million animals a year) each inspire just one other person to reduce their meat intake. That’s one heck of a Butterfly Effect.
Now consider the inverse: what happens if you don’t go vegan. It is precisely the “I can’t make a difference, so why bother” attitude that allows horrendous factory farming practices to continue. As Nobel prize winning author Elie Wiesel said, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” By not opposing, you are supporting. Your hard-earned money is now funding this abuse. You are contributing to the problem, fueling the cruelty, condoning the abuse.
Let’s just say you’re still not convinced that your actions make a difference. You think that 50-100 animals per year, tons of carbon offsets, and influence over a few others can’t possibly matter in the grand scheme of things. Then look at it this way: do it for yourself. You know the old saying, “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?” Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t make it right! Even if you think your choices have absolutely no effect on anything, you should not do something that you feel is wrong, or contribute to something you think is inhumane, or finance something you believe is destructive. When I first made the switch to vegetarianism, I felt an unexpected and unbelievable sense of happiness. Whether or not I was actually saving the lives of animals, I didn’t know, but just knowing that I was no longer personally contributing to the pain, suffering, and death of other living beings felt like nirvana. I know in my heart that the way these animals are treated is cruel and wrong, so even if I were the only vegetarian on Earth, I would still choose not to eat meat. I feel that I am living a better, more compassionate, more humane life, which makes me happy.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank
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Breakfast: Smoothie with frozen pineapple, a banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk (can you tell I’m on a smoothie kick?)
Lunch: Veggie rolls from Whole Foods. SO YUMMY!
Dinner: Zucchini & squash “pasta” (raw zucchini & squash, shredded like pasta) with raw, vegan pesto sauce and veggies, also from Whole Foods.
