Veganism Will Always Rise
November 1, 2025
In 2025, 81 years after the coining of the word vegan, what does it mean to observe November 1st as World Vegan Day?
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the vegan philosophy
The Universal Ethic
March 12, 2025
The simple yet profound concept of the golden rule transcends cultural and religious boundaries, emphasizing the inherent value of reciprocal altruism in fostering harmonious relationships and a just society.
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On Pessimism, and Why We Must Never Give Up
December 31, 2024
Those of us with the privilege of choice regarding what we consume and otherwise support owe to those who do not have a choice in their suffering our best efforts to bring about change.
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The Conceptual Lens of Anthropocentrism
April 14, 2023
Becoming aware of the ideology contained within our language can only expand our awareness, it can only remove blinkers and thus broaden our perspectives beyond the conventional perspective pushed upon us.
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A Life Without Violence
January 1, 2023
Have you ever dreamed of freedom, justice and, overall, a life without violence, discrimination and hatred? This has been a question I have constantly asked myself from a very young age. As a woman born into a male dominant, misogynistic society, I always thought of myself as being a victim of unequal treatment...
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The Power of Ahimsa
January 27, 2012
Prescribed by sages throughout history as the most effective way to temper the bestial nature in man, taking the vow of Ahimsa means resolving to refrain from causing any harm to any living creature.
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I Will Not Give Up
December 22, 2022
I have been vegan for 10 years (and vegetarian for seven years prior to that). I became vegan for the animals as I believe that all animals have a right to live their lives free from fear and intimidation; they…
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The Elephant in the Room
December 30, 2018
We are called vegans, and although we come from differing nations, cultures, religions, economic stations, genders and ages, we share a powerful bond. We have all seen the elephant in the room, and agree that the only humane response is to withdraw our support.
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Taking Our Ethical Commitments Seriously
March 3, 2015
For me, veganism is an indispensable cornerstone, and a minimum standard, of taking the well being of others seriously. I could do more, and sometimes do, but being vegan is the very least I can do in taking my ethical commitments seriously.
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Don’t Tell Me What To Do
March 2, 2013
The following is intended to be a satire. It is an ironic look at some of the things people say when attempting to dismiss concerns about the ethics of using animals for personal gain. When these same statements are employed to defend other forms of unethical behavior, we can clearly see how absurd they really are.
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As We Should Be
December 31, 2018
Veganism is not simply a different way of eating. It is a different way of seeing and feeling that embodies the principle of ahimsa, or reverence for life. Simply put, veganism is feeling for another’s feelings.
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Solstice
December 20, 2019
This December, I face the winter solstice with perhaps a little more appreciation for what it might mean for others who are struggling to remember that although we have a winter ahead of us, the light will, as it always does, return.
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An Irrefutable Truth
June 29, 2011
What a boost to my self-esteem to discover that I knew something that was absolutely right; something that no one, no matter their station in life, could convince me was wrong.
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The Golden Rule
June 17, 2021
Gentle World’s Angel Flinn teamed up with animal rights activist Craig Cline to create a compilation of Craig’s writings on the subject of The Golden Rule, as it relates to veganism.
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No Innocent Bystanders
May 4, 2015
We must be willing to examine the biases and bigotries of the present, and see them with the same critical eyes we use to view humanity’s heinous crimes of the past.
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The Importance of Being Vegan
July 14, 2011
As most people are naturally opposed to unnecessary violence, becoming and staying vegan is not a matter of changing any of our basic moral beliefs. It simply requires us to be willing to change the habits we have developed that prevent us from living according to our principles.
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The Colored Entrance
April 1, 2013
Did you stand up for the rights of the enslaved, the oppressed, the massacred? Did you withdraw your support for every single shameful service the exploitation industry provides? Did you speak up on behalf of the billions of innocent victims and plead with the rest of humanity to do the same?
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Could You Kill An Animal?
July 2, 2013
To actively participate in the death of an animal forces people to deaden a part of themselves, with consequences that we may not even be aware of. Is it fair to place that burden on those who carry out this despicable task in order to allow the rest of us to partake of the spoils while avoiding getting our hands dirty?
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A Call to Ethical Vegetarians
October 20, 2010
Ethical vegetarians might not be aware that the production of milk and eggs involves both tremendous cruelty and also the deaths of billions every year. Not only are these animals killed just like those raised specifically for meat, but they are kept alive longer and subjected to a tragic lifetime of slavery, including the horrific violations that come from the brutal exploitation of their reproductive systems.
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Mother’s Milk
May 28, 2011
Humans are far from the only animals to experience the deep connection between mother and child. In fact, this might be one of the very experiences that is universal -- crossing all boundaries between species.
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Let Your Conscience Be Your God
April 7, 2015
The conscience is the one and only place inside us where reason and compassion live harmoniously, side by side. Its purpose, as should be that of any God figure, is to guide us to our better nature.
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A Saner Way
December 18, 2017
The many symptoms of our shared illness are easily seen on any street corner, in homes, schools, work places, courtrooms or anywhere else human behavior is on display. But the most serious is our seeming obsession with some form of violence.
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If We Were They
November 12, 2015
The other animals, although born into different physical bodies are, like us, victims of circumstance. Like all people, they are who we might have been, there but for we know not what. They too, are us, if we were they.
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The Power is Ours
January 4, 2015
If we want a gentle world, we must reject violence. If we want a free world, we must be willing to free our human and non-human slaves. And if we want a peaceful world, we must first find a way to make peace with ourselves and one another.
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Speciesism and Veganism: Transcending Politics and Religion
November 28, 2011
Although this may come as a surprise to some, there are ethical vegans across the political spectrum and in every major religion. Veganism transcends politics and religion because it is based on the simple matter of rejecting a particular form of prejudice: speciesism.
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The Vegan Inside Us
November 1, 2013
Now is the time for those of us who are willing to be the essential change this world so desperately needs, to open the closet door and set the vegan inside us free to unashamedly show the world who we really are.
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When Your Actions Create Victims
April 3, 2016
When your actions cause unnecessary violence and suffering to innocent beings, you have left the realm of freedom and are entering the realm of domination.
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If Not Now, When? If Not You, Who?
October 2, 2017
If they could, every animal in the world would rise up, and with one pleading voice, say to you: “What on earth are you waiting for?”
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Paradise Bound
March 29, 2017
Veganism is as essential to peace as peace is to Paradise. It topples the foundation of violence and cruelty upon which our terribly imperfect governments, cultures, societies and religions are built. It frees us from the self-absorption that fuels our conflicts. It inspires an expansive and inclusive way of living heretofore unknown to our species.
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Which Will We Choose?
July 7, 2016
Is there any hope at all for a peaceful resolution of the opposing forces in our nature, which are driving us mad? If so, the answer must be the pillars of sanity we call reason and compassion.
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Why?
July 8, 2015
Why don't those who make the laws do so with respect for our essential needs, and deepest feelings? Why do we continue to cause so much suffering and death to others? Why is there so much cruelty and violence in the world?
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An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Progressive Movement
July 2, 2013
If you are not yet vegan yourself, you might be moving in that direction or have a friend or two who is. You may even be convinced by now that veganism is a reasonable solution to many of the world's problems. Perhaps, you have secretly envisioned doing it yourself, someday... when you are ready.
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The Conscience: Our Guide to a Truly New Year
December 31, 2012
Most of us have had our moments, even in the midst of our busy lives, when we have found ourselves face to face with our conscience and can hear its voice clearly and distinctly.
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Another Chance
September 30, 2012
When we advocate for the widespread adoption of vegan values, we speak for the entire population of humanity’s victims, including once-glorious landscapes that have been preyed upon rather than protected.
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The Vegan Evolution
February 23, 2012
The vegan ideal represents nothing less than the next evolutionary step for humankind. This quantum leap may seem far-fetched from the position we are in today, but it is within this very change that we will ultimately find our hope for the world of tomorrow.
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Occupy Humanity
October 31, 2011
Even many of the most progressive among us, seemingly without thought, continue to exclude certain sentient beings from the shelter of their compassion by accepting, condoning, supporting and even applauding the most unspeakable injustices perpetrated against those they see as "others," because they happened to have been born other than human.
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Are Anti-Cruelty Campaigns Really Effective?
August 29, 2011
When we campaign to eliminate one branch of the animal trade while ignoring others, we send a message that certain forms of exploitation are worse than others.
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An Idea Whose Time Has Come
July 29, 2011
The vegan concept is not a fad that will pass with time. It is a necessary shift in thinking, that will lead to a heightened empathy and concern for others.
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The Legal Right to Do Wrong
June 17, 2011
Human slaves were once legally the property of other members of the human race and were not granted legal personhood. They were regarded as property just like nonhuman animals are regarded today. To treat animals as property is species discrimination, and it is reflected in every country’s legal system.
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We Will Be Heard
November 16, 2010
In the dark days when the horrific custom of enslaving our fellow human beings was accepted behavior, the abolitionists could not, in good conscience, remain silent. We too, will continue to speak on behalf of freedom, until all beings are free.
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Being Vegan in a Speciesist World
November 18, 2010
Moral paradigm shifts do not cause themselves. They are caused by small groups of people within society – always considered radical in their own time – who persistently educate others why change is necessary.
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There Will Be Battlefields
December 9, 2023
In a world where lives are simply viewed as expendable, innocent life will be cast aside whenever someone with enough power stands to benefit, whether the lives in question are those of nonhumans, soldiers, civilians, women, children or the elderly.
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