Well, I went vegan a few years ago after being vegetarian for years -

and I was vegetarian because of animals; because I didn't agree with killing animals or exploiting them -

and I didn't understand veganism, I thought they were all nuts

and I thought it was too restrictive of a lifestyle

that's really what my perception of it was.

And then a few years ago I started meeting more vegans and activists

and gained more interest in that side of things

and I was always asked: "why are you not vegan?" and I started to research that and learn about those things

and the more I read, the more horrified I was by what was going on

and the more I realised, that isn't me, I need to be vegan -

I am vegan in my soul!

[laughing] so, yeah I transitioned to veganism

and uhm,

yeah! For me, veganism is just about equality,

it's about recognising that just because something is different

doesn't mean you should exploit it or use it

and it's not, it doesn't mean that you have more right to life than an animal does

uhm, because I see that

I think humans were threatened by diversity

you know, even with other people, with

people of different faith and people of different colours

anything that is too different from us

we get, we feel threatened and we want to kind of crush it or

destroy it

and I think, you know - humans are protective

we have laws in place for that and all humans

look human - but animals are just a little bit too different

and I think that's the only reason why people think it's okay to exploit them

but I think personally don't believe diversity is a

good enough reason for exploitation

and I think they can teach us about ourselves and

I think life is precious

and that yeah, as I say - their lives aren't worth less

than us, like I mean I might value my mum's life

more than a cow but that doesn't mean that

the cow's life is worth less, and it doesn't mean

I mean fortunately I don't have to choose between

them! They can both coexist and I think to me, veganism

is about coexisting peacefully

And I also think that, people often say to me

"why do you care so much about animals, why can't you care more about people?"

and it's like

this is for people as well, you don't even have to be an animal lover

because

veganism, it benefits the planet so much -

we have all the facts that the animal agriculture industry

is destroying the planet, it has the greatest

adverse affect on the planet and also

choosing a vegan diet, which we have -

we have available to us

that can have the greatest impact, that

as an individual, you can have the greatest impact on

on reducing climate change and reducing global warming

through a plant based diet.

So yeah,

I would say, I think it's a people thing as well

and uhm

it's, there's simple steps you can take, so

yeah, I encourage everyone to try The Vegan Society

Seven Day Vegan Challenge,

plate it up for the planet and do it with your friends, you know

get people involved and really dive in and learn about it and

support each other, it'll be fun!

I mean, it is, I am concerned -

the threat of climate change is very real, all the facts are there

and it's like - people act like it's a myth just because it's

a few years in the future, you know, we don't really like to -

we like to worry but we don't like to actually

contemplate the reality or take action.

I think also people just feel -

it makes them feel small when they think about that, whereas actually

very small changes that we make to our lifestyles, to our diet

can have an effect and can

reduce our carbon footprint

and I actually wrote down a quote from my friend

who wrote about this, you know and a few weeks ago there was all this

furore about the Paris Treaty and people saying

criticising, pointing fingers at everyone else

for not doing enough for the environment and my friend he wrote:

"why is it so much easier to wave our moral fingers

at a commonly recognised villain,

while overlooking the villainous behaviour that lurks within us all?"

kind of dramatic, but he means that like

we can act, we can make changes

there are little things that we can do such as, you know, eating a plant based diet or

you know, recycling

even when you go to the grocery store and you're

buying your vegetables - don't take the plastic bags and

use public transport, there are

as I say, we, I think we all

we want to get upset and get angry but

we need to channel all that energy into action and doing things

changing, making changes in our lifestyle

to reflect that anger [laughs] and that frustration

because yeah, as I say, it isn't a myth - it's happening

and I think we don't want to look back in a few years and say

"oh we had all the information, I wish we'd done something" -

we want,

we want to be with a healthy happy Earth and saying "we did everything we could"

Before I went vegan, no. I had no idea about

the environmental impact of our diet

I mean, you just don't think about that because the environment is such a huge thing

and you just don't think one person can

have an affect, and then I

watched things like Cowspiracy, read some books on it and

it's just amazing how, uhm

direct an impact one person's diet

can have on the environment and how it can reduce

you know, your carbon footprint and there's so many crazy facts like

6 months of showering is the same as a beef burger

because like, when you think about what it takes to

raise the animals and for them to live and

they yield so much less food than what they take in

there's facts also about like

the agricultural industry has

more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transport industry

it's just mind blowing and no, I didn't think about it

and it's very humbling to think that just eating

a vegan diet can have such a big effect. It's very cool!

The best advice that I got when I went vegan was to

focus on crowding out the animal products from your diet, so

don't think of it as restrictive or deprivation because it's

absolutely not that, it's about adding in new vegan

foods, you know there's lots of meat substitutes and

there's cheese alternatives, there's chocolate alternatives

there's everything, so focus on

adding in new plant based products

before you take everything out

and you'll find that it is a very abundant, joyful

lifestyle and it's not about sacrifice

and I would also say get your friends involved

and join communities, join a vegan group

or even something like following vegan people or

vegan businesses online, so it becomes your norm

because I think a big problem about being vegan is you feel like the odd one out

you feel like an alien, and uh

nobody wants to feel like they're you know, the outcast

or they're not involved in the fun

and especially as food is such a sharing thing so yeah get friends together

and maybe have a vegan potluck

uh

use it as a chance to experiment and

that will make it a lot more fun and a lot more normal and you won't feel

like such a weirdo [laughs]