Vegan in the 17th Century

Today is the 347th Anniversary of the first publication of The Oxford Gazette, which very quickly became the London Gazette.

It was a momentous occasion, the first "blog" available to all and, I am certain, more influential than any of us modern age bloggers could hope to be in our wildest dreams. Of course, the market was not quite so crowded then....

It is true that the concept of a "newspaper" had already been around for half a century or more by that time and other "gazettes" had been published.  This one caught on though and is now the longest running publication in the newspaper world. Thanks to the UK Govt requirement for statutory notices to be published in the London Gazette it also retains commercial advantage which is not available to other print media competing with online journals and so is much more likely to survive as a historic nod to our modern information platforms.

What makes a great journal - or blog - is a great story to tell and The London Gazette got its big break in less than a year with the Great Fire of London. No such thing as bad news? Not if you sell newspapers there isn't!

My blog readers will already know that I am most interested in social justice, ocean welfare and veganism.  I am sorry to say that there are no archived records of any of those issues (at least using those terms) in the searchable Gazette records. Having said that, it is almost inconceivable that such a journal would not have picked up on the writings of 17th Century agents for change such as Thomas Tryon and John Evelyn (see The Ethics of Diet - A Catena by Howard Williams. Links to pages for Tryon and for Evelyn).  Neither can its editors have failed to note those religious - especially Christian - sects which were already starting to abstain from meat although I suspect that was mostly an early version of left-wing "nailing one's colors to the mast" and abstaining from meat on social grounds. In the early 1600s, meat-eating was becoming a symbol of affluence and so I suspect the public abstention was more a reaction to that association and far less out of concern for the animals. Regardless, the animals had some protection either way.

It is fascinating also to note the growth of meat eating in the new emerging markets such as China as the "western diet" is perceived to be symbolic of success.  Who said we were a logical species?  That is definitely one for a future blog...

Of greatest interest to me, however, is the way in which the 17th century veg(etari)an "movement" seems to have grown not from those who were giving up meat but instead grew from those who chose not to start eating meat in the first place.

Knowing that even until the middle of the 1900s, the dairy industry had not yet subverted the entire consumables supply chain I do think it would have been a lot easier for a vegan to get a meal in London in 1665 at any eating house than it is in the year 2012 in anything other than a specialist vegan restaurant.

I do, of course, acknowledge big strides forward for our new millennium Vegan movement so perhaps I am being a bit harsh on 2012. Nevertheless, wind the clock back even 2 or 3 years and I hope that those long-term vegans reading this will agree with my observation.

The message for non-vegans has to be that this is not some kind of modern-day fad, it is the way our society should have been since the Middle Ages when, "as the threat from wild beasts receded, so man's right to eliminate wild creatures from whom he had nothing to fear was increasingly disputed" (Keith Thomas: Man and the Natural World).  There have been strong moral objections to the exploitation of animals for at least 400 years.  Thankfully we need no longer rely on a single printed journal to get that message out there.

Oceans in the 17th Century

So what of our poor friends, the whales and what of our other ocean animal friends?

Was 17th Century western man more disposed to their protection than his 21st century counterparts?

Sadly no. That is a new millennium movement that we must continue to grow and develop, not least because the plundering of the oceans which started in earnest way back then and has increased exponentially in the last few decades is now threatening our own survival as a species.  (See October blog, Sharks and the Gold Standard.)

The problem has always been that we cannot easily see what lies beneath the surface of the ocean. If we could, would we poison it?  If we could, would we allow it to be exploited so badly?

I shall return to that theme in a future blog but for now, thank you for reading today's journal.  I wonder if it will be quoted 347 years from now?

Whales, what's the difference?

Before I talk about whales, let me tell you about the two occasions in the last week where I have been at functions with zero provision for vegans, despite plenty of advance warning that a vegan would be there.  Not even soup made with vegetable stock.  Not even a starter that didn't involve some potentially toxic shellfish from the cheapest possible source of supply.

Not a single thing that I could eat, leaving me with the choice of embarrassing my hosts as I sat at table with an empty space in front of me or being "the bigger person" by faking an excuse to leave and dealing with the issue quietly in a more reflective morning mood - and slightly more subjective morning telephone call.

Sometimes those telephone calls can be awkward because, apparently, vegans are actually the ones to blame for not being "normal" like everyone else.

Don't get me wrong, these are not uncaring people I am mixing with. In fact, many of them are very strong supporters of my volunteer work with Sea Shepherd and there is not a single person among them who would actively support the killing of whales, dolphins, seals or any other species of marine megafauna. Passive support is, of course, another story which I will return to in future (watch this blog for details).

They also know my philosophy that knowledge is not power, knowledge is responsibility; responsibility to act.  If you are truly ethical, truly compassionate, truly caring, truly determined to contribute to making your part of our world a better place then if you had the knowledge I have about the oceans and how they are being abused, how could you not become vegan? Honestly, how could you not?

Let's talk about whales.  Especially those whales which are entitled to a life free from harm in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.  A Sanctuary in name, a sanctuary in law, a sanctuary which is being plundered year after year after year while most of the World wrings its hands and assumes it can do nothing. (Passive support for killing?  It is if you really are doing nothing more than wringing your hands!)

My friends in Sea Shepherd are not content to sit and wait.  They take action, direct action, and they have all devoted their lives to saving our most wonderful companions on this shared planet, the whales, from harm.

Others see whales - and whale meat - only in terms of financial gain.

One of the questions I have always asked is why would those who hunt but do not share in the profits which the money-men retain want to kill such magnificent creatures in the first place? There has never been a legitimate argument in reply but there is often the, "you do it so we do it too" excuse which goes along the lines of  we - i.e. Westerners - kill pigs and sheep and hens and cows and so what is the difference?

So,,,

What is the difference?

I don't think there is one and I even more think knowledge is responsibility.

Sometimes it is important to be vegan by example, even if it means going hungry.  Maybe I should have stayed with the empty plate in front of me...

Smiling for Sea Shepherd

I was once told by a very good friend that the opposite of Happy is Very Happy.

What a different world we would all live in if everyone thought that way.  What a BETTER world we would all live in if everyone thought that way.

Sooner or later it happens to us all, we end up with the blues.  For those of us who volunteer in ocean conservation and the protection of marine wildlife that cycle of despair seems to be an even more regular occurrence   There always seems to be more people working harm on the planet than people working to repair the harm and even fewer working to stop the harm being caused in the first place.  But, dear reader, that can only be a perception, a glass half-empty view if you like.  And those of you who know me well will also know that I don't do half-empty.  I don't even do half-full.  I approach life with the view that my glass has whatever it has in it and from that point on if it is to be, it is up to me.

So how do you burst a cycle of despair?  How do you get rid of the blues?

Well, the big trick I learned was never to ignore the things that are causing the despair in the first place.  My "despair" this week has come from the extreme, clear and present threat to Whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from the Japanese Whaling Fleet and the almost daily slaughter of dolphins and pilot whales in Taiji's infamous killing cove.  There are other atrocities happening around the World but those two are uppermost in my mind as I type this.

Of course if those things went away then I would be happy, but me being happy will not be enough in itself to  make them go away. If I am happy, though, then I am much more mentally prepared to do whatever needs must be done to add my own contribution to ending these horrors.

So to beat the blues I use those events that in the past might have caused me long-term despair as my REASON to find the core of happiness that lets me move forward.  And then I add to that core with the knowledge of what others are already doing to combat those wholly unnecessary evils on this planet.  I find the silver linings in those horrible clouds and add my own polish to those silver linings.  From my metaphors above, I am filling my glass up - adding to what is already there. I am also making myself aware that there are more working to stop harm and to repair harm than any of us realise.  A lot more.

Here is what has taken my blues away this morning:

Today the first ships set sail for Sea Shepherd's Operation Zero Tolerance (if I was filling up a real glass I would have needed a bigger one to add all of the Happy that news brought).

I also took that as an opportunity to reflect on why we do what we do and so my second BIG happy this morning came from this video, another Sea Shepherd video, explaining Why We Defend the Oceans.

Please enjoy and please remember, the opposite of happy is very happy.  Let me take your blues away...

Swim Wild, Swim Free

These common dolphins are swimming wild and free, where every dolphin should be

I took the shot so it isn't a "professional" wildlife shot, it is what I call a "happy memory" picture.  It won't win any photography prizes but it has won a place in my heart forever.

The background to this story might be of interest to you, I am not particularly religious but it sure felt like someone gave us a reward that day.

We were on a delivery trip, taking a yacht from the Solent, up through the Irish Sea, to its home port in the Clyde and we had just come out of some horrendous weather - big waves, big winds (very big winds) and more than a few big scares as we wondered just how much more the yacht could take before it, or the people on it started to break.  The sea is a fickle mistress, she can change her mood as fast as you can change your sails to match it but as long as you never take her for granted, she can turn from hard to gentle to comforting and she does.  Maybe there's a lesson for life right there?

There wasn't much food on board; we had only enough for another couple of days and, thanks to much poorer weather than forecast, we had already been on the go for a few days more than expected. Everyone on board was tired.  Close to Dun Laoghaire (Dublin's main stopover port for small transit traffic) we had a choice; get ashore for a day's rest and a provision run or we could just keep going and make the most of the new flat-calm conditions we found ourselves in.

We kept going.

Four hours later we were well past the decision point as going to Dun Laoghaire would have meant turning back and we were just at the changeover point for night watch with all 3 of us on deck enjoying the last hour of daylight.


And then we got our reward.

This is even less of a prize winning snap than the first pic but if you look just to the left of the yacht, slightly to the right of centre you will see there is a dolphin there.  A common dolphin who appeared from nowhere (we were at least 20 miles from nearest land) leapt clear of the water and, just to give you an idea of how fast these magnificent animals travel, from a series of 10 snaps this is the first one that showed anything other than an empty sea.

What the snap could never show you is that he was not alone, we had just been joined by a pod of not less than 30 common dolphins and they were a big family group.  There were youngsters no more than a metre in length swimming close to their mums.  There were also adolescents and I now know that dolphin "teenagers" are as cheeky and daring as human teenagers and that their parents give them just as big a ticking off!  These youngsters were the ones leaping highest out of the water, without a doubt in showing off mode.  I am torn between regret that we did not have a video camera or a sixth sense telling me when to press the shutter on the still camera and absolute delight that my memory of those first five minutes of the encounter were shared just between people and dolphins, each in their own environment but coming together by the conscious choice of the dolphins and not the people.

What happened after that though was the most moving experience of all.

For the next 40 minutes those dolphins joined us with mums and babies swimming alongside whilst the dads and adult singles were bow-riding, often stacked 8 deep on either side of the bow, swimming at an average 6 kns (according to the log when we checked it afterwards) and regularly rolling on their sides while still swimming, obviously watching us, watching them.

There was solid communication there but I suspect the dolphins have a much better idea of what that communication was.  There can be little doubt they find it easier to understand our species than we understand theirs.

Please forgive me for we hardly have any photos, we were too busy living the moment...

Let me fast forward a year to the time when I first heard about Sea Shepherd and through that amazingly powerful organisation was introduced to the movie, The Cove, a very deserving Oscar winner.

The Cove changed my view on life.  On my sailing adventures I have had the enormous privilege of sharing the ocean with magnificent marine mammals, not just on this occasion but on many similar occasions since.  I cannot sit quietly by whilst other so-called human beings murder dolphins for profit and if you have ever watched any of the Cove Guardian videos from Taiji it is increasingly likely that a few, even more disgusting humans, murder dolphins and pilot whales for some kind of sick pleasure.

So what could I do to stop this?  What can any of us do?

There is a ten word phrase I have been living my life by for a while now.  A phrase unusual in that it is composed entirely of two-letter words:

If it is to be, it is up to me.

That does not mean it is all about me though, it means exactly the opposite.  I am proud to be a Sea Shepherd and hope and pray that I never become a  "Me Shepherd" because, frankly, our world has far too many of the latter and not nearly enough of the former.

I blogged last month (Physician, Heal Thyself) that we have 2 choices when faced with a horror such as Taiji.  You either go there yourself, or you dig deep and give someone else the funds to do so.

I am proud to be supporting my very best friend in her journey to Taiji and hope that you will click this link and Help Send Anna to Taiji to support Anna yourself.  The link will tell you her story, it is a moving one.

There is a 3rd option and that is to do nothing.  But if it is up to me, it must be up to you too...

Thank you for reading.

Plenty More Fish in the Sea. Really?

Today's blog is based partly on the speech which Captain Paul Watson delivered for Earthday 2007... (copied at the foot of this blog)



...and it is wholly based on me stumbling across this You Tube horror movie featuring the World's largest pelagic trawler operating at sea, emptying the Atlantic of fish.

Of note should be that this movie was not produced by activists or any other planet-saving campaigners, it was produced as an advertorial for the company which installed the flash freezing units on board this floating factory in anticipation of more and more trawlers this size being built and allowed to turn the planet's very life-force into profit for the tiniest of tiny minorities who operate without a care for you, for me, about government, about natural law, about any kind of law except the law of the greedy, the selfish, the unthinking.

You may think I am exaggerating a bit when I use the phrase "emptying the Atlantic of fish" but let me tell you that this is just one of many vessels greater than 100 metres in length and then let me tell you what this one is actually capable of:

She carries 3,000 tonnes of fuel so she can stay at sea for a long time and/or she can travel an enormous distance.  For comparison, the Sea Shepherd flagship, the MV Steve Irwin has a fuel capacity of around 200 tonnes, less than 7% of the capacity of the Annelies Ilena (ex Atlantic Dawn).  This particualr freezer trawler also has hold capacity for 7,000 tonnes of frozen fish - fairly important when she can - and does - catch and process up to 350 tonnes of fish per day.

7,000 tonnes

One shipload from this trawler represents 2% of the entire ANNUAL consumption of all species of fish in the UK.   Except...

Except this fish is not being used - in the main - to feed people.  

Much of it will be sold to other fishermen to use as bait for long lines and for creels.  How mad is that?  If you must eat fish, why not eat the first fish you caught?  Or do we just keep using each fish in turn as more and more bait until we eventually get something that the supermarkets are happy to put on their shelves because it somehow manages to acquire some kind of sustainability stamp to let them turn a blind eye to how it was produced in the first place?

Still more of it will be sold to the aquaculture industry, especially the farmed salmon producers. Salmon are wild, fast moving predators. They eat other fish. So somehow we have convinced ourselves that we can keep them in static cages and feed them fishmeal and colorants and flavorings so that, again, the supermarkets get a "marketable" and cheap product on the shelves.

What that really means is that, every time someone eats a salmon, there were 10 or more other fish that could have given them the same meal instead - this isn't concentrating protein, this is distilling protein except we even get that wrong, we throw away the good stuff and keep the garbage, the frankenfish whose greatest threat to us all is to escape into the natural community. Ponder on that if you will. Oh and they shoot seals as well which is a theme I will return to in future blogs but for now, take a look at this web site if you want more info: Seal Scotland

Astonishingly, though, the vast majority of this planet-essential wild, pelagic fish will be sold for other animal feed.  Charles Darwin must be turning in his grave, did cows and sheep and pigs and hens really evolve as fish-eaters?  Did Danish pigs really work out all by themselves that they could grow even fatter, even faster by eating whale-meat clandestinely imported from Iceland?  This is insane!

But it is the World we live in.  Let's change it before it is too late.

Here is what Captain Paul Watson had to say on the subject just 5 short years ago:

Earth Day Cometh and Earth Day Goeth

And Where Have all the Bees Gone?

Earth Day Report by Captain Paul Watson


Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Earth Day is almost here. I don't believe in Earth Day myself. I think it's a little silly to devote one single day of the year to being concerned about the environment, but I suppose one day is better than no day at all.

Having been an environmental activist since 1968, I have seen the movement go up and down like a roller coaster in popularity. It was big in 1972 with the Environmental Conference in Stockholm which I attended and it became big again in 1992 with the U.N. Environmental Conference in Rio De Janeiro that I also attended. I remember that the priority issue in 1972 was the danger of escalating human populations but by 1992, that concern was not even on the agenda. Well we are approaching the end of another 20 year period and it looks like ecology is in vogue again thanks to global warming and a few other scary things. Green is once again popular.

I can always tell when the environment is getting to be faddish again. My indicator is the number of lectures I am booked for around this time of year. It reached its peak in 1992, practically disappeared for awhile and now it's coming around again. What worries me is that the movement is constantly being sidetracked by the issue of the day.

It's global warming now. When we were trying to warn people about global warming and climate change twenty years ago, no one was interested. Now it's become the "in" issue and the big organizations are tapping the public for donations to address the problem although no one has come up with anything that makes much sense. But global warming is good for business if you're one of the big bureaucratic organizations whose primary concern is really corporate self preservation.

Greenpeace is even telling people that they can slow down global warming by (and I kid you not) "singing in the shower". Yep, you see all you have to do is run the water, then get wet, shut the water off, and sing in the shower as you lather up and then open up the faucet and rinse off. Ah, so simple to save the world.       

The problem is that these big organizations are too politically correct to address the ecologically correct solutions. Instead they are baffling everyone with abstract concepts like carbon trading and carbon storage or trying to sell us a new hybrid Japanese car. Even Al Gore with his Inconvenient Truth totally ignored the most inconvenient truth of all. I'll get to that in a moment.

But let's look at the number one cause of global greenhouse gas emissions. First and foremost it is human over-population, the very same issue that was the priority concern at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm. It's 6.5 billion people folks. Remember in 1950, the world population was 3 billion. It's now more than doubled.

6.5 billion people produce one hell of an annual output of waste and utilize an unbelievable amount of resources and energy. And this number is rising minute by minute, day, by day, year by year. And most of the people having children have no idea why they are even having children other than that's what you do. Most of them don't really love their children because if they did they would be very much involved in trying to ensure that their children have a world to survive in.

Unless over-population is addressed, there is absolutely no way of slowing down global greenhouse gas emissions. But how do you do that within the context of economic systems that require larger and larger numbers to perform the essential task of consuming products?

Corporations need workers and buyers. Governments need tax-payers, bureaucrats and soldiers. More people means more money. I've said for decades that the solution to all of our problems is simple. We just need to live in accordance with the three basic laws of ecology.

First is the Law of Diversity. The strength of an eco-system lies in diversity of species within it. Weaken diversity and the entire system will be weakened and will ultimately collapse.

Second is the Law of Interdependence. All of the species within an eco-system are interdependent. We need each other.

And the third law of Ecology is the Law of Finite Resources. There is a limit to growth because there is a limit to carrying capacity. Human populations are exceeding ecological carrying capacity. Exceeding ecological carrying capacity is diminishing both resources and
diversity of species.

The diminishment of diversity is causing serious problems with interdependence. Albert Einstein once wrote that "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." That is the Law of Interdependence. Forget global warming folks. The disappearance of the honeybee could end our existence as human beings on this planet far sooner than we think.  And the honey bee is in fact now disappearing. Why? We don't know why. It could be genetically modified crops, I could be pesticides or it could be that our cell phones are interfering with their ability to navigate. 

Whatever the cause the fact is that they are disappearing. All around the world bees are disappearing in a crisis called Colony Collapse Disorder. And bees pollinate our plants. Everywhere on the planet, bees are hard at work making it possible for you to live and enjoy life. 

We hold on to our place on this planet by only a toehold. If anything happens to the grass family, we are screwed. If the earthworms disappear, we are in big trouble. If the bees disappear, well according to Albert Einstein who was considered somewhat smarter than most of us, we will have only four years. Just enough time to get a college degree to discover that everything you learned is relatively useless when sitting on the doorstep of global ecological annihilation. We are cutting down the forest and plundering the oceans of life. We are polluting the soil, the air and the water and we are rapidly running out of fresh water to drink. Only corporations like Coke and Pepsi have figured out that water is more valuable than gold. That is why they are bottling it in plastic bottles and selling it. This week I saw a bottle of water in my hotel room that I could have drunk for only $4. 

Unbelievable. That means that water is now being sold for more than the equivalent amount of gasoline. I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks this is insanity. Now for Al Gore's really inconvenient truth. In his film he does not mention once that the meat and dairy industry that produces the bacon, the steaks, the chicken wings and the milk is a larger contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the automobile industry. You see, Al may drive a Prius but he
likes his burgers.

This is why the big organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club will not say a thing about the meat industry. Last year I saw Greenpeacers sitting down for a baked fish meal onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza while engaged in a campaign to oppose over-fishing. When we pointed out that our Sea Shepherd ships serve only vegan meals, the Greenpeace cook replied, "that's just silly."

We see what we want to see and we rationalize everything else.

The oceans have been plundered to the point that 90% of the fish have been removed from their eco-systems and at this very moment there is over 65,000 miles of long lines set in the Pacific Ocean alone and there are tens of thousands of fishing vessels scouring the seas in a rapacious quest to scoop up everything that swims or crawls.

This is ecological insanity.

The largest marine predator on the planet right now is the cow. More than half the fish taken from the sea is rendered into fish meal and fed to domestic livestock. Puffins are starving in the North sea to feed sand eels to chickens in Denmark. Sheep and pigs have replaced the shark and the sea lion as the dominant predators in the ocean and domestic house cats are eating more fish than all the world's seals combined. We are extracting some fifty to sixty fish from the sea to raise one farm raised salmon.  

This is ecological insanity.

Yet the demand for shark fin is rising in China. Ignorant people still want to wear fur coats. In America, we order fries, a cheeseburger and a "diet" coke.

Ecological insanity folks.

Last week a reporter called to ask me if I had really said that earth worms are more important than people. I answered that yes I had. He then asked how I could justify such a statement.  

"Simple," I answered. "Earthworms can live on the planet without people. We cannot live on the planet without earthworms thus from an ecological point of view, earthworms are more important than people."

He said that I was insane for suggesting such a ridiculous idea when people were made in the image of God, and earthworms were not.

What we have here of course is a failure to communicate between two radically different world views. His which is anthropocentric and sees reality as human centred and mine which is biocentric and sees reality as including all species equally working in interdependence. He sees us as divine and better than all the other species and I see us as a bunch of arrogant primates out of control.

But that's my two cents worth for Earth Day 2007.

Consider the humble honey bee and remember that the little black and yellow insect you see flitting busily from flower to flower is all that stands between us and our demise as a species on this planet. 

We better see to it that they don't disappear.


(May be freely published and distributed)


Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977-
Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder - Greenpeace International (1979)
Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
Director - www.harpseals.org

"Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all."
                                              - Walt Whitman
www.Seashepherd.org
Tel: 360-370-5650
Fax: 360-370-5651
Address: P.O. Box 2616
Friday Harbor, Wa 98250  USA

What's important on your bucket list?

The most important thing on my bucket list is to live a life I can be proud of.

Today's blog is not about Sea Shepherd - or maybe it is. It is not about veganism - or maybe it is. It is not even about me - or maybe it is. It might be about you - or maybe it isn't. That choice, dear reader, is yours and yours alone.

I was at the Requiem Mass this morning in celebration of the life of one of the most incredible men ever to have influenced my own life, Jan Wladyslaw Stepek. 

His son, Martin, delivered a heartfelt, moving and eloquent eulogy that left us all in no doubt that Jan had lived not just a good life, he lived a great life. Standing room only in the church gave testament to how many of us knew that already, but what a wonderful and very welcome reminder Martin's fine words were to us all.

It shouldn't take much to remind any of us just how short our time on this planet really is. It shouldn't take anything at all to remind us to use that time for good. William Arthur Dunkerley writing under the pen-name John Oxenham gave us this most important observation in his poem, The Pilgrim Way:

But once I pass this way, and then no more,

But once and then the silent door

Swings on its hinges, opens … closes

And then no more I pass this way,

So while I may, with all my might

I will essay, sweet comfort and delight

To all I meet upon the Pilgrim way,

For no man travels twice the great highway

That climbs through darkness up to light

Through night, to day.

You only get one shot at getting the whole of your life right and none of us know how long that shot is going to be.  So make sure a life to be proud of is at the top of your bucket list.

Making History on World #Vegan Day

Today is World Vegan Day.  If you are vegan already then I am sure you are celebrating along with me and an ever growing army of vegans around the World.  If you are not (or not yet) vegan then perhaps you are wondering what all the fuss is about.  Maybe my story will be helpful, but even if it isn't, if you read to the end there is a link to the Making History video that definitely will be.

I have been a dietary vegan for almost 3 years and a lifestyle vegan for exactly 2 years and 2 months, having taken the Vegan Pledge on 1st September 2010 as a 45 year old, Scottish (very Glaswegian actually), businessman and possibly the most unlikely vegan you might be introduced to.  It certainly surprises a lot of people when I tell them and I rather enjoy that reaction now.

In case I have given anyone the wrong idea, the Vegan Pledge does not oblige you to renounce your old ways forever, it simply requires you to commit to trying vegan for a set period of time.

When you sign up you are given the choice of 1 week, 2 weeks or 1 month.  You are also put in touch with a mentor.  If your mentors get it right, you probably will renounce your old ways, as I did, but they will get it right by being supportive and definitely not preachy.

My mentors were the wonderful Sasha and Mitsu who run the website To Happy Vegans and Rob, the Vice Chair of Sea Shepherd UK and a lifetime activist for Sea Shepherd, the amazing marine conservation organisation that he also recruited me into as a volunteer.  Together, their help, advice and guidance meant that there was never any chance of me reverting back to my unhappy and very unhealthy, life-shortening carnivore ways.

With all this help from the Vegan Society, To Happy Vegans and Rob's Sea Shepherd family I had it very easy for my own journey to a better lifestyle.  So my earnest advice if you are not yet vegan is to surround yourself with caring, decent, subject matter experts who care about you as a person and genuinely want to help - the Vegan Society have got lots of trusted mentors all around the UK and beyond and they will be delighted to put you in touch.

Sea Shepherd chef Laura Dakin cooking in her
100% vegan galley on board the MV Steve Irwin

I want to finish today with what has had the biggest impact on my decision to get here and also to stay here.  The Vegan Society will tell you that there are 3 main reasons for someone being vegan: Vegan for the animals, living ethically; Vegan for the planet, living sustainably; Vegan for your health, living well.

Any Sea Shepherd will tell you that there is a 4th reason, Vegan by example, living by leadership.

As Sea Shepherds we maintain ships at sea and volunteer teams on the ground wherever in the World there are atrocities being committed against marine wildlife.  We insist that individuals and nation-states abide by their obligation under the UN World Charter for nature not to murder the animals they have targeted either as brass-necked, we don't care what you think of us "exotic meat" or - as in the case of the Japanese Government - for bogus research, as if they're fooling anybody.  The "defense" we hear most often from these countries is that we kill cows and sheep and pigs and hens so why shouldn't they kill whales and dolphins?

I have a very simple answer to that. I don't. Neither does anyone on board our ships during campaigns. Nor does anyone I consider as a true friend. Nor does anyone who could genuinely consider themselves a friend to the planet.

So how about it?  If you are reading my blog you are probably on the side of whales and dolphins anyway.  Today, on World Vegan Day, will you take the Vegan Pledge - even just for 1 week - and get yourself on the side of all our other companions on this great big journey on Spaceship Earth?

Here's the Making History video.  Enjoy: