Your comment really resonates with me, too, because you sound a lot like me five years ago! I was a carnist, a pack-a-day smoker, and a 6-pack-a-night boozer. I was also a litterbug! (eek! those cigarette butts oh man . . . ) It’s taken me years to get to where I am now, and who knows where I’ll be in another five years (I’ve certainly got more growing to do, oh yes oh yes!) I think a lot of people see certain lifestyles (vegan, chemical-free, vehicle-free, etc) as unattainable because it seems so far from their current state. But no one decides to ‘get healthy’ for example, and then does it in a week. It’s a long slow process of baby steps and minor tweaks, backslides and hard lessons and amazing epiphanies and strange discoveries. At least, that’s been my own personal experience and that’s what I try to remind people of when they say they want to change.

Nobody is perfect so there’s no use in trying to be. But if you wake up each day determined to be the best version of yourself that you can, well that will go a long way. If I’m reading your comment correctly, it sounds like you’re at a tipping point and ready for a big change. That’s so exciting! You can do anything you want!

Good luck on your journey, wherever it takes you. And dude, enjoy the ride!

I am celebrating my first year anniversary for being a vegetarian (not vegan….but I buy free range organic) and I have to say, as a fellow animal and biology lover, I have always been torn between science and compassion. The phrase that you used “The longer that you live without contributing to the suffering of innocents, the stranger and more violent an act it seems.” so perfectly describes the process of converting to vegetarianism. You have a wonderful site. Congrats on the baby!

For those interested in legalizing chickens within Hillsboro city limits. Hillsboro is one of the few cities around Portland that still doesn’t allow chickens within city limits.

And I agree, chickens are effing awesome! So peaceful & happy. I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan, so I would be eating some of the eggs. But you’ve inspired me to leave some of them for the chickens to eat themselves. If they legalize them, of course.

When I got the hens I was omni and I ate their eggs. I didn’t get them for the eggs, I got them because chickens are effing awesome animals and having them around brings me endless amounts of joy. People who say chickens are stupid and ‘automatons’ (I’ve had people say this to me) have obviously never spent time in the presence of a happy healthy hen. They are vivacious, proud, feisty little individuals with a unique personality, every one.

Anyway, so as an omni I ate my hen’s eggs because why not? Then I went veg*n and cut out all other animal products period. But after much searching inside myself, I couldn’t really find ethical fault with eating the chicken’s eggs. As I saw it, they laid them every morning and then they walked away. I would have to remove the egg or it would rot. So why not remove it to my tummy instead of the trash? That was my line of thinking and I spent about 8 months as a veg*n living like that (to be clear – I never called myself vegan when I was eating my chicken eggs. That’s an important distinction, and what may or may not be ethical is not always in alignment with what may or may not be vegan.)

After I looked into the matter a little more, I learned about chickens in terms of their reproduction and the way they have been – excuse my language – totally fucked over by the poultry industry. Pretty much ALL chickens today lay an egg a day, because they have been bred to. This is totally unnatural and pretty much destroys their poor little bodies, leaving them weak and nutrient deprived and shortens their life span immensely. It’s so sad.

And that’s when I discovered that the chickens themselves LOVE to eat their own eggs. Seriously, they’re crazy for ‘em. It’s their favorite part of the day!

So if laying the eggs is such an energetic burden, and recouping those nutrients is something they ‘desire’, then I could no longer in good conscience take those eggs from them. Which was fine with me, I was tired of living in a grey area and getting into discussions to explain myself. I was happy as hell to shed the * and just become a real vegan. A few eggs here and there wasn’t worth the headache, to me. And of course, it WAS what was best for the hens. That was the most important thing – that was my personal bottom line. As a vegAn, I have no question that I’m doing the best for those lives that are in my care, and also setting an example to other humans about how to live a completely compassionate life.

So that’s what brought me to where I am. Hope that helps!