Progress Report

In this blog, I hoped to explore the numerous impact of livestock farming and its impact on the world's environment. So far, I intended to investigate on how animal agriculture is changing our use of the land, through deforestation, land degradation, deforestation. Throughout my blogposts I made sure to give my true and honest opinion on what was being read and argued. I also tried to incorporate cutting-edge and current debates on some of the aforementioned topics. In between the rather "academic" posts, I have kept you updated with my 30 day vegan challenged inspired by the documentary 'Cowspiracy. For the next few post, I aim to further my investigation on animal agriculture and its impact on biodiversity, fresh-waterground/water ecosystems and oceans while teasing out case studies such as the burger industry, the methane debate and much more. 

But as my 30-Day Vegan challenge came to an end, I realized three things:

- Firstly - though it may have been used to attract more people into doing it, the challenge was actually more challenging that I thought it would be, and an actual challenge. It is only when you start becoming a vegan that you realize how meat (and dairy products, eggs) is quite literally everywhere. It is hard not to get tempted when being with friends and family, but I did it (once a meat lover) so you can do it too!

- Secondly - I noticed the only way I could go through with this challenge was by almost ‘forgetting’ meat existed, literally taking the word out of your head. Some people may find that they “cannot live without meat” but I realized it was all about forgetting about it. Tip for future vegans: When food shopping, I used to base my meals on: meat and “the rest” (the rest being vegetables, rice, pasta…). The trick to become vegan is basing your meals and recipes on everything else but meat and use your creative minds that’s a +.
- Thirdly - 30 days of a challenging eating later… I had a stream of consciousness where I realized that actually it was no longer at all challenging to eat without meat. I plan to continue this veganism, refusing all types of red meat, chicken, and fish to an extent (though I’m sorry to say that I will continue to eat sushi :/). Dairy products were never a problem, I never liked milk but eggs however are an issue since they are in almost everything we eat.