Greensburg Glossary: Vegan

A vegan doesn't eat meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy products, or any other animal-derived food. But there's much more to this lifestyle, e.g., vegans also don't "wear" animals (wool, fur, leather, down, etc.). There are at least 101 reasons to go vegan, not the least of which is that such life choices can have a major, positive impact on ourenvironment. For example, a relatively recent U.N. report found that animal agriculture is responsible for almost 1/5 of the pollution causing global warming.

"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," said Henning Steinfeld of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "Urgent action is required to remedy the situation." In addition, more than 10 times as many people could be fed by using the same land currently reserved for grazing and a main reason global rain forests are disappearing is to make way to raise doomed cattle.

Going vegan give green activists a chance to have their cake and...eat it, too.