Emily: Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today
I'm honored to be joined by my friend and mentor Gary Yourofsky who has graciously agreed
to be here and answer questions that you, the Bite Size Vegan audience, have sent to
me. I'm going to be releasing this interview in a series of videos so be sure to stay tuned
to the channel. Gary I just wanted to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy
schedule to be here and answer some of these questions.
Gary: Anything for you Emily.
Emily: Thank you.
Emily: Something that's often brought up during conversations concerning veganism is the issue
of non-vegan activities that most vegans still engage in, like driving cars, flying on planes,
using electronics. Do you think it's possible to be fully vegan, and do these activities
detract away from the validity of the vegan message?
Gary: No. The answer to the last part of your question. Listen, I wish we could do without
cars and maybe some of us can and maybe one day we will. Solution though it's probably
electric cars, and then moving beyond gasoline, moving beyond oil. But listen, being a food
vegan is 100% achievable. This is the main issue that we need to focus on, not the extraneous
issues. I get tired too of people focusing on 2% of the problem, 98% of animals on this
planet who are tortured abused and killed, are tortured abused and killed by the meat
dairy and egg industries. This is where we have to focus on right now. From there, we
need to get rid of hunting and fur and leather and silk and wool. We need to get rid of a
lot of things. Circuses, zoos, and vivisection. But the truth is, I don't even talk much about
those topics at all during my speeches because again, it's 2% of the problem. Now real quickly,
elephants brought me to this movement. My stepdad's a clown in the Shrine Circus, he
took me backstage when I was 23, I saw elephants in peril. I saw them chained up, and my heart
breaks for them. They opened my eyes to all of this. But, considering that there are 9
billion chickens being tortured and killed in America annually, and there is a couple
hundred elephants in the circus, you can see why I've stopped focusing on elephants in
the circus. Again it's evil, I want them out, but we have a bad habit in our society of
focusing on 2% of the problem, with all issues. We never want to get to the core of the issue,
to the root of the problem. So, food vegan first, from there, hey, if you want to get
rid of your cellphones, and your cars and you want to ride a bike, that’s all great.
But don’t let that deter or take away from the power of veganism- it’s not. It’s
just another side issue that we need to solve. Listen, after animals are liberated, there
are other issues to solve. But until they are liberated, until houses of slaughters-
houses of slaughter are shut down, I wouldn’t focus too much on the extraneous issues at
all, this is where we need to focus our time and efforts.
Emily: I hope you enjoyed Gary’s take on this subject. I’ll just add briefly that
our ability to achieve 100% vegan status really depends on our definition of vegan. If being
vegan means striving to commit the least amount of harm possible, then one can be fully vegan.
Unfortunately as long as we are living, we will inadvertently cause harm to other living
beings. But we can consistently strive to reduce this harm to the best of our abilities.
Just because we can never reach perfection does not devalue our efforts. Unintentional
and unavoidable harm does not justify intentional and malicious acts of cruelty. Now I’d love
to hear your thoughts on this matter. Do you think 100% vegan is achievable? If you are
vegan, where do you draw the line for yourself? If you’re not vegan, do you find the idea
of trying to reach 100% overly intimidating. Let me know in the comments! Give the video
a thumbs up if you liked it and share it around to spread the message. Stay tuned to the Bite
Size Vegan channel for more installations of my interview with Gary. I’ll also be
posting bonus footage and questions that didn’t make it to the channel in the ViV Area of
BiteSizeVegan.com which you can access for free by clicking below. And for even more
behind-the-scenes action and the best discussion of all things vegan, join us in the Nugget
Army on Patreon. If you’re new here, be sure to hit that big red subscribe button
for more awesome vegan content every Monday and Wednesday and some Fridays. Now go live
vegan and I’ll see you soon!