How do you feel when I tell you that I'm a vegan?
Indifferent?
Reserved?
A little awkward?
Or maybe you think, "Oh no, not another one!"
(Laughter)
My wish for today is to free you from these feelings
and help you become more curious, more flexible and more caring.
I don't always like to use the word vegan,
because it can be a label that divides people.
In my mind, vegan stands for ethics, compassion and freedom.
It's not a diet, it's not an ideology, and it's not an exclusive club.
It's a lifestyle based on the simple principle
of "do no harm" and "kindness to all living beings."
I really love my vegan lifestyle,
and that's why I'm here to share my story with you.
So I invite you to join me on this journey
because I firmly believe we're all going that direction.
We're growing up as a species
and realising that using and killing animals for human consumption
no longer makes sense.
However, change is not always easy.
Especially when we have been indoctrinated to believe
that consuming animal products is normal and healthy.
For me it all started on a late night in April 2013
when I saw a picture that showed a puppy on one side
and a little pig on the other,
and it said, "Why love one but eat the other?"
Because I was more of a cat lady,
I mindlessly started looking for a similar picture with a kitten.
And during my search, I came across all kinds of pictures and videos
revealing the truth about industrial animal farming.
I will never forget that night. I was in shock and horror.
Why? Let's look at some sobering facts.
Environmental scientists agree
that animal farming is not sustainable on any level;
it's a big threat to our health and our food security.
The meat, milk and egg industry makes inefficient use of planetary resources
to say the least,
causing rapid deforestation, severe pollution, global warming
and even species extinction.
Animal farming is also a very thirsty business.
What if I told you that one steak requires 900 gallons
or 3,400 litres of water to produce?
That is four years of drinking water for the average person.
In a time where people all over the world
accept that animals should be treated with kindness and compassion,
the food industry works hard
to hide what we as consumers don't want to hear, see or do.
Pigs, cows and chickens feel and suffer
just like cats, dogs and humans.
However, animal farms treat these animals
like machines to produce meat, milk and eggs.
Judged by the amount of suffering this causes,
animal farming is arguably one of the worst crimes in history.
Did you know that more than 70 billion land animals are killed
for human consumption alone every single year?
That is the equivalent of killing the entire human population
almost every single month.
And it's also very important to realise that leather, wool, fur and down
are not just byproducts of the meat industry.
They are also cruel, standalone industries,
because the skin, hair and feathers of an animal per pound
are worth much more than the meat.
Have you ever wondered why leather isn't biodegradable
despite just being dead skin?
That's because animal skin is treated with highly toxic chemicals.
Traditional leather production leaves behind a vast carbon footprint,
brutal animal suffering and disturbing human rights violations.
No matter how we look at animal farming,
even if products are labelled local, organic or humane,
it is not a pretty picture.
After I discovered these and many more disturbing facts,
I decided that same night I no longer wanted to contribute
to such an inefficient, unsustainable and cruel system.
So the next morning, I announced my decision
to my analytical and meat-loving husband.
As you can imagine, this didn't turn out very well.
The result was a heated discussion followed by two days of silent war.
Luckily, after my husband had done his own research,
he told me he was now equally convinced.
And like me, he no longer wanted to contribute
to the abuse and killing of innocent animals.
Two weeks after my husband and I turned vegan,
my 75-year-old mother joined us.
And now, six years later,
I am happy to say that she is healthier than ever.
Today I am a very happy vegan.
But it hasn't always been that way.
After turning vegan, I desperately wanted to be a perfect vegan.
As a result, the beginning of my vegan adventure
turned out to be much more challenging than I expected.
I started to feel guilty.
How could I have been so blind for so many years?
I felt shame and regret for the choices I had made in the past.
And on top of that, I couldn't understand
why people around me didn't see what I saw.
For months I felt lonely, angry and helpless.
I was in a very dark place.
There were times when I felt
as if I was carrying the weight of all the suffering in the world.
It was exhausting.
Here I was, eating a healthy vegan diet, and my energy level was lower than ever.
And I knew feeling this way wasn't helping anyone;
it wasn't serving my purpose.
So, luckily I realised after a while
that I didn't have to take this to the extreme.
I also realised that the perfect vegan may not even exist.
We simply do the best we can
with the information we have and the options before us.
So I decided to take the pressure off,
and I came up with three simple principles.
One: be curious.
Two: be flexible.
And three: be caring.
And after adapting these principles, a whole new world opened up for me.
So first, be curious.
I had a lot of fun discovering amazing new vegan products.
And I was also enjoying experimenting with all kinds of vegan recipes.
So much that I began developing my own vegan cakes
and started selling them to vegan and non-vegan restaurants.
And I was also very excited to learn more
about all the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle.
However, no matter how exciting all these new discoveries were,
I was often still faced with mixed feelings
when veganising my life.
And this led me to principle number two: be flexible.
Even though my idea of leather had shifted from luxury to barbaric
and the slightest smell of leather made me feel horrible,
my biggest challenge was letting go of leather shoes and handbags.
So being flexible,
I decided to no longer worry
about the non-vegan items already in my closet,
and instead focus on what I could do moving forward.
And third, be caring.
After I really understood
what kind of impact my every day choices have on myself and the world,
I began filtering everything,
every thought, every word, every action through my lens of do no harm.
And as a result,
I became even more compassionate and definitely more peaceful.
This reminds me of Ghandi's quote:
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do
are in harmony."
Today being vegan has become a way of life that reaches far beyond what I consume.
My vegan lifestyle makes me feel great.
And it's truly supportive of my goals and dreams.
I have become much healthier, and I found more balance and more clarity.
This lifestyle has become effortless for me.
Even more, it makes me feel complete,
because I now believe
that I'm contributing to something that is far bigger than myself.
Being vegan has literally transformed my entire life:
my body, my mind and my soul.
So why am I sharing my story with you?
I want to inspire you to join me on the vegan path,
without pressure or fear,
and to experience how it makes you feel.
The good news is that we are seeing a growing interest in the vegan movement.
Everyone, from top doctors to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Beyoncé,
companies like Tesla and Google,
famous chefs like Jamie Oliver and Wolfgang Puck,
and world class athletes like Serena and Venus Williams,
and wealthy investors like Bill Gates and Richard Branson
are supporting the vegan movement.
Thanks to the power of the Internet,
the world is becoming more and more transparent.
And this makes it so much harder to ignore what goes into a steak or a leather sofa.
And food and meat scandals get featured in the news at a scary rate.
As Paul McCartney rightly observed,
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian."
According to The Economist,
25% of Americans ages 25 to 34
identify as vegetarian or vegan.
And a growing number of people over 55
are turning vegan for health and animal-welfare reasons.
As a result, major corporations are looking into vegan alternatives
because they know which way the market is heading.
A lot is changing in the world today; old systems are crumbling.
We are seeing a paradigm shift in what we perceive as normal.
And to facilitate this shift,
we need new technologies and innovative entrepreneurship.
And we also need to change our daily habits.
Now, my heart's desire is to accelerate this shift.
But this isn't about me or you.
It's about being the most effective we can be
at making a difference in the world.
I discovered that progress is more important than perfection.
Because each of us can only do so much, but together we can do a lot.
With our example,
we can influence others to take action and create a huge ripple effect.
I want you to understand and to realise
that as consumers, we have a very powerful voice.
By being aware of marketing practices
and consciously choosing where our money goes,
we have a big impact on our own health and the health of our planet.
With every purchase,
we can support soulful, ethical and passionate entrepreneurs
offering cruelty-free products,
and this is becoming easier each day
as high quality vegan products are entering the market at a rapid speed.
Our wallet is the key to significantly reduce human and animal suffering.
I believe that one choice at a time,
veganism will grow from a tiny minority to mainstream.
It will become the new normal.
All we need is to reach a tipping point.
And every choice and every action, big or small, does make a difference.
A healthier and kinder future begins in this moment.
And I have faith
that you will not be afraid to do what feels right.
So I invite you to join me
and start this journey in a way that fits into your current lifestyle.
Do your research. Have fun.
Experience how it makes you feel.
And remember to be curious, flexible and caring,
peaceful in the knowing that the future will be vegan.
Thank you.
(Applause)