My AHA Moment: How I Became Vegetarian/Vegan
(Trigger warning BLOOD/DEATH)
When I was 16 years old, I got up in the morning to go to school. Just before I was about to leave the house, a tractor passed by our place with a dead pig hanging at the front. The pig was supposed to bleed out before being processed into meat products.
The sight shocked me so much that I cried a lot and could only think about the pig all day. My brother and I talked about this topic with my mother throughout the entire car ride.
Moments that shape for decades
Pigs have always been my favorite animals, and after this experience, I decided to stop eating any animals.
I never ate much meat, and at home, we consciously ate little, and if so, only organic meat. When I moved out at 17, I stopped buying meat and only rarely ate it outside.
Since my 20th birthday, I have never made exceptions again. That was 10 years ago now, as I am turning 30 this year.
"Since I started breastfeeding, I see cow's milk in a different light"
The older I got, the more I became involved with animal protection and environmental protection, and I made my life increasingly vegan. By now, I believe that the dairy industry is even worse than the meat industry.
"Cows are sentient and intelligent beings"
Since I have a baby myself and am currently still breastfeeding exclusively, it has become even more absurd for me to give my child cow milk products. In the early days after birth, I had to pump and know how much energy that takes. Cows, like humans, are pregnant for 10 months and then have to give up their calf (their baby) so that people can get their milk instead of their baby.
If the calf is male, it becomes veal, and if it is female, it is repeatedly impregnated like the mother to produce milk for people and is always hooked up to the milking machines.
Mothers and calves cry like humans with tears for a long time and call out to each other for days, months, years. Udder infections, overwork, no green pasture, and eventually slaughter are unfortunately also part of a dairy cow’s life.
Dairy cows have to go through this process again and again. Cows are especially social animals, form relationships within the group, and mourn their dead. They are sentient beings, just like us.
Education is the first step in the right direction
I am always happy when I can positively influence people with my Instagram account and encourage them to question—and often change—their way of living on this Earth.
I often show our vegan food, our shopping from the organic farm, my Natural Beauty products without microplastics and more, my fair fashion, and much more.
"I think many more people would change things if they knew the background information"
I also wasn’t aware before that many creams contain microplastics or that many lipsticks contain mineral oil, or that the Coffee2Go cups you get everywhere in cafés often cannot be recycled and represent a huge environmental burden.
Very few people are aware that they use sunscreen containing microplastics, which then end up in the sea or at the latest in the shower and then in the groundwater, and also contain ingredients that can destroy coral and are not biodegradable.
Progress can only be made in small but conscious steps
There are so many things we can all change! Whether it’s diet, consumption, politics, or another way.
The change doesn’t have to be radical overnight. It already makes a big difference to choose the option without animal suffering at a restaurant or when shopping and to inform yourself about these topics.
Every purchase is a vote and every decision counts. Whether it’s food, buying cosmetics, or other things – our decisions can save lives.
Charlotte Weise
The topics Charlotte deals with on her Instagram channel include Fair Fashion, Natural Beauty, vegan nutrition, self-love, positive thinking, and politics.
If you want to learn more about Charlotte or see her life-affirming dance videos, then follow her on Instagram.
