My grandfather owned a meat processing plant.

My father was a cattle rancher.

I showed/sold cattle through 4-H for 10 years.

I initially went vegan because I was studying philosophy in college, and I moved into a household with a couple vegans. I researched the ethics and science behind it for 2 months, then, after watching Earthlings, I decided to go vegan immediately from being a full-fledged, meat-for-m'gainz, ribs-for-every-birthday carnist. It was just the right thing to do.

I've been vegan for over 3 years now and an activist for 2 of those.

Honestly, the sidebar on /r/vegan was really, really helpful for me. It has links to a lot of great sources and provides a fantastic FAQ. Some other good resources:

• any discussion of vegetarianism/vegan on /r/askphilosophy

  • here's a thread about humanely raising humans for slaughter, which I started with my retired username

• YourVeganFallacyIs.com

• on Facebook

  • Reddit Vegans
  • Esther the Wonder Pig
  • Mercy for Animals
  • Farm Sanctuary
  • Animals Australia
  • Skool of Vegan

• and once you undergo the vegan initiation ritual of snorting your weight in nutritional yeast bringing hummus to a carnist BBQ, /r/vegancirclejerk is pretty great

• again, Earthlings if you wanna get woke af

• also, despite it's sketchy name, Cowspiracy is a great documentary on Netflix about how livestock are terrible for the environment