Miami Vegan Blog

Labels: activism, union square, vegan, veganism

Gary Yourofsky has been a vegan activist, giving lectures at universities across the country for 10 years. Here are some of the comments he's received from students recently:

I was a member of the audience during your lecture at Ohio State University [May 1] for the Animal Sciences class. I wanted to tell you that I have been a vegetarian since the moment I left the lecture hall. I am taking steps to become vegan, I have replaced milk and many dairy products already. I did, for the sake of my own curious mind, look into the factory farms ... and actually watched some other videos of the killing rooms. It showed me just how true everything you said really was that goes on in those places. It was really disturbing. I am taking steps to become more compassionate in my lifestyle, and I want to thank you for taking my blinders off. Between you and me- I feel so much better about myself physically and mentally since making the move to remove meat from my life. Thank you again. - S.N.



Thank you for coming to [ NJCU ]. I also wanted to thank you again for your words. You noticed I was upset with myself for continuing eating meat. I was ashamed that even though I heard your speech twice before, and [this] was my third, I only tried to slow down on eating meat instead of stopping it completely. I’m sorry i got a little emotional, is just that I was really upset with myself, I guess I didn’t want to admit how selfish I was being for only caring about the taste. In my philosophy classes we discuss about different issues that are happening and always wonder how can people do such things like-how can people mistreat others, how can they kill each other, go to war, and how can people care more about money than our own planet. In other words, commit injustices, and we don’t even realize that we commit it everyday at our dinning table, as you said. I stopped eating meat since that day and hopefully I could get my family to do the same thing. Besides eating meat, rice and beans, I’ve been raised eating chinese food because some of my family on my dad’s side are from Canton. My grandfather loved to cook and taught my family how to cook. Everyone loved his special touch and my father inherited as well. I really like they way they cook their vegetables. The chinese food I’ve tasted in my house when I was little is very different to the chinese food known in this country, I guess it’s more commercialized. There is a japanese market around my house where I can find certain ingredients, especially their vegetables that can’t just be found in every market. I used to cook certain dishes that included meat in them but now I going to experiment with veggies only : ) Thank you again and I might see you again in another class. - I.L.


I just wanted to thank you for your lecture today at NJCU. I have always been such an animal lover and have tried to do my part whether it was adopting from shelters, fostering shelter animals until they can find homes, donating time and money to shelters, I even once purchased a duck at a slaughterhouse when I was 9 using saved up lunch money. Unfortunately, the duck died no more than 3 hours later; however, at least he passed peacefully…not by being decapitated. I also gave it a proper burial in my backyard. Anyway, I never really thought of myself as a hypocrite until today. Yes, I do usually choose the Boca burgers over regular ones, and yes I do use soymilk instead of regular already. However, I never did it because it’s morally right … I mainly did it because I wanted to eat healthier. I was never aware of the process used to getting the meat I did eat. (I don’t mean that I wasn’t aware that an animal was killed for it. Of course I knew that.) I never realized what they went through before being served on the plate. It’s not so much that I feel bad because they had to be killed to get there, I mean yes, that’s a shame, but I’ve learned to deal with that. The part that really got to me was what they lived through to get there. Your lecture today really opened up my eyes. Keep doing what you’re doing, I think it’s great! Hopefully you can open the eyes of many others. Thanks again! - R.C.

One person can make A HUGE difference. I had the pleasure of attending one of his lectures earlier this year. It was very powerful. He's a terrific person, very passionate and selfless. We need more people like him.

Labels: activism, activist, adaptt, animal rights, animal welfare, college tour, gary yourofsky, lecture, vegan, veganism