The founder of a Vegan non-profit spoke at Citrus about her inspiration for rejecting meat.
WhyBeVegan founder Karie DeLalla hosted her organization’s first event at Citrus College before the fall semester began.
“I wanted more people to be able to know the reasons why you would want to be vegan,” DeLalla said. “Once you know the reasons why it becomes an easy choice.”
The vegan organization hosted the Vegucation Fair for on Aug. 24 in the Campus Center Mall. The main quad boomed with booths of vegan lifestyle, with vegan merchandise, learning opportunities, and guest speakers.
Featured guest speakers included Connie Spence, whose vegan nom de guerre is the Vegan Batgirl. Spence outlined vegan consumer habits, their implications to animal death, and a historical overview of our food system.
Vegucation is a nonprofit purely vegan vendor, sponsored by VegEvents, that hosts educational vegan food fairs and was founded by Karie DeLalla.
“I started WhyBeVegan.org about two years ago. I was driving back from visiting my daughter at UC Davis when the name WhyBeVegan.com popped into my head out of nowhere..and I said yes! I can do that,” Delalla said.
The Vegucation Fair at Citrus was Why Be Vegan’s first public event.
“My goal is always to introduce people to veganism and to show people “why” they would want to be vegan,” DeLalla said. “I believe that when you know the reasons why, it makes being vegan an easy choice. I do believe I reached that goal in this event because several people told me they were now interested in being vegan.”
DeLalla went vegan 10 years ago and since felt a passion for teaching others about the benefits of veganism.
“I’ve spent my time since then learning as much as I can, taking courses in plant based nutrition, listening to speakers, reading books and articles and becoming more involved with the vegan community,” DeLalla said.
DeLalla credits several documentaries, organizations, and institutions for shedding light on meat consumption, the meat industry, and its harsh effects on the environment.
For example, the fires in the Amazon Rainforest have forced many vegan organizations to speak out against the meat industry, because beef and dairy farmers are accused of starting the fires to make way for grazing pastures.
Animal rights non-profit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said cattle ranching has been a large influence on the drastic rise of deforestation since the early 1970s.
Discovering the impact of the meat industry, DeLalla decided to change her lifestyle and go vegan.
“The meat industry itself is concerned with profits above all else, and therefore, the animals are treated as property,” DeLalla said. “The amount of animals killed per year for food is astronomical. The majority of animals live very short, very miserable lives and then are sent to slaughter.
“The slaughter process itself is unbearable to see, but I’ve made myself watch what actually happens and that gives me the resolve to do what I can to try to stop it.”
