Today in the Unites States, there are approximately 1 million people who have chosen to live their lives consuming zero animal products. This practice is called veganism, and it includes not using, purchasing, or consuming any animal products. Animals are skinned, tortured, neglected, and killed every day all around the globe. These animals are looked at as a resource instead of a living creature with feelings and emotions. I think it's important to explore the different aspects of what it means to be vegan in a modern-day society, as well as topics around animal ethics that are the driving reasons why more and more individuals are switching to a cruelty-free diet.

Eating or purchasing meat along with other products does not make you an animal hater, or even a supporter of animal cruelty. It is each individual's personal decision where they spend their money and what they put into their bodies. Not everyone has the privilege of being vegan, and veganism is not an option for many people in our country.

There is no reason to point fingers at people who decide not to be vegan (myself being one of them). Instead, fingers need to be pointed at the livestock, fashion, and entertainment industries and how they are producing, treating and caring (or in this case, not caring) for animals. There are many ways that you can help protect and respect animal lives, and being vegan is just one way to do so.

According to The Vegan Society -- an organization that works to promote vegan lifestyles and provide information about how to easily transition, along with the impacts you can make on the animals and our planet -- veganism is defined as "a way of living that which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose."

For the typical American, veganism means a huge change in our typical omnivore diets. No animal products means none of the vitamins and necessary nutrition normally retrieved from foods like meat and dairy. In researching this topic, I was amazed to find a long list of health benefits that come along with being vegan: lowering rates of obesity and heart attacks, along with lower levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and BMI, as well as less severe PMS and allergy symptoms, longer life span, more energy, improvements on cardiovascular health, lower cancer risks, and cataracts prevention.

With all of these benefits, there are some areas where a vegan diet can lack sustenance if the correct plants are not consumed. One downside of these diets is that it is harder to obtain enough iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D and B-12, along with the N-3 polysaturated fat. These can be hard to obtain when switching over since they are so abundant in meats and dairy products, but are obtainable through plants as well as supplements. Throughout my research, the only health risks that I could find were not getting enough essential vitamins and proteins. This can be eliminated through eating a proper vegan diet, taking supplements, and being aware of what is needed to have a complete diet.

Humans are not the only animals that can live a vegan lifestyle, either. Elephants, bison, rhinos, hippos, wildebeest, horses, manatee, deer, yak, and even some whales can be considered vegan, along with other herbivores. Vegans being viewed as weak or unhealthy in some way is a common misconception. All of these animals, along with human animals, are strong, powerful, and healthy living a life based off of plant consumption.

While scanning literature on veganism, I came across a very common animal that can live off a vegan or vegetarian diet similar to humans: dogs. Dogs are omnivores, just like us, and do not need meat in order to survive. Verona ReBow, an artist, writer, and animal activist has written a book on vegetarian dogs, in addition to performing a 20-year study on the impacts of a vegetarian diet on "man's best friend." This study showed that any dog, no matter what age, breed, or size, thrived off a vegetarian diet. These animals lived longer than their average life spans and reduced cases of cancer, heart attack, stroke, along with other diseases and disorders commonly found in dogs.

Besides the medical health side of a vegan diet on humans and other animals, implementing these practices can also have a huge impact on our environment. Livestock is a huge contributor to some of the biggest events happening to our planet: global warming and climate change, pollution in the air, water, and soil, destruction of wildlife habitat, and the rapidly declining health of oceans.

Producing meat takes up an abundant amount of water, food, and space. In the state of California, it takes an average of 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. 2,646 gallons of water is equivalent to taking a seven-minute shower every day for six months, according to Lillie Ogden, a very well-educated 12-year old girl who wrote the book "The Environmental Impacts of a Meat-Based Diet," which discussed how much damage is being done to the environment from the meat industry alone. To produce one pound of wheat in the United States takes around 25 gallons on water. This being said, we are putting so many resources into our beef livestock, along with other animals, to get out such a small amount of energy to keep us going.

In 2014, Kip Anderson and Keenen Kuhn made a documentary, "Cowspiracy," which focused on the environmental impacts the livestock industry is creating, and how we need to raise awareness of this issue that is being ignored by many conservation societies. The film states that it required 1,000 gallons of water to produce a gallon of milk, 447 to make one pound of eggs, and close to 900 gallons to produce one pound of cheese. These facts alone show how much energy is being put into animal products, and how many resources are being used for human consumption.

Along with water consumption, "livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions," according to Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, who wrote "Livestock and Climate Change: What if our key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens, and cows?" The amount of energy and resources being put into these products, as well as the impact that it has on the environment, is a huge reason why some people decide to switch to a lifestyle that cuts these foods out and puts their money and energy elsewhere.

Since the 1940s, there has been a tremendous jump in the amount of animals we produce for consumption due to technological advancements, which have created factory farming. The animals in factories are highly mistreated, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones, and sometimes inhumanely killed for the consumption of their meat or other goods. The rights and privileges of these animals are taken away from them, and they often die at a very young age after being neglected for most, if not all of their lives. Animals in factory farms are normally owned or patented, so the animal abuse laws do not apply to them in the same way that they would apply to a family pet.

Another side of being vegan that goes behind dietary choices is not purchasing any other animal products or participating in activities that mistreat animals in any way. Some examples being horse- or dog-races, animal fights, zoos, aquariums, wearing leather, fur, or other clothing made from animal parts, products tested on animals, and animal entertainment (yes, Seaworld, I am talking about you).

Using animal parts for clothing is a huge part of our society, and is an extremely brutal and harmful process for the animals involved. According to VeganSouls.com, the top 10 animals killed for clothing are seals, silkworms, rabbits, foxes, sheep, lambs, chiru (an endangered Tibetan antelope), minks, beavers, dogs, and cats. The true names of these animals are sometimes not labeled on clothing items, and even if their skin or fur is not taken directly for clothing, most of them die in the "harvesting" process of whatever goods are being taken from them.

Silkworms are boiled alive, followed by their thread being extracted to be made into silk. In order to produce just one pound of silk, 3,000 silk worms have to die. For other animals like snakes, lizards, and crocodiles, they are often skinned alive because the leather is believed to be softer if it comes from a live animal. Many calves and goats are taken out of the womb before birth to be killed and skinned alive to get soft, "high-quality" leather.

Many beauty products such as hairspray, shampoo, and perfume are tested on animals before being tested on human subjects. In the case of most hairspray, the normal procedure requires spraying the product directly in animals eyes to see the effects. Animals that are tested on either are killed after the experiments are over, or are recycled and used for other testing experiments.

Personally, I am not vegan. I do not consume meat unless it is at the inconvenience of others, it is a cultural practice, or if there is simply no other option. As a student studying conservation, I am learning as much as I can about ways to help our environment, as well as the animals that share the planet with me. Cutting out factory-farmed products, being aware of where your products come from, and keeping your money out of industries that hurt animals is a form of conservation in my eyes. Being vegan is one of the many ways people in our society can help save animals and the environment.

Veganism is a wonderful thing to do for the environment, and this practice can do dramatic things for Earth, like reducing our impact on global warming, saving water, and overall making our world a healthier, more ethical place for us all, as well as the next generations.