Realising that our use of animals is needless, and then doing something about it is the first step. The moral baseline if you like. It's easy to pick up non-animal foods in the supermarket, or buy shoes that aren't made from leather, etc, and after a couple of months you'll wonder why you didn't go vegan before.
If you want to do more, there's plenty to be done. The next step is educating yourself. Just have a read through the ethics, environmental and health reasons why veganism is important:
Online
Literature
Much of the theory regarding veganism, and the rights of other animals that you can find on this site, is adapted from the work of the pioneering Gary L. Francione. A good start would be 'Introduction to Animal Rights' as mentioned below.
Francione, G. L. (1995) Animals, Property and the Law Francione, G. L. (1996) Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement. Francione, G. L. (2000) Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or Your Dog Francione, G. L. (2008) Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation Francione, G. L. and R. Garner (2010) The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation? | Steiner, G. (2005) Anthropocentrism and its Discontents: The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Philosophy Steiner, G. (2008) Animals and the Moral Community: Mental Life, Moral Status, and Kinship Torres, B. (2007) Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights |
If you need more resources in your efforts, use our growing Downloads page, or alternatively try the following sites:
Peaceful Prairie Resources (please beware we do not endorse all views linked to from Peaceful Prairie website - just their excellent resources)
Or, if you have a good idea, make your own. Websites, blogs, social networking and other on-line advocacy is a fantastic way to get involved - and through doing so you can often set up local groups in your community. Currently there are few groups who advocate a vegan lifestyle as the baseline in their campaigning, or even who do it at all, but if you find none in your area, form your own. The UK is catching up in effective abolitionist vegan campaigning.
More selected sources of vegan related information on-line (and there are thousands more waiting to be found):
