Andrew D. Nguyen, PhD

My Vegan Journey

If you were to tell me in 2018 that I'd be an animal rights advocate, I would have laughed at you and gnawed on my bacon. That's because I grew up eating meat three times a day. On special occasions, my family would even roast a whole pig! I often refer to my old self as a "meaty mofo"; I was a product of my culture and traditions.

However, a conversation forced me to reflect on how I viewed animals. Are they something or someone? Are my taste buds more important than a sentient being's life? I wrestled with these question for four months. I actually was ok with thinking that tastes buds were greater than their lives, but I slowly de-programmed myself through empathy. If I were in their place, I would not want abusive treatment and in fact, I would want someone to speak up for me!

One of the most striking outcomes of my transformation was not only adopting the vegan lifestyle, but asking others to reflect on those same questions too. I used to be surrounded by vegetarians and some vegans, but they rarely confronted my eating or purchasing habits. If they did, I would have gone vegan much sooner! I recognize the power of kind dialogue and moving forward, I will use this power to shift the world more towards compassion.

Animal Rights Activism

To create a vegan world, we need to attack the root cause which is thinking that some and not ALL sentient beings deserve the right to a free life, aka, speciesism. Therefore, I focus on grass roots actions and engage with the public directly, while empowering other vegans to become involved as well.

• Check out my progress and impact!

I maintain a calendar, please join in!

Vision

I envision a world with emptied cages and tanks, where all sentient beings have the right to a free life, aka, personhood.

Support the Vegan Movement

Go vegan in 22 days!

It takes ~22 days to break a habit. Sign up through challenge22.com and you will receive free support from a coach!

Join the movement!

Imagine the message we would send if thousands of vegans were active on the streets. So, we need YOU to be out on the streets with us, especially to progress the vegan movement!

Participate in street advocacy with the following organizations:

• Anonymous for the Voiceless
• The Save Movement
• Direct Action Everywhere

Get Political

The government pours money into the meat and dairy industry through the farm bill. Donate to the Vegan Justice League so that we can effectively lobby against corporate interests.

Donate to Animal Rights Organizations and Activists

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';