[Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Paul Goodsell, who will be embarking on an epic bushwalk along the Te Araroa Track in New Zealand in a few months to raise awareness about the capabilities of vegans. He's showing the world the vegans kick some serious arse and we wish him the best of luck on his journey! Here he explains more about his motivations.]

Going vegan. Several years ago I would have laughed at the prospect. You see, I was one of those typical people that didn’t think too much about the wellbeing of non-humans, and thought of vegans as these anti-social salad-munchers that looked in need of a good blood transfusion, or steak.

In 2007 I started an Arts degree with a major in philosophy. In Intro to Philosophy, one of my first subjects, we were required to read a chapter of Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. By the time I put the paper down I was converted. I had been naive. I couldn’t justify eating meat any longer. I went vegetarian immediately.

When I made this choice I did so with the intention of turning vegan. Dairy and eggs, I thought, didn’t directly lead to the killing of animals. And there was a lot of effort being put into making these two industries, at least, more humane. I had trouble reconciling this argument and started to research the abolitionist movement, reading the likes of Francione and Yates.

Abolitionists, it seemed, didn’t much like Singer and his utilitarian / welfarist position. I started to see why. I went vegan immediately after reading a number of papers by Francione and emailed him, thanking him for shining the light. I disagree with Francione on a lot of things, I don’t worship him the one some do, but I think his core argument is essentially right and hard to rebuke.

I’ve been vegan for just over 6 months. I was vegetarian for 3 or so years. As much as I would like not to alienate myself I find myself, more often than not, engaging in discourse with people about why I am vegan and why using animals is wrong. I find the majority of people to be extremely curious, and have rarely faced hostility. Ignorance and irrationality, yes. Hostility, not so much.

As much as I have tried to keep a low profile, it’s not for me; I’d like to make a difference.

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