I decided to be a vegan when I realized its athletic benefits, I then did some more research and began to really understand how being vegan benefited the planet so much. I was working on a goat farm and every day at 3:00pm I would milk 30 goats. When I first introduced my parents to the idea of me becoming vegan, it was a very definitive no. I eventually convinced them to let me do it for my 16th birthday, and I have been vegan ever since. Veganism is important to me because I believe it's the best thing humans can do for the environment. It's no secret that animal farming is terrible for the world and while working on this small, local and "sustainable" farm it became so clear to me how much I care about animals. I was a vegetarian before, but even on a small farm it became clear to me that using animals for their products was in no way ethical. I stopped eating the cheese I worked hard to produced but continued to care so much about the goats. I eventually stopped working there but did learn so much about small local farms, when I visited bigger scale farms it made me furious and I could not understand the reasoning for ever eating animals or their products. I began to use my experience to talk to my friends and the people around me. I think veganism has gone through it's own trends and people will tell me that they once went vegan for a month and then they went back. This is a hard concept for me to understand, the first week of going vegan was difficult for me but now I can't imagine going back. I plan to use my education to start a sustainable farm that provides food at a reasonable price and especially build a green house out of reused windows to bring my community fruit throughout the year. I want to live in Canada and am extremally inspired by the movie "The Biggest Little Farm" I must have seen this film 15 times, I want to live with the cycle of the world but do not want to home any animals. I want to start an affordable vegetable distribution that would stay local and make it affordable to get fresh veggies throughout the year. I think that veganism is the best way for someone to live and it has so many more benefits than just helping the planet we live on. I will always be an advocate for veganism, I want to do research on the other benefits and share these with the world. I want to remove the stigma against being vegan and the strictness of the label. I think that many people are very hesitant to go vegan because it is so strict. introducing a gradual way to stop eating animals and their products will help the earth and if we can have people try to eat more vegan that will help everyone. Vegans have to stop being so judgmental and unfair towards people who take the slow and gradual approach to going vegan. I would like to open the community up and invite more people to try it out. As Americans we react very strongly to trends, just as plastic straws became evil across the country, with enough representatives and vocalization we can get veganism to be the new "norm".