I still remember the first time I saw an elephant. I was 6 years old and my family took a weekend trip to a zoo back home in Brazil. A while ago, I had the chance to live in South Africa for six months. During that time I went on a safari and, among a range of other wildlife, I saw for the first time the magnificent elephants roaming around in their natural habitat. It was incredible!!

Recently, elephants appeared in the headlines of several newspapers as new population assessments indicate a dramatic decrease in their numbers, mainly as a result of poaching. One headline in The Guardian stated: “Saving Africa’s elephants: Can you imagine them no longer existing?” The report explained that due to poaching and the unquenchable “hunger” for illegal ivory trade, the population of savannah elephants shrank 30% between 2007 and 2012. However, not only elephants, but as many as two thirds of all wild animals could be extinct by 2020, another recent report explains. An interesting book that I have been reading and would highly recommend is: “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” (available on amazon UK, DE, US, CA).

Now, you might be thinking what does this have to do with veganism? Well, a lot indeed! Here are my reasons:

Although ivory trade is the biggest threat to the elephants, agriculture has also been acknowledged as a huge threat to wildlife, including the elephants from Africa and Asia. On a large degree, wildlife has been displaced to make room for crops that will end up as a feed for animals kept in factory farms to supply the increasing demand for meat. In Brazil, for instance, approximately 5.6 million acres of land are currently used to grow soy beans which are largely exported and used to produce animal feed. Another report in The Guardian showed that agriculture is a huge contributor to deforestation, causing habitat loss and extinction of species. This same report cited a study published in the scientific magazine Nature which indicates that agriculture represents a huge threat to wildlife – in fact, some reckon its negative effects to be greater even than climate change.

Well, I can say that one of the reasons that made me go vegan was the knowledge of the staggering amount of land that has been cleared to make room for crops that will ultimately feed animals in factory farms. My goal with this blog is help people realize that vegan meals are delicious, healthy and easy to prepare. And talking about delicious and healthy vegan meals, today I prepared unforgettable sweet potato mini breads to inspire you to bake without any animal product!