MILLION DOLLAR VEGAN

Can you speak a bit about yourself, lifestyle choice and mission to impact others?

Like a lot of people, I have always loved animals and from a very young age, I started feeling awful about eating them. I was 10 years old. I started to question my parents about why we were supposed to be kind to the animals around me on the farm in which I grew up, but then they would be slaughtered. As a child, I just could not come to terms with that situation. This was the beginning of my journey.

Years later, I watched the documentary Cowspiracy, and that hit me really hard, and I realized there was even more damage being done than I could imagine not just to the animals, but to the planet. I realized just how much I did not know so, therefore, I began reading. I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell and others. The decision to go vegan and plant based is important. It is not just a diet - it’s a whole way of living and seeing the world with open eyes. The challenge I ran into was how to use my talents to promote veganism to others, to educate people on the negatives about supporting animal agriculture and help support them as they go forward on their vegan journey. At this point, I moved over from my corporate sector, where I then worked, to my animal rights sector currently.

Has your work had an impact on non-vegan acquaintances?

Well, my parents went vegan after watching my journey for a while. Others have told me they are more conscious about animal products they consume and have actively tried to reduce their intake. Now I see them enjoying things like the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burgers. I do see them making changes in the right direction which is all positive.

Million Dollar Vegan?

Million Dollar Vegan launched in February of 2019. We were co-founded by Matthew Glover and Jane Lang Founders of Veganuary. The plan is to acknowledge people out there today with huge amounts of influence (that are not vegan) and to question how many people they would influence if they were to go vegan and what it would take to get them to go vegan. So, we decided to target world leaders and what would resonate with them so we offered $1,000,000 to the charity of choice should they accept the challenge. We focused on the Pope who constantly speaks of climate change and put forth a challenge for Lent. The Pope supported the idea, invited us to the Vatican, but ultimately just gave us his blessing. We also have different celebrities that support different campaigns that resonate with them. Joaquin Phoenix supported our Pope campaign.

Is there a new million-dollar challenge on the horizon?

We like to surprise the person we are challenging. That is what creates the media buzz. We will challenge someone very high profile because that is the way we get our mission noticed by mainstream news outlets. We received over 700 headlines across 150 countries when we challenged the Pope. We aim to take the world by storm and get the vegan message out there in the mainstream at the same time. We do plan to launch another challenge towards the end of the summer, and all I can tell you is that we will focus on an incredibly famous person in India, and it is going to be extremely challenging tied to the dairy industry. We want to lift the curtain on chronic illnesses and the mistreatment of cows showing a way to reduce suffering.

What happens in the down time?

We do a food aid. We have pledged to donate at least one million meals by 2022. By doing so, we hope to inspire more people to try vegan food. We also aim to empower people to help prevent future pandemics, improve their health, reduce animal suffering, and safeguard our planet for the generations to come. Building a safe and sustainable future for our children begins with what we choose to put on our plates.

Give it a go. It just makes you feel good.

Please head over to the website for more info and try veganism for 31 days! Our Vegan Starter Kit provides all the info you need in bite-sized pieces, including meal plans ideas, nutrition facts, where to eat out, tips on getting started and answers to all those tricky questions.

By Christian Shane Dougherty