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Hey Everyone,
My name is Ula Zarosa and I am currently working at Charity Entrepreneurship, a research and training program aimed at creating multiple high impact charities annually with a different focus area each year. 2018-2019 will be focused on animal welfare and our incubation program will be built around poverty and animal-focused charities.
I've been a vegan for 17 years now (for ethical reasons), I have PhD in Philosophy and I've published a book on animal ethics in Polish called 'Status Moralny Zwierząt' (Moral Status of Animals). In the past, I've also helped to open a trendy vegan restaurant in the centre of Warsaw, Poland and worked in startups.
In Charity Entrepreneurship I am responsible for outreach
Since I am not an animal lover I was mostly inspired by rational arguments. But my road went like this:
When I was 16 - a punk rock song that has described a road of a calf from mommy's belly to our plate. Which made me think: wow, this is sad, does it have to be this way?
When I was 19 - Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation" really helped me to systemize arguments for my strong beliefs.
When I was 24 - "Next of Kin" by Roger Fouts really thought me empathy towards animals (I don't really like being around them, so it was harder for me).
When I was 30 - Kim Stallwood's "Growl" showed me the type of activist I really want to be and meeting him and Martin Balluch, and talking to them for hours, really let me feel the solidarity that we have with other animal activists.
So these are my inspirations, but mostly over the years, I was inspired by passionate activists/philosophers that really understand the meaning of an animal as an individual!
Because it's easy to see animals as a "problem that we need to deal with" meaning help them. But it's not that easy to see an individual being in them, a being whose live really matters. So I am super grateful to people who are showing this to me, since I don't have this natural empathy towards animals.
Hey Ula, looks like you're a veteran here. It's also good to see that you were inspired by rational arguments rather than the emotional ones.
Also great to see the charitable work you're doing!
Learning never exhausts the mind. -Leonardo da Vinci
Welcome Ula. I was in Warsaw a few months ago and loved the vegan restaurants. I got stuck at one called Krowarzywa (or something similar) and kept going back. I have some Polish acquaintances (a few of whom are well known tennis players) and they all stick hard to the Polish meat eating tradition. Would be great if I could get them to read your book.
How to become vegan in 4.5 hours:
1.Watch Forks over Knives (Health)
2.Watch Cowspiracy (Environment)
3. Watch Earthlings (Ethics)
Congratulations, unless you are a complete idiot you are now a vegan.