As people are deciding daily, there are countless good reasons to go vegan, but the core motive for me hasn’t changed since I finally saw the light 20+ years ago. I don’t eat animals because of the mindless atrocities and injustices that so many millions and billions of non-humans are subjected to each and every day of the year.

It’s true, going vegan is healthier for us and the planet, and we wouldn’t be in this runaway climate change predicament if humans weren’t such a successful, over-crowded carnivore. But even as things seem dire for the future of humans’ survival, thoughts of eating the flesh of others is as repugnant and repulsive as ever for this thinking, feeling human being.

It may not save the planet or end all suffering if I bow out of hedonistic carnivism, but it makes my conscience that much clearer each time my hunger is assuaged without resorting to causing unnecessary suffering.

Hope of saving the planet aside, part of the reason I wish our species would wake up from their self-inflicted universal nightmare and decide to stop killing and eating animals is simply the respect I could have for my fellow humans if they could collectively realize there was no future in this race to prove we are the worst blight the Earth has ever seen. No plague of locusts or termites has ever been so destructive as to cause their own ultimate demise; and no team of Tyrannosaurus could ever match runaway humans’ impact on all other life.

Whether we want to keep living or just be able to live with ourselves, it’s time for humans to lay down their arms and proclaim their love for Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. The time for proving we can be the worst tyrant is over—now we should try to prove we deserve to live yet another glorious day.

To be brutally honest with you, I don’t really care what you do to yourselves. That’s not the point. On my skis is a sticker modeled after an anti-smoking slogan that reads: “Go Vegan or Die.” It’s not so much of a warning to spoil your fun as a plea for the sake of others…