is it possible to be vegan? opinions?!

I fully understand what you are asking here, and thank you so much for not being rude about it like some people would be.

I really like what was said about about a "cruelty reducing" lifestyle because that's exactly how I started looking at it. When I first became a vegetarian (I eat mostly a vegan diet, but I don't call myself a vegan since I'm not 100%), I was wondering the same exact thing, and people always liked to point out that no matter what I do, it's not going to make a difference. But hey, at least I am doing something, and it's also just about not taking part in what I don't like. And after becoming a vegetarian, I found out that ethnics aren't the only reason for it. I feel so good now, and I love all the food I eat ^.^

Being vegan is about doing the best you can to avoid animal exploitation. We know that we cannot avoid *everything* that has an animal product in it. If we tried, we wouldn't be able to drive cars, live in houses, or walk on sidewalks. But we do the best we can (ie choosing a bean burrito rather than a hamburger).
There are many vegan alternatives to things. There are several companies (cosmetics, ect) that don't test on animals and only have plant-based ingredients. There are also endless vegan foods out there. Avoiding animal products in our food and other products is better than doing absolutely nothing.

Yes it totally is...
if you become a vegan deciding to not use things that has to do with the harming of animals is based on your personal opinion of that matter.

Many necroses (like Cliff) try to crow that their dominant lifestyle has made it our more compassionate choices impossible. It doesn't matter, we do as best as we can and that shames them infinitely more.

i'm vegan i don't claim to be perfect but i like to think of myself as having a vegan diet not a vegan lifestyle. for instance, when i grocery shop i read every label if the ingredients have milk, milk solids, milk protein, casein, egg etc. i don't buy it. i don't buy meat or anything made w/ meat. i don't consume dairy or anything made w/ dairy. i try my best to keep everything homemade from scratch and most of my fruits & veggies are from the farmers market or organic. eventually you know what's OK to buy and what's not OK to buy. what cereals have dairy in them and which don't. it's all about educating ourselves and trying our best to have a clean and healthy diet. that being said, i don't claim to have a vegan lifestyle because my vehicle has leather interior, i have leather shoes, purse etc. i don't back pedal, i put a lot of thought and effort into everything i cook/eat.

you're right, animal products are used in virtually every aspect of our life. really the only way to be truly vegan is to be a hermit in the middle of nowhere and living off of mother nature and whatnot lol. but just because we cannot be "pure vegan" doesn't mean we shouldn't do the best we can. it's like saying you want to be a moral person, but a situation comes along where you need to decide between the best of two immoral choices. does this mean you stop being moral? no, it means you are as moral as you can be.

i know that probably sounded really confusing lol. but the point is, vegans do the best we can, and we're proud of our effort, even if in modern society we cannot be as truly "animal-free" as we would like to believe we are.

me ((im a vegan))

There are animal products in so many things, that it is all but impossible.

I think of it like this:
Everybody hates child labor. It is a horrible thing, but in America each person has a thousand possessions, and we just don't think about it all the time. BUT, when we find out that a company (like nike) used innocent children in sweat shops to make their shoes, we stop buying them.

If I went to anyones house (meat eater or not) and found an Item they had purchased that was made by abused children, I would not accuse them of being in favor of child labor. They didn't know. We're all just doing our best not to support something that awful.

When I find out about a product that a product was made at the cost of animal life or well being, I look for an alternative to that product and buy it instead.

No there is no alternative to buying vegetables, even though some animals are harmed when they are planted and harvested. So the best I can do is look for more humane farming.

Maybe a more accurate term is cruelty reducing lifestyle.

Vegan trying the best she can

Dion-what are you talking about? There is zero backpedaling. You really have no idea what you're talking about, so why even comment?

Yes it's possible to be vegan. We obviously don't live in a "vegan-friendly" world. I completely understand your question, and I have issues with a lot of things that I don't have much control over. But what Cliff is saying does NOT make sense. You don't have to buy from vegans, or vegan only stores to be a vegan. That's like saying you can't be a Christian if the owner of your grocery store is atheist. The two do not correlate. It's about yourself and your own personal philosophy, not the rest of the world and their beliefs. You're right, a lot of things aren't vegan friendly and do not come with alternatives. I'm sure you know how to change that though; by putting a demand out there for vegan everything. It's supply and demand. Once people see that vegans have a want and a need for something and that there is money to be made in every aspect of making things vegan friendly they will latch onto it and make the products. Some people call it backpedaling, it's not. It's working with what you have, minimizing the suffering of animals as much as possible and working for and demanding for more in the future.

Yes, being vegan is "like saying i will not use any thing that could possibly come from harming animals". Most vegans make that very claim, even though as you have noted, it isn't true.
Whenever somebody calls attention to that false claim, most vegans backpedal, either stating "being vegan is about doing the best you can" or "vegans still don't kill as many animals as meat eaters".
Neither statement negates their original lie about not harming animals.

No, you're right.

The typical vegan may drive to the grocery store to buy their fruits and vegetables. When they bought the car, they financially supported the workers who made the car and most likely do eat meat. When they filled up on fuel, they financially supported the gas station that sells meat, as well as the employees of the gas station that eat meat, and the oil company executives that most likely eat meat, and the gasoline delivery truck driver that probably eats meat, and that truck probably killed thousands of insects on its way to the gas station.
The money the grocery store gets from the fruits and vegetables that the vegan buys goes towards various things: the electric company (whose employees eat meat), the employees of the grocery store who most likely eat meat (even if it's a vegan store), the food delivery/trucking companies whose employees eat meat (and again, those trucks probably killed thousands of insects on the highway), and so on.