From time to time we like to pick the brains of experienced vegans because there’s always more to learn. When we discovered that Kathy Ryan was presenting The Benefits of a Vegan Lifestyle at the West Maui and Kaunoa Senior Centers, we asked her for tips and recommendations based on her nearly 30 years as a vegan.

According to the Leilani Farm Sanctuary website, when you take one of the tours offered three times a week, here’s what you may encounter: “A gentle cow munches contentedly in a shaded corner of rolling green pasture overlooking the sparkling Pacific. Goats frolic, deer bask in the warm sun, pigs roll happily in the mud, and a pair of inseparable donkeys anticipate sweet nibbles of carrots and apples. Friendly chickens cluck and turkeys gobble, while ducks and geese splash in ponds. Rabbits and guinea pigs scamper through cool gardens.

Of course, the disastrous impacts of animal agriculture extend beyond individual health. Profit-driven corporations have infiltrated government and academia to promote meat-based agriculture, despite its damage to the soil water and air, contribution to world hunger and the destruction of our means of subsistence. Animal agriculture has already destroyed approximately 20% of the largest rainforests in the Amazon basin and is a catalyst for climate change.

The vegan journey of Maui musician-publisher-activist-philosopher Carlos Garcia began about 16 years ago in Los Angeles.  “While distributing free magazines, I found an advertisement for a Music and Healthy Food Festival,” he recalls.  “It looked good, so I volunteered.” To avoid turning off people, the festival wasn’t advertised as a vegan event, but it was.

Maui is not only home to a vibrant and growing vegan community, but also attracts visits from countless vegan leaders the world over.  One of them is Michelle Cehn, founder of the wonderful worldofvegan.com website.

One of the goals of MauiVeganLife.com is to share stories and perspectives from Maui’s vegan “movers and shakers” – leaders, entrepreneurs, restauranteurs, animal rights activists, chefs, environmentalists, health experts, bloggers and others.  Building veganism on Maui begins by supporting the people who are making it happen.