Compassionate Teen Proves the Critics Wrong

by Stephanie Ernst

Published November 16, 2008 @ 08:34AM PST

All over the Internet--and indeed, even all over the comments on this young blog--you'll find detractors claiming that animal rights advocates and vegans don't care about humans, that we care about nonhumans more than humans, or even that we hate our fellow humans.

I've pointed out before, in posts and in comment responses, that just the opposite is true. Every animal advocate I know is deeply concerned about all issues of justice and equality. Most of us support the campaigns for human rights, for gay rights, for peace, for environmental conservation, for civil rights of all kinds, and for countless other causes as much as we are able. Caring deeply and passionately about animals doesn't preclude us from caring about other issues. Statements to the contrary are preposterous, but they're pervasive nonetheless.

And this is one of the reasons I was so glad to see today's article out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, about 15-year-old Amanda Fox, who is already doing more to change the world, open hearts, and help humans and nonhuman animals alike in her teen years than most adults do over the course of decades. Here's a bit from the article, about Amanda and the vegan and fair-trade store, Fanciful Fox, that she owns and runs with her mother:

It began when she was 11 years old and decided she would become a vegetarian. That decision, according to Amanda, more or less came to her in a dream.

“I know how weird that sounds and how much of a ditzy hippie I might sound like,” Amanda said. “But, I woke up one morning and I kind of had one of those light bulb moments where I was like ‘Oh, I don’t want to eat animals anymore.’”

Four years later, not only does Amanda not eat animals, she adheres to a strict vegan diet that she convinced her mother to adopt as well. Her father, who eats most of the same food Mrs. Fox prepares for Amanda and herself, is known by his family as the “90 percent Vegetarian.”

But Amanda’s lifestyle doesn’t stop with her eating habits, her entire mindset is tuned to the needs of the poverty-stricken and the Earth they live on.

Last summer, Amanda went to South America with 15 other students, her mother and a faculty supervisor. The trip, which took her to Panama for eight days and Costa Rica for eight days, was more a matter of education than anything else. She learned about the rain forest and the people who live in it, as a means of understanding the importance of preserving it.

It was no trip for the faint of heart, either. The group stayed in a hut with no walls, no running water and no electricity and, according to Amanda, it was the most “fantastic experience” of her life.

Fair trade was an offshoot of Amanda’s veganism and eco-consciousness.

“Throughout learning about veganism you learn about the environment just as a default,” Amanda said. “Then you learn about the people involved in this world, so I kind of picked it up along the way and I got very interested in it because it helps everyone around the world.”

Fair trade is a process by which those in poverty worldwide can earn a fair wage for the products they produce. Fanciful Fox’s fair-trade offerings can be traced to locations in India, Central America and countries in Africa. Most of the fair-trade products available at Fanciful Fox are scarves, bags, jewelry or even tapestries, all of which are, of course, handmade.

Read the rest of the article here:
"Outlet with a global outlook: Vegan teen changing the world one handmade scarf at a time."