Chad wrote:
Just to reiterate, my understanding of veganism is that it's about food intake, i.e. don't eat animals or animal byproducts. I am trying to understand how it relates to anything beyond that, and furthermore, I am concerned about the label "vegan" being used as a marketing tool for products and services that are unrelated to food intake, for example if a publishing company declared that their books are produced to vegan standards..."
I do not call myself a vegan, but a strict vegetarian. My adherence is just dietary whereas veganism encompasses much more. A vegan would not only not ingest animal products, but also not wear leather shoes, wool, silk, or use a feather pillow and so forth. I do use those if second-hand.
In my view, it's disrespectful and also inaccurate to describe oneself as vegan based merely on diet.
I see no contradiction in vegan permacultue. One needn't have animal inputs for good soil and other animals aren't needed, as far as I can see, to design with permaculture principles.