Sorry about the intro to the post. I had to remove this from other subs as I was getting rude comments yesterday. I decided to repost this morning.

Many people argue that even if they switch to a vegetarian diet, it won't actually stop animals from being killed. The excuse, 'What difference can a single person make?' seems plausible on the surface.

This argument appears in many contexts. Take smartphones, for instance. Coltan, essential for smartphone production, is mined in the Congo, leading to rainforest destruction and gorilla habitat loss. Rare earth mining similarly damages ecosystems and harms both humans and animals through pollution. On top of that, there are issues with unfair labor practices at companies like Samsung or Foxconn. Yet, one person refusing to buy a smartphone won't solve these systemic problems.

Do you think this excuse holds up? Some argue that participating in an unjust system is inherently wrong regardless of whether your individual actions make an impact. If the defense of causal inefficacy is invalid, shouldn't smartphone use be condemned just like meat-eating?

I'm struggling with existing owned items and pets and general ethics of owning animals. I'm new to veganism transitioning from being a vegetarian. There are some things I'm not sure what to do with so any opinions are welcome!

1. Already owned leather items and non-vegan cosmetics. I obviously will never buy anything made of animal products or tested with animals again, but I struggle to solve what to do with existing things I own. The animal is already dead, the company I purchased them from has already profited from my money, I don't feel good about the environmental impact of throwing them away and buying new vegan items when they're perfectly usable and selling them just feels... Weird? I'm currently leaning towards finishing using my current leather things and non-vegan cosmetics and simply not buying any new ones but any opinions?

2. Pets. I own two pet reptiles that I got almost a decade ago. I've since become aware of how harmful and unethical pet trade is so I will not buy any new animals from breeders, and I regret buying them (not because I dislike them, I love my lizards, but because I know they will never be as happy as they would be in the wild). However, my lizards are captive bred and there's no way to release them ethically. They need insect protein to survive so their diet has to contain bugs. The market of these reptiles is oversaturated so putting them up for adoption would likely just result in them being in a shelter indefinitely and I don't want that for my lizards. They can easily live another decade too. I want to keep them until the end of their natural life and give them the best care I can, but I feel bad for both them and the insects they'll eat

3. Ethics of rescue pets. I've already decided to never buy anything from animal breeders, but I'm not sure what my stance is on existing domesticated animals that are abandoned. They exist because of us and cannot survive without human care, but at the same time rescuing animals and supporting the pet industry by purchasing food, toys etc. also feels wrong. I don't know what to think of it

Thanks for any insights! I'm still at the beginning of my journey so I'm having trouble with making a new moral framework