Laura Littlejohn

LBST 2301

12 November 2019

Fieldwork Write Up
 My name is Laura Littlejohn and I am a junior at the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte and am studying Social Work and Psychology. For my fieldwork assignment, I decided

to go to Vegfest in Charlotte on September 7th. I attended VegFest with a few of my friends, my

boyfriend, and my classmates who are in my study group for my sustainability class. I really

wanted to experience Vegfest because it is something that is completely foreign to me. I have

always eaten meat and never considered being vegan, vegetarian, or even flexitarian. Therefore,

going to an event that is run and attended primarily by people who are not only health conscious

about their food choices but are vegan or vegetarian, was a new experience. As I searched for the

answer to my question, “ how sustainable are the vendors and groups represented here”, I

enjoyed the values of respect and open-mindedness represented by the whole group. I will relay

the information I acquired as well as the sustainability of three of the vendors with which I

spoke: a chiropractor, a dog rescue project, and a kombucha company.

Providence Chiropractic was the first of many stops I made at VegFest. At their booth, I

participated in an upper cervical scan to show nerve pressure points in my spine. They believe

that overall health and wellness depends, not only on diets high in nutrients and fresh produce,

but also on your spine as it is literally the “backbone” of your body. My goal in coming to

VegFest was to see how sustainability was being pursued and attained by those in attendance.

The chiropractic office did not do anything above and beyond to be more sustainable resource-

wise, as far as I was told. Therefore, I wouldn’t say their business was, in essence, about

sustainability. On the other hand, in the Sustainable World SourceBook, there is a huge emphasis

on human rights and the role of healthy lifestyle and wellness in the health of our world. In that
way, those at Providence Chiropractic are actually promoting sustainability by promoting

personal health goals and body awareness. Increasing the quality of life for individuals could and

would, in turn, increase their lifespan to make a difference and possibly expand their desire to be

more sustainable.

My next stop was the animal rescue project: the Beagle Freedom Project. The people at

Beagle Freedom projects’ goal is to rescue animals used in product testing and rehome them.

They also do educational presentations and advocacy, such as their tent at the VegFest in

Charlotte. They were an excellent example of sustainability we had witnessed at the event. They

call for scientific companies to use humane, innovative ways to test products so as to protect the

animals that are in our world. Part of Sustainability, according to our groups’ professor Tina

Katsanos, is taking care of the animals that offer themselves as companions or food for us. She

also spoke about the affects of animal cruelty on our world and mindsets that go along with such

injustices. The mindset that can cause someone to mistreat animals in the name of “science” or
“innovation,” is the same mindset that would set a rainforest on fire for more property to build on

or that would raise cattle that erode our atmosphere to feed an insatiable demand. Beagle

Freedom offers a small piece to the puzzle that solves our sustainability issues brought on by

industrial growth.

My third and final stop at VegFest in September was at the little bar set up by Up-Dog

Kombucha. Up-Dog was founded by two college students, which I found relatable, whose love
for kombucha grew into a business. They brew their kombucha using locally sourced and organic

products. The process they use to ferment the kombucha creates naturally occurring probiotics.

Their kombucha is not only vegan, it is also gluten-free. They offer their kombucha in stores all

over North Carolina. I would say that their product is highly sustainable. Not only do they bottle

with glass rather than plastic, they also locally source the fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients

used for their products. On top of that, they also relayed to me that their goals include healthy,

sustainable living for their customers.

In conclusion, I think the weaknesses in my research methodology lies in my depth at

each vendor. I visited a lot of other vendors during my three hours there and I wish I would have

spent more time at fewer vendors to gather more information about their sustainability than I did.

I would like to go back one day to VegFest and ask a couple of the vendors that I really enjoyed

how they work on their sustainability and how they fit into the grand scheme of bettering our

world and lives. I do believe that my fieldwork had more strengths than weaknesses though. I

was able to go into a totally new situation to myself and feel comfortable enough to engage with

the vendors on topics in which I was unknowledgeable. I also was able to find the ways that each

of the vendors I spoke in depth with were achieving their versions of sustainability. All in all, I

feel that what I learned most from this fieldwork is that sustainability is relative to what each

person, company, or industry is capable of doing and what their goals are. Further study would
be best done by simply more in depth involvement and conversation in the vegan and vegetarian

community as a whole.