Awareness
First you should try to eliminate all the products that contain animal remains. Important things to check are soaps and detergents. Other things to check are oils, paints, ink, wax, and candy. The important thing is to read the label before purchase! The main thing to look for on labels is tallow. Sometimes, it is called sodium talluate. Also, some glycerins contain animal fats, but not all of them.
How to identify the soaps we use are made from animal remains? The first thing is to check whether their ingredients have glycerin. Brand name soaps such as Ivory and Dove have this type of animal fat. You can go to health food stores to purchase substitutes to avoid getting soaps containing animal remnants. The price of consumer goods made from plants is relatively high due to its smaller market. One advantage is that the product is more concentrated and can last longer.
We should also use non-toxic detergents because toxic detergents will be absorbed by the soil after being washed down. The underground water will be contaminated by the toxic detergent. As a result, our drinking water will become unsafe.
Be sure to check out our article on What vegans don't eat to get a list of many foods vegans must watch for.
If obtaining environment-safe products is difficult, we have links to some very reliable online mail-order sources on our Where to shop? page.
Cooking
Being a vegan, you should eat at restaurants less and start cooking at home more. If you are beginner at cooking, we recommend you try vegan cookbooks. Some popular cookbooks are 150 Vegan Favorites : Fresh, Easy and Incredibly Delicious Recipes You Can Enjoy Every Day by Jay Solomon, Simply Vegan : Quick Vegetarian Meals by Debra Wasserman and Reed Mangels, and Vegan : The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus. Any of these books can be purchased at your local book store or online book stores, such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or Borders.com.