The hope of this site is to raise awareness of one of the kindest things you can do for the planet and yourself,
which is to transition to a plant-based diet.
But you don't like being told
what to do, and we don't like preaching.
So please only click what you care about:
Background video is from footage by
Joey Carbstrong,
which he licensed under Creative Commons - thank you Joey! The image is a combo of
that footage and pics from Pixabay.
If using this video/img on your own outreach site, be sure to retain this
attribution. Alternatively, get other ideas here.
Nobody likes a proselytizer, including us. But there are times when
speaking up against the status quo becomes necessary — e.g. to oppose
slavery,
genocide(note),
sexual violence,
bullying,
etc.
When there's abuse taking place for which we would speak up if it were happening to our own
family/friend/pet or self, it becomes appropriate to speak up, regardless of who the victim is.
When it comes to
feeling pain, the animals we're eating are
just like the dogs and cats we consider family. Seeing what happens to them is hard, but it's the only way to really
understand.
When we purchase an animal product, we're telling someone, somewhere, "do that again for me."
But if we perceived animals
rightly, is that what we'd do?
"There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their [ability to] feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery."
― Charles Darwin
Not until we fully understand what happens to "farmed" animals are we likely to stop paying
for it to happen.
As long as we say "I can't watch those films" we'll likely keep playing the leading role in them.
It can be uncomfortable to see what we've been paying to be done to animals.
But try to think of this discomfort as the discomfort a caterpillar feels
when leaving its cocoon — discomfort is good if it helps us become something better.
Also remind yourself that although there's enormous suffering on factory farms,
there's still good in this world, which you're now adding to.
When speaking for voiceless animals, we may at times face
criticism from
people who have a self-interest (per their mental conditioning) in maintaining the status quo.
And such criticism can take a toll on us. But look at it this way: The same has been experienced
by people throughout history who've stood for transformative ideas, progress, and making the world a
better place. That's now you.
• Plant-based eating may reduce risk of prostate/colon/breast cancers,
and overall risk of dying from any cancer.
The World Health Organization classifies processed meat in the same group of carcinogens as cigarettes,
and industry marketing of SAD has even been compared to tobacco.
Sources: PubMed 1,
2,
NPR.org,
Cancer.org,
Newsweek.com, Harvard.edu, PCRM
• Did someone tell you plants lack nutrients? Those nutrients are simple to supplement, and plant-based diets tend to be richer in other nutrients. Source: PubMed 1, 2, 3
• Most "farmed" animals are fed antibiotics and GMO. Please: Do your research
No animal regularly drinks milk after infancy, certainly not from the nipple of another species, and you don't have to either.
↓
"The human body has no more need for cow's milk than it does for dog's milk, horse's milk, or giraffe's milk."
— Dr. Michael Klaper ↓ Beware of dairy marketing lies that still persist.
↓ Dairy may cause acne/pimples/allergies.
↓ Dairy may even weaken your bones.
Just as meat/dairy diets can lack nutrients, so can plant-based diets. The nutrients that some vegans choose to supplement can mostly be
obtained from a single multivitamin:
Don't let this short list scare you. Remember that many people lack nutrients on meat/dairy diets, and those diets are
associated with higher rates of numerous diseases.
Vitamin B12 is in many multivitamins, and often in plant-based milks.
Many animals are supplemented with B12, but we can supplement ourselves instead of eating supplemented animals.
EXPLANATION: Vitamin B12 comes from bacteria in soil.
Our ancestors would get B12 simply by eating unwashed plants.
More recently humans could get B12 by eating animals who ate unwashed plants.
However, with soils increasingly exposed to antibiotics and pesticides that kill bacteria, factory farmed animals are
often supplemented with B12. But we can supplement ourselves, bypassing the saturated fat and cholesterol found in flesh.
Your body can make Vitamin D naturally from sun exposure.
If you don't get much sun, Vitamin D is also in in many multivitamins.
Iodine is in many multivitamins.
You can also get it from iodized table salt (just 1/2 teaspoon per day in your food is enough).
Iron is in many multivitamins.
It also occurs naturally in spinach and other dark leafy greens, dark chocolate, quinoa, white mushrooms, green beans,
peas, nuts, pumpkin/sunflower seeds, and lentils. Many animals are supplemented with iron today, but we can get iron from plant-foods
without the artery-clogging cholesterol.
Just 100 calories of spinach has as much iron as 1700 calories of steak! Remember Popeye the Sailor Man? Strong to the
finish because he eats his spinach!
*Too much iron is bad for you, which is why some multivitamins omit it.
If you're eating enough plant foods with iron, you don't need a supplement. And when getting iron from plant
sources, you don't need to worry about "too much" because your body will be able to process that.
Animals get their calcium from plants, and so can we.
An easy option is to swap your dairy milk for a plant-based milk that's fortified with calcium (e.g. Oatly, Ripple, and Good Karma Flax Milk).
Calcium is also in broccoli, spinach, kale, nuts especially almonds, beans/peas/lentils/chickpeas, chia/flax seeds,
and many tofus. And it's easy to find as a supplement as well.
Zinc is in many multivitamins.
It's also found in whole grains, tofu, beans/lentils, nuts, and seeds.
Many animals are supplemented with zinc, but we can supplement ourselves without eating them.
Riboflavin in many multivitamins. It's also found in almonds,
mushrooms, spinach, avocados, and many fortified plant-milks.
Essential omega-3 fatty acids (also called ALA's) are found in walnuts,
soybeans, flax, chia, and hemp seeds.
Omega-3's are often associated with fish oil. But fish get their omega-3's from algae, which you can also do via a capsule — bypassing
the saturated fat, cholesterol, and bioaccumulated toxins and heavy metals found in fish flesh.
• Animal "agriculture" creates more global warming than
all cars+trucks+planes in the world combined. Source: United Nations Publication (page 272)
• The Amazon rainforest (aka "the lungs of Earth") is now being
burned down
for increased meat production. Livestock is the leading cause of deforestation. References: NYTimes,
CBS,
CNN,
Fox,
WorldBank.org
• Dairy milk produces 3x times more greenhouse gas than any plant-based milk, and consumes nine times more land. Source: University of Oxford and
The Guardian
• "Farmed" animals produce 50x as much waste as all humans in the U.S.
That waste gets sprayed into the atmosphere,
pollutes rivers, and contributes to ocean dead zones. Source: FFACPublication
There are many more environmental impacts
(VideoPdf1Pdf2)
,
but please re-read the ones above.
Ebola, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Mad Cow, SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19 ↓
All likely started in animals, and with the miserable conditions of modern animal
"production" also producing disease and
antibiotic resistance,
it's just a matter of time before another pandemic emerges from a
factory farm.
The only unknown is how bad the next
will be, or if we'll still have the option to change. But you can be the change now!
"There is no fundamental difference between man and animals in their [ability to] feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery."
― Charles Darwin
"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
― Leonardo da Vinci
"Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
― Thomas Edison
"However scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance... there is complicity."
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I choose not to make a graveyard of my body for the rotting corpses of dead animals."
"Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends."
― George Bernard Shaw
"A person can [be] healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore, if one eats meat,
s/he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite... to act so is immoral."
― Leo Tolstoy
"Thou shalt not kill" does not only apply to murder of one's own kind, but to all living beings.
And this Commandment was inscribed in the human heart long before it was proclaimed from [the Holy Land]."
― Leo Tolstoy
"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals."
― Albert Einstein
"Nothing will benefit health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
― Albert Einstein
"People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice.
According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering, [raping or enslaving] other people,
since this has also been done since the earliest of times."
― Isaac Bashevis Singer
"A human body in no way resembles those that were born for [meat-eating]; it has no hawk's beak, no sharp claws,
no roughness of teeth... If you will contend that you were born to [eat meat, then] kill what you eat.
But do it yourself, without the help of a chopping-knife, as wolves, bears, and lions do,
who kill and eat at once. [Kill a cow with your] teeth... tear a lamb in pieces...
and eat it raw as they do."
― Plutarch
"As long as people massacre animals, they will kill each other.. those who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
― Pythagoras
"Those who exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion will deal likewise with their fellow man."
― St. Francis of Assisi
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
― Leo Tolstoy
"It is a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done."
― Harriet Beecher Stowe,author "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Man's supremacy over lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter,
but that the higher should protect the lower."
"The more helpless the creature, the more it is entitled to protection from humans from the cruelty of humans."
― Mahatma Gandhi
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
― Mahatma Gandhi
"Flesh eating is unprovoked murder."
― Benjamin Franklin
"I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being."
― Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President who abolished slavery
"We have enslaved the rest of animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers
so badly that beyond doubt, if they were to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."
― William Ralph Inge,Cambridge University Professor
"People must have renounced... all natural intelligence to dare to
advance that animals are but animated machines...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
― Voltaire
"In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis."
― Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Laureate
"Grandchildren will ask us one day: 'Where were you during the Holocaust of the animals?
What did you do against these horrifying crimes?' We won't be able to offer the same excuse for the second time:
that we didn't know."
― Dr. Helmut Kaplan
"I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement,
to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other."
― Henry David Thoreau
"A long habit
of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right."
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
"What stone-blind custom, what overgrown error you behold, is there only by [your passivity].
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."
― George Bernard Shaw
"Love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man."
― Charles Darwin
"My body will not be a tomb for other creatures."
― Leonardo da Vinci
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."
― Thomas Edison
"We are, quite literally, gambling with the future of our planet, for the sake of hamburgers."
― Pete Singer
"Put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car."
― Harvey Diamond
"The human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk."
― Dr. Michael Klaper
"The animals of the world... were not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or women for men."
― Alice Walker, author "The Color Purple"
"If a kid ever realized what's involved
in factory farming, they would never touch meat again."
― James Cromwell
"If it's not good enough for your eyes then why is it good enough for your stomach?"
― Jason Bayless
"People who say they love animals sit down once or twice a day and enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly
deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living...
who endured the awful suffering and terror of [factory farms]."
― Jane Goodall
"Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal."
― Ingrid Newkirk
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
― Paul McCartney
"When it comes to feelings like [pain, a cow] is a pig is a dog is a boy."
~ Ingrid Newkirk
"Whether you are a world-class athlete, a weekend athlete, or simply a recreational exerciser,
we know that you can meet your performance objectives, and improve your health by eating a
plant-based diet that meets your energy needs."
― Dr. Benjamin Spock
"People ask me how I look so young; I tell them I look my age. It is other people who look older.
What do you expect from people who eat corpses?"
― George Bernard Shaw
"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century...
If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital."
― Dr. Neal Barnard
"By eating meat we share the responsibility for climate change [and] the destruction of our [environment].
The simple act of becoming a vegetarian will make a difference in the health of our planet."
― Thich Nhat Hanh
"It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian,
including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention
and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy,
lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes."
― Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly American Dietetic Association)
"Vegetarian diets can meet all the recommendations for nutrients. The key is to consume a variety of foods
and the right amount of foods to meet your calorie needs."
― USDA
"With a little planning a vegetarian diet can meet the needs of people of all ages, including children, teenagers,
and pregnant or breast-feeding women. The key is to be aware of your nutritional needs so that you plan a diet that meets them."
― The Mayo Clinic
ANIMALS
Paul McCartney once said
"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarian." Some brave filmmakers have given us windows.
Dominion:TrailerAltWatchDownload Filmed in Australia, but typical of practices across the Western world.
Earthlings:Free on VimeoWebsite One of the first movies to expose factory farm practices.
Death on a Factory Farm:HD on HBOYouTube Should humans harm helpless animals, or protect them?
What the Health:TrailerNetflixAmazonMore Uncovers possibly the largest health secret of our day.
Forks Over Knives:TrailerAmazonMore Roger Ebert called FOK "a film that could save your life."
Eating You Alive:TrailerAmazonMore Control or even reverse many diseases with a WFPB diet.
PlantPure Nation:TrailerWatch hereAmzMore With the son of T. Colin Campbell (co-author of China Study).
ENVIRONMENT
Cowspiracy:TrailerNetflixAmazonMore Exposes possibily the most destructive force facing our planet.
Eating Our Way To Extinction:TrailerAmzMore When what we eat costs the Earth, who pays?
POLITICS
MLK Jr. once said that "to save man from the morass of propaganda
is one of the chief aims of education." But given the current reach of commercial propaganda,
we may have to educate ourselves.
Pink Floyd The Wall:Clip1Clip2Amazon DVDeBay DVDWatch on FacebookInternet ArchiveVimeo Education influenced by commercial interest becomes indoctrination (thought control), which is what's happening...
moreas corporations are allowed to influence
government agencies
(e.g. USDA/FDA) through lobbying and revolving door employment. We must demand better.
This 1982 classic seems absent from major streaming services, but you can still find the DVD on Amazon/eBay.
Going plant-based is initially uncomfortable.
As was true with cigarettes in the 1900's, another outdated industry's deceptive marketing once again has many of us
associating their harmful products with enjoyment.
And undoing those programmed mental associations can be a challenge.
But with a little effort, you'll soon discover new foods
that meat and dairy distracted you from. Once liberated from the consumer prison of
animal flesh/fluids at the center of every meal, you'll start seeing how much more there is to enjoy.
For those who care about animals, you'll also gain the integrity of knowing that two or three times
every day, you refrained from violence against animals. You chose
nonviolence.
For those who care about health, you'll discover the benefits of getting your
nutrition directly
from plants — without the
antibiotics,
cholesterol, animal fat and
feces(poo).
And for those who care about preserving the planet for
future generations,
you'll be doing your part. You'll be doing more than driving a Tesla or installing solar panels. A 2018 University of Oxford
study
found that going plant-based could be the "single biggest way" to
reduce our environmental impact.
Ready to be the change? Some tips:
1: Just get started: MLK Jr. once said, "You don't need to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step." That advice definitely applies to going plant-based. Though initially daunting, every step
you take on this journey will get easier (and feel better) as you discover more great food options that cause animal
flesh/fluids to lose their appeal.
2. Hang with vegan friends: For the same reason that it's difficult to quit smoking when
hanging out with smokers, you'll likely find the plant-based transition easier if you team up with a friend or two.
This also eases the "am I crazy" doubts of going against the stream on your own.
3. Try new foods: While there are many plant-based meats/cheeses these days,
eating vegan typically gets easier and healthier when we stop trying to simulate the taste of animal flesh and secretions
with plants. Keep experimenting with new foods, and you soon discover how much more there is for your taste buds to enjoy.
4. Focus on WFPB (whole foods, plant based): Especially if you're going vegan for health,
try to limit highly processed and sugary products being marketed as "vegan". Even if you're doing it
for animals, there are animal-undermining downsides to supporting "junk food vegan" products.
E.g. It won't inspire friends to eat kindly if they see us getting fat/sick on such a vegan diet.
5. Aim for "as vegan as possible": Situations will likely arise where you eat
animal products by mistake, or where lack of plant-based options causes you to make exceptions. Don't let yourself see these
occasions as reasons to give up. Despite what anyone claims, the most we can ever be is
"as vegan as possible".
Getting protein from plant foods is no problem.
In fact, all protein
starts with plants! Any meat protein is just recycled plant protein. ↓
Also, protein deficiency is virtually nonexistent in America.
Most Americans get
twice as much protein as they need. Even the average vegan gets
70% more protein than they need.
↓
Some plant foods provide "complete"
protein, such as:
• Quinoa •
Chia •
Hemp •
Shakes ↓
But ALL plant foods can combine
to form complete protein.
For example, beans and rice form a complete protein. Peanut butter on whole wheat forms a complete protein.
And you don't have to eat the two plant foods in the same meal, or even on the same day,
because our body can store amino acids.
*If you're eating a variety of plant foods, you likely don't have to track amino combos.
Since all plant foods
contain all the essential amino acids (just in varying amounts), simply eating a variety of plant proteins should
provide all the aminos you need.
Some other high protein plant-foods include almonds, walnuts, broccoli, lentils, black beans, brown rice, soy/tofu/tempeh*,
and much more.
*If eating soy/tofu/tempeh as a protein source, you may want to opt for organic,
as there are health concerns about genetically modified soy (GMO soy) and super-processed soy (e.g. soy protein isolate).
Many of us have friends/family who've died of diet-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.
But do you know any American who's died of protein deficiency? Probably not
Just look around.
Even many poor people are morbidly obese due to the high-animal-protein, low-nutrient-density of our
Modern American Diet
also known as the Standard American Diet.
Protein is made of amino acids. And there are 22 amino acids. Our body produces 13 of those amino acids on its own.
The other 9 are called "essential amino acids" because they're obtained through food.
A food is referred to as "complete" protein if it has all 9 essential amino acids in amounts the body needs.
However, two or more so-called "incomplete" proteins can combine to form complete protein.
And they don't even have to be eaten in the same meal, or even on the same day, because our body can store amino acids.
*In other words, we don't have to eat animals who made complete proteins from plants. We can do it ourselves.
Your body is designed to create complete proteins from plant proteins. You don't need to know how to do this — your body knows!
You just have to provide your body with a variety of plant foods.
Quinoa has been eaten by humans for over 5,000 years. The Inca called it the "Mother of all Grains"
(though it's technically a seed).
And we now know it to be a near nutritionally perfect complete protein.
Plus it's low in fat and high in fiber. Quinoa is an excellent replacement/mix for rice in any dish.
Chia seeds have been eaten for thousands of years, and were a staple of the Aztecs and Mayans
("chia" means "strength" in Mayan).
Chia seeds include high quality complete protein, lots of fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and various essential minerals and antioxidants.
Cows get their calcium from plants and/or supplements, and so can we.
Vegetables that have more calcium than grass include broccoli, spinach, kale, bok choy, cabbage, most tofus,
nuts (especially almonds), beans/lentils/chickpeas, chia/flax seeds, etc.
Many plant-based milks are also fortified with calcium. For example,
Oatly has about
the same amount of calcium as cow's milk. And Ripple has 50% more calcium than cow's milk!
*For your body to absorb calcium, it also needs magnesium. Magnesium is found in leafy greens like spinach,
as well as in dark chocolate, avocados, nuts (especially almonds and cashews), bananas, beans, whole grains like brown rice, etc.
Or you can simply get a cal+mag supplement.
1. Would you say it's moral to kill anyone that we like the taste of enough?
If you put your grandma in an oven, she'll taste good too. But is that justification for doing such a thing?
Would you be okay with your local market selling dog meat once they show customers that it tastes good?
2. Taste is subjective, and too often unquestioned.
Many children eat their boogers and find them tasty.
And they may continue eating their boogers until a friend says, "Hey, that's gross."
Well, it's time to hear it: Meat and dairy are GROSS.
If a stranger offered you a glass of
pus infused milk from her infected breast,
would you drink it? That's dairy. If she put the solidified secretion from her nipple on your toast, would you eat it? That's dairy.
Eggs come from a buttgina
(yes, it's what it sounds like).
The average hamburger contains feces(poop).
Milk involves the kidnap and killing of a baby for whom that milk was
meant.
We could go on, but the point is: Meat and dairy are gross. And completely unnecessary.
No animal regularly drinks breast milk after infancy, certainly not from the nipple of another species,
and there's no good reason why we should do such a thing either.
"The human body has no more need for cow's milk than it does for dog's milk, horse's milk, or giraffe's milk." — Dr. Michael Klaper
Casomorphin is an opioid compound produced from the digestion of milk protein.
In other words, dairy contains something similar to opiate molecules. These molecules attach to the same brain receptors
as heroin.(1)
Some researchers believe the reason for this is to keep baby cows emotionally attached to their mothers during infancy.
But instead, companies kidnap/kill
those babies so they can sell us the "emotional comfort"
of nursing on their mom's breast ourselves.
No wonder food companies add cheese to everything. And to think that the dairy
industry
spends at least $50 million advertising their products to children in public schools — hookin' us while we're young.
It's time we humans grow up, suck it up, stop consuming dairy like
babies, and stop subjecting
other animals to lives of misery just so we can feel comforted by their murdered babies' milk.
1. As a meat/milk consumer, when something
tasted bad,
did you give up on meat and dairy? Or did you keep trying new foods/recipes/restaurants
until you found something that tasted better?
Well, that same strategy works when eating plant-based. Keep experimenting, and it won't be long
before you once again have too many great-tasting food options choose from.
2. Input from a visitor:
I have a friend who says he hates water. It's not surprising, because he constantly drinks sodas –
so he never experiences true thirst. But ask a person who just ran a marathon what they want to drink 3 glasses of, and the answer
will be "water". Nothing is as satisfying when you're super thirsty. And it's the same with food! Many people eat so nonstop these
days that they don't get truly hungry anymore. My friend is obese. If he ever allowed himself to feel true thirst or true hunger,
he'd stop "hating" water, start loving healthy foods, and he'd look a lot healthier than he does.
3. From another visitor:
Now that I'm vegan, I have a lot more foods (with a lot more ingredients) than ever.
Before going vegan, I was pretty much eating the same things for every meal. Chicken, pig, cow, over and over.
But with plant-foods, there's a whole plethora of new options. I know a lot of vegans at this point, and I never hear any
of them complaining about not having great stuff to eat. The bigger problem is that people are always
telling me about new vegan products/restaurants/recipes, and I'm thinking: I already have too many favorite foods already!
I do agree that vegan gets a lot better and easier when you stop trying to imitate the taste of meat/cheese
using plants. Those products are out there, lots of them, and yes it's great to support those
companies, because transitional products have their place. But there's so much more available,
real foods, that actually taste even better in my opinion.
1. Meat consumption is actually associated with wealth:
"Around the world, people have become richer, with the global average income
more than tripling in half a century. When we compare consumption across different countries we see that,
typically, the richer we are the more meat we eat." – Source:
BBC
2. Vegan staples are typically the
cheapest foods.
Rice and beans is one of the cheapest meals you can make, and that combination forms a complete protein.
Quinoa is a complete protein, and a giant bag at Costco is about 10 dollars. Peanut butter on wheat bread
is another complete protein, and we've never heard anyone complaining about the cost of PB&J. Of course, this quick
list sounds boring, but everything can be made delicious with experimentation/recipes.
3. It's the newer vegan innovations that are often more expensive.
For example, Beyond Chicken nuggets are still more expensive than animal flesh nuggets.
But that's just a matter of supply/demand. As more people buy them,
and they're produced in larger quantities by more companies, the prices will come down.
That's already happening with a lot of products. Vegan ice cream used to be more expensive,
but now you can find it for about the same price.
4. Meat and dairy are often subsidized by government (taxpayers). This
essentially creates an unfair pricing advantage over plant-based products. By supporting plant-based
meat and dairy alternatives, you help dis-empower animal exploiting corporations who've rigged the system to profit
from subsidies/handouts for their harmful products.
If anything, meat and dairy should be taxed liked cigarettes to offset the damage they do
to our health and environment. Imagine if rather than a tax on cigarettes, tobacco companies got the government to use our tax dollars
to discount their cigarettes and advertise them to our children.
That's essentially the situation with meat and dairy today.
1. The discomfort of going plant-based is typically a temporary
mental/emotional discomfort. People also often feel discomfort when quitting cigarettes.
Abandoning the positive mental associations we have with meat/dairy can create a similar discomfort,
but that quickly passes when we see that life without the harmful "products" can be far better
than it was with them.
2. Any diet change can take our body some time to adjust to. However,
rest assured that the consensus among medical authorities – including Mayo Clinic, USDA, and
American Dietetic Association – is that healthy plant-based diets can be healthy for all
stages of human life. In fact, there's no longer any major medical authority saying otherwise.
So if someone tells you that eating plant-based didn't feel right for their body, keep in mind that
there's no science to support what they're saying. To let such comments keep you from trying plant-based
would be like continuing to smoke because a friend told you that quitting made them feel lousy.
In the case of plant-based, the person may have failed to take in enough calories, or they weren't
eating a variety of plant foods/nutrients, who knows – it's hard to say what
someone else was doing/experiencing. They may be confusing a food addiction with feeling good.
3.
It is true that an unhealthy vegan diet isn't healthy – we can't just eat potato chips and lettuce –
but the same is true of non-vegan diets. So yes, figuring out what a healthy vegan diet looks like does take some
research and effort. It will take some experimentation to find what works and tastes good to you. Stay motivated
by remembering that your efforts will ultimately lead to a reduced risk of ill-health, and will immediately reduce
your harm to animals and the environment.
"Vegetarian diets can meet all the recommendations for nutrients.
The key is to consume a variety of foods and the right amount of foods to meet your calorie needs."
– USDA
4. If you think you're missing the feeling of fullness that comes from eating animal fat,
try treating yourself to some high-fat plant foods like avocados, dark chocolate, walnuts, chia pudding, plant-based brownies, etc.
5. Of course, if you're really concerned, consult with your doctor.
But if you're new to plant-based, what you're experiencing is most likely just temporary. One of the best ways
to stay motivated at such times is to remind yourself of the absolutely excruciating
physical pain you're sparing other beings with your
heroic decision to keep going.
"Sentient beings" are beings who are able to experience sensations
like fear, pain and suffering. For people who've never had pets, the videos
on this website should demonstrate that the animals we're needlessly
harming/eating are sentient.
People also describe feeling discomfort when quitting cigarettes. Abandoning the positive mental associations we have with
meat/dairy can create a similar discomfort. But that eventually passes when we see that life without these harmful "products"
can be far better than it was with them.
No, they're not. Meat↑eaters
Plant↓eaters
Have you ever looked inside a dog or cat's mouth and seen how sharp their teeth are?
Dogs, cats, sharks, and other carnivores can attack and kill prey with with their teeth.
Can you imagine trying to attack and kill a pig with your teeth? Our teeth aren't sharp enough or strong enough.
Aside from having non-carnivore teeth, the human jaw is also able to move side-to-side like
other non-carnivores. The jaw of actual carnivores (like tigers, wolves, sharks, dogs, and alligators) only moves up-and-down.
Furthermore, humans have the extremely long digestive systems of plant-eaters, whereas
carnivores have a short digestive system designed to quickly digest rotting flesh.
Yes, our teeth are capable of chewing meat, but that's not what they're for. The meat
industry has been known to sometimes feed dead cows to other cows, and they can chew it.
But clearly that's not what their teeth are made for either.
Finally, even if someone does possess a physical attribute that's capable of violence, does that mean they should
freely do unnecessary violence with it? If someone has strong arms, is that justification for beating other people to death?
P.S. Although our "canines" are nothing like a dog's,
here's why we have them.
One of our closest genetic relatives, the Great Ape, has much larger canine teeth than us, and they're nearly 100% plant-eaters.
Likewise, the hippopotamus has the largest canine teeth of any animal on Earth, and they're 100% plant-eaters.
1. Humans have always done a lot of
things we no longer find acceptable. Does it seem smart to model our behaviors today on behaviors of our
ignorant ancestors?
For example, some cultures have practiced child sacrifice, others have practiced arranged child marriage,
others still perform female genital mutilation. Does the fact that those things happened in the past
mean we should continue with them today?
2. Even our recent ancestors have chosen to do things differently than those just before them.
Should we revert to the more longstanding ways?
For example, genocides and slavery have been regular occurrences even in recent history. So should we stop making an effort
to avoid genocides and slavery now? Until recently, women were treated as less than men.
Should we revert to treating them as less now?
3. Is it really safe to assume that we're the first generation that's doing everything right?
More and more people are beginning to recognize that the way we're mass breeding, butchering, and consuming animals today is the most
backwards, barbaric, and destructive custom the world has ever seen. It's our generation's slavery.
"The thinking person must oppose all cruel customs,
no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo."
— Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Laureate
4. Even if our ancestors did sometimes
eat wild animals to survive, the sedentary, antibiotic-and-pesticide-laden
meat we're consuming today isn't at all what they ate. So it's definitely time we evolve. Fortunately, we now have
year-round access to a wider variety of plant proteins than our ancestors ever did.
"Recognize meat for what it really is:
the antibiotic and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal."
— Ingrid Newkirk, Founder PETA
Do you think the people eating at McDonald's and Burger King right now are helping the evolution of our species?
Some people point out that we wouldn't be here today if our ancestors hadn't eaten meat.
But you could also say the descendants of the Donner Party wouldn't be here today if their ancestors hadn't eaten other people.
It's true, but it doesn't mean the Donner descendants have to keep eating other people today. It's no longer necessary for their survival.
There are actually many things that may have contributed to human evolution/continuation in the past
that are no longer relevant to our moving forward – including rape, child rape, tonsils, wisdom teeth, etc.
Meat and/or dairy are now associated with many of the diseases that are mass-killing us today, including
cancer, heart disease, stroke, obesity, dementia, etc. They're also linked to many of the
environmental harms threatening our entire existence – global warming, deforestation, ocean dead zones, etc.
Regardless of what got us to where we are, it's pretty clear that the only way forward at this point
is going to be plant-based.
Even if our ancestors did sometimes
eat wild animals to survive, the sedentary, antibiotic-and-pesticide-laden
meat we're consuming today isn't at all what they ate. So it's definitely time we evolve further. Fortunately, we now have
year-round access to a wider variety of plant proteins than our ancestors ever did.
"Recognize meat for what it really is [today]:
the antibiotic and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal."
— Ingrid Newkirk, Founder PETA
There's a big difference between water that's passed through a tree, and water that's passed through a cow.
But even if we overlook that, here are the facts:
Source: BBC.com
Yes, almond milk requires a lot of water. But not as much as cow's milk. And cow's milk outputs feces, urine, and greenhouse gases.
Trees output oxygen.
The anti-almond article many are familiar with was written by a paid consultant of the dairy industry.
Almond milk is clearly better for the environment than cow's milk. But if your priority is reducing environmental impact,
the optimal choice is oat milk or soy milk. We love Oatly(includes B12 and calcium).
1. The rumor that soy causes "man-breasts" arose because soy contains phytoestrogen (plant estrogen, not actual estrogen),
and when some people hear "estrogen" they think "woman." But phytoestrogen actually
blocks estrogen.
2. We know that other cultures have been consuming soy for thousands of years without men growing breasts, and medical
research
completely contradicts the rumor as well.
3. If you want to avoid man-breasts, choose a diet associated with
lower obesity,
as excess body fat on men is what most often looks like breasts.
P.S. #2: If consuming soy, many people opt for non-GMO.
"Soy is bad for the environment. Therefore, being vegan and eating soy is bad for the environment!"
1. The first statement above is absolutely correct. Soy is being cultivated in such enormous
quantities that it's destroying habits including rainforests, the deforestation is releasing massive amounts carbon into the
atmosphere, pesticides/fertilizers used in cultivation are degrading water sources, etc.
2. However, 75-80% of the world's soybean crops are fed to farm animals, while vegan and vegetarian
consumption account for only about 5%. And with rapidly increasing familiarity with other vegan protein
sources, vegan/vegetarian consumption is unlikely to grow significantly. HOWEVER, even if all humans were to eat soy for protein
rather than meat, the destruction of natural vegetation required to supply us with the same amount of protein would decline by 94%!
That's because converting plant protein/calories into animal protein/calories is extremely inefficient.
(MORE EXPLANATION)
3. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF),
"Limiting consumption of animal-based food products, particularly meat, is one thing people
can do to help end this devastating trend [of over-farming soy]." In other words, if you're concerned about the
environmental havoc that soy production is wreaking on the planet, the solution is to stop eating meat/dairy (go vegan).
P.S. When consuming soy directly in plant-form (rather than through flesh),
many people opt for non-GMO.
Plants may have a form of "consciousness" but they don't have a central nervous system or nerve endings (pain receptors),
and therefore don't experience physical pain like we animals do.
1. If your house were burning down, who would you save first:
your pets or your plants? Would you ask a firefighter to run through the flames to rescue your plants?
2. If a plant suddenly appeared in the middle of the road,
would you swerve your car into a dog in order to avoid running over the plant?
3. We've all boiled vegetables before. Would you ever boil a live animal with the
same indifference?
4. Even if you are the rare person who truly prioritizes plants, the fact is that significantly more plants have to be consumed
by a farm animal than a person would have to consume directly in order to get the same amount of protein/calories.
In other words, eating plants saves plants.
P.S. Animal "agriculture" is a leading cause of
deforestation.
Again, eating plants saves plants.
When tractors till farmland, animals underground get crushed.
If insecticides are used on crops, bugs die. This is true.
Becoming vegan doesn't completely eliminate one's impact
on other beings.
However, when a person gets their calories from plants, that person's sustenance
requires only a small fraction of the amount of plants that would have to be fed
to an animal for conversion into meat calories.
In other words, by eating plant-based, we actually reduce plant
cultivation, which in turn reduces impacts on wildlife and insects.
So for those concerned about animals killed during crop production, plant-based diet
is the compassionate choice.
1. Vegans are sometimes called hypocrites because they do things like "kill bugs with their cars while driving to buy vegetables."
However, nobody is claiming that going plant-based completely eliminates one's harmful impact on other beings. It only reduces it.
Even just sitting here, we're all breathing in and killing microscopic organisms.
Mahatma Gandhi (a vegan) explained it like this:
"[A person] cannot for a moment live without consciously or unconsciously
committing [violence]. The very fact of living – eating, drinking and moving about – necessarily involves some
destruction of life, be it ever so minute. An adherent of [nonviolence] therefore remains true if the source of all his actions is compassion,
if he shuns to the best of his ability the destruction of the tiniest creature...
but he can never become entirely free from outward [violence]."
Not harming a single insect during our day is probably impossible, or at the very least not practical. Adopting a
plant-based diet, on the other hand, is the lowest of low hanging fruit when it comes to kindness toward fellow beings today.
2. Does the fact that people and animals are sometimes killed by mistake make it okay to
kill them on purpose? Would you say there's a difference between running over a dog by mistake, and driving around town
looking for dogs to run over on purpose?
1. Reasons for going vegan are typically health, animals, and the environment.
Nobody's going vegan because they don't like the taste of the foods that their parents/culture habituated them to.
Because of this, many innovative companies are discovering that there's a market for plant-based
versions of the foods we grew up with. And those products offer new vegans (those not yet familiar with
eating plant-based) a great way to more quickly transition away from violent foods.
2. The fact that many new vegan products come in the shape of
sausages and patties is not a matter of copying meat products, but rather of those being
convenient shapes. Carrots and zucchinis were around long before sausages. And nobody ever
accused cookie bakers of copying the shape of hamburgers. They're simply convenient shapes.
"It's impossible to be 100% vegan in today's world."
That's likely true – there are some products for which vegan alternatives are nearly impossible
to find/prove. For example, the rubber in car tires usually contains animal products, as do many house paints. And
since such products aren't food, the manufacturers don't have to list ingredients.
Many medicines contain animals, or were produced using animals, or were tested on animals.
Even some vegetables are sometimes coated with waxes that are derived from animals.
However, does not being able to completely eliminate our participation in animal suffering
mean that we shouldn't even try to reduce it?
Imagine this: A fireman runs into a burning building and sees there are 10 children about die. Unfortunately, he
can only carry 5 of them. Would it be rational for the fireman to say, "Well, I can't save all
of them, so I'm not going to save any of them" and then let all 10 of them burn?
Do you see any difference with 10 dogs, 10 cats, or 10 pigs?
Have you ever heard anyone say, "This can't be perfect world, so let's not even try to make it a better world"?
If we used unattainability of perfection as a reason to never try to make anything better, we wouldn't have done
anything about slavery, Nazism, women's suffrage, pre-trial lynchings, and probably worse.
Not being able to do everything doesn't mean we should do nothing. Veganism is about avoiding unnecessary
violence as far as is possible and practicable.
The word "vegetarian" has been used for centuries to describe a diet that excludes animal flesh.
A common motivation for this diet is the immorality of killing another
being when doing so isn't necessary for our survival.
The word "vegan" originated in 1944, and describes a lifestyle that excludes animal flesh and fluids (aka. dairy).
The increasing popularity of veganism is likely due to the growing awareness of
what's involved in dairy. For example, whereas meat involves the murder of an animal, dairy involves rape,
kidnap, infanticide, lifetime enslavement, and murder.
"Plant-based" is more recently replacing "vegan" since vegan
sounds a bit like someone from another planet. Ironically, nothing is better for our planet than a vegan diet.
Reference
"WFPB" means "whole food, plant-based" which is at the opposite end of the health
spectrum from "junk food vegan." Similarly, a
"nutritarian" diet is a WFPB diet focused on nutrient-dense foods.
1. Don't be duped — modern factory farms bare little resemblance to the idyllic
family farm images you see on milk cartons today. Most animals are now "produced" in large corporate arrangements where
farmers and
workers
are also often mistreated.
2. Many farmers and
workers also have mixed feelings about the violence inherent in the
meat/dairy industries. By transitioning to a plant-based diet, you help create demand for new products and new jobs.
The plant-based revolution is a huge
opportunity
for people/companies who care about the future of our planet.
Yes, there will be some who resist and ridicule change.
But the fact is that without this transition, humanity's chances of survival on this planet are being undermined.
And honestly, the financial inconvenience that some farmers may experience while transitioning to new sources of income
is nothing compared to the excruciating suffering/slaughters experienced by billions of factory farmed animals every year.
3. Does any amount of profit justify the suffering of billions
of sentient beings every year? If so, then you must agree that more profit would justify including cats and dogs?
4. Did anyone ever tell you to keep smoking cigarettes because not doing so would create hardship
for tobacco farmers? Keep in mind that animal foods are now responsible for more human disease and environmental destruction
than cigarettes ever were.
5. Did you ever avoid watching Netflix/Youtube/Hulu/etc because of what doing so was going to
mean for video store owners? No, because we all saw streaming as progress/improvement. Well, that's what plant-based is.
6. Eating plant-foods creates revenue for plant-food producers. Why should
animal-product producers be considered more important than plant-product producers?
Especially if plant-products are better for us, and for the entire planet?
7. If human welfare is your priority, know that factory farm (slaughterhouse)
workers have some of the highest rates of stress, depression, PTSD, addiction/alcoholism, and suicide in the world.
As we transition to plant-based diets, we stop forcing destitute workers to participate in violence against fellow sentient beings.
8. Plant-based diet is an idea whose time has come.
Inflicting disease on customers and destroying the planet is not a sustainable business.
"You vegans have never even been on a factory farm."
1. If you know what happens in a place, you don't need to go
there in order to determine whether what happens there is wrong. Most of us never had the experience of being
in a Nazi concentration camp, but we know essentially what happened there, and that's enough to be against it.
2. There's abundant video footage that shows us exactly what happens on
factory farms. There are also plenty of
farmers,
informants, and
investigators
exposing the truth.
3. Even if the average person were to personally visit a factory farm, they'd either be
turned away, arrested, or given the
amusement park tour.
1. If breeding animals for slaughter makes slaughter okay, then does
breeding dogs for dogfighting make dogfighting okay? Some people sexually abuse animals –
does breeding animals for that purpose make sexually abusing them okay?
2. Does breeding humans to be slaves make slavery okay?
Yes, there have been times in history when that was seen as normal.
But for the most part we've come to understand that "breeding" any animal (human or
non-human) for exploitation doesn't change the fact that s/he is a sentient being
that feels pain and suffering just like our pet/child/self.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons.
They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women made for men."
― Alice Walker, author The Color Purple
1. Animals that eat other animals (carnivores) in nature do so because they have to
in order to survive. This isn't at all true for us/humans. Health authorities such as
the USDA and American Dietetic Association now fully acknowledge that humans can thrive on plant-based diets.
In fact, there's no longer any health authority saying that we need to consume meat or dairy.
2. The way animals eat other animals in nature helps keep balance in ecosystems.
As for the way humans produce animals for consumption, it does the exact opposite. Animal "agriculture" is a leading
cause of deforestation, river pollution, ocean dead zones, species extinction, climate change, etc.
3. Some animals in nature rape each other, and other animals are known to eat their young.
Do you really think we should model our standards of human behaviors on those of wild animals?
1. If we use intelligence level to determine whether or not a sentient being
is edible, then shouldn't we be eating dogs and cats, both of which are proven less intelligent than pigs?
2. Since the average pig is just as intelligent as a 3 year old child, would you say it's okay to breed,
butcher, and eat small children?
3. Would you be okay with a new law saying it's okay for smart people to do whatever they want
to dumb people?
And if we don't use low intelligence as reason to exploit, experiment on,
or kill people, why do so with other animals?
4. Rather than being a reason to exploit/harm nature, is it possible that our intellectual
superiority might be a reason to become kind stewards of nature? Remember: We are nature.
5. If we're going to use low intelligence as justification for consuming a being,
then the lowest intelligence beings are plants. They literally don't have a single brain cell.
1. The phrase "survival of the fittest" became popular when biologist Charles Darwin
used it to mean "better adapted for the environment." Unfortunately, the phrase was misused by non-scientists
to justify unrestrained business practices, and even violence. It's for that reason that modern biologists no longer
use the term. The fact is that nature doesn't work without overwhelming cooperation —
just think of how your body works, or a family, or any community.
2. Animal "agriculture" is now associated with many of our world's leading
deadly diseases; it's a leading cause of climate change and environmental destruction; and it's a major reason our planet is now in
its largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. "Survival of the fittest" is definitely not an appropriate
description of, or justification for, modern factory farming.
3. The assumption that our human ability to dominate and exploit other animals implies
that we're meant to exploit them is purely cultural, and potentially very flawed. Do we exploit mentally challenged
people because we're more intelligent than them? No, just the opposite – in modern society we see our
dominance as giving us the responsibility to look out for those who need us.
"The more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
― Mahatma Gandhi
Do you think it's possible that you're here not to harm animals, but to protect them?
Is it possible that you're here not to destroy nature, but to be its steward? Remember: You are nature.
4. If someone told you that humans are top of the food chain,
watch some videos of man versus shark, lion, crocodile, etc. Modern weapons and slaughterhouse
machinery may make it appear that we're top of the food chain, but humans have only been using
such tools for a fraction of our existence. And they're not natural.
5. Throughout human history, we see that all large scale atrocities,
such as genocides, are committed by people who believe that they're the superior/fittest ones. It's a very
dangerous belief. Keeping that in mind, look at what animal "agriculture" is doing today,
under the same false assumption. Do you see why it's dangerous?
"Those who exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion will deal likewise with their fellow man."
― St. Francis of Assisi
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
― Leo Tolstoy
"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century."
― Dr. Neal Barnard
1. When a squirrel runs in front of you, do you have an urge to chase it like a born-carnivore does?
When you see a deer in the woods, do you feel like pouncing on it?
2. If you were trapped in a room with a live chicken and an apple, which do you think you would eat first?
If it's human instinct to kill, why doesn't the average person want to buy a live animal from the
grocery store to kill themselves? Why do we prefer it pre-killed and disguised in a pretty package?
3. And why are most people so averse to watching slaughterhouse footage? If we were really carnivores,
those videos would make us salivate.
Look closer at what you've come to assume is instinct, and you'll see that the way you're currently
eating is just a taught/learned/artificial behavior.
"Put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple,
I'll buy you a new car."
― Harvey Diamond
1. The "circle of life" means all that lives will one day die. That's true.
But just because an animal is going to die someday doesn't justify our slaughtering it now,
any more than it would justify slaughtering a person. Suppose someone right now was trying to
kill you and your dog. Would you accept it as okay if they reminded you that you're both
going to die one day anyway? No, because killing you now wouldn't be the circle of life, it would be murder.
2. What takes place on modern factory farms has nothing to do with the circle of life.
It's the circle of raping into existence, lifetime enslavement/exploitation/suffering, and systematic extermination.
It looks nothing like what happens in nature.
"Realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do…
I feel very deeply about vegetarianism...
It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings."
— Cesar Chavez,
co-founder National Farm Workers Association
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." — Arthur Schopenhauer
In the 60's/70's, vegans were ridiculed as "fruit and nut
eating hippies." More recently, they've been violently
attacked,
litigated,
imprisoned,
and even killed
for speaking/acting in alignment with truth. But now, with growing awareness of animal "agriculture's"
impact on climate and environment, it's becoming evident that either Truth will prevail on this issue,
or humanity will not.
While still in stage two, it's important to never be intimidated by threats of violence in any form. If we
let fear stop us from standing up and speaking up, suffering is guaranteed to continue. It's similar to dealing with bullies
on a playground. If we reward their violence with our lunch money, we reinforce bully behavior.
You might think of it this way: If this is a world where you're not free to think, say, and do what you know in your heart
to be right... then do you even want to be in it?
"Never be afraid of deceitful, dishonest, brutal power. That is true freedom."
— Vandana Shiva, Indian Physicist and Activist
"Armies cannot stop an idea whose time has come." — Victor Hugo
Hugo was referring to universal Truths remembered during the French Revolution, such as liberty and equality.
Despite powerful opposition from a self-interested Establishment at the time, such values are now universal.
And today we're remembering that they don't just apply to one species.
"The Truth is a stubborn thing. It doesn't go away." — PlantPure Nation
Fish don't have vocal cords to scream because they live in water, and
they don't have the facial structure to frown like us. But it's not hard to see that a fish is
feeling pain
when hooked on a line, caught in a net, suffocating in the air, or being
skinned alive.
Fish have nerve endings (pain receptors) that are physiologically identical to ours, and when morphine is
given to fish in pain, their symptoms and responses disappear,
exactly as with us/humans.
You don't have to like animals to not want to hurt them.
It's no different than with people you don't like. For example, you may not feel much connection
to Ukrainians (most likely because you don't know any). But does that mean you want to
financially support bombing them? Probably not. Likewise, you may prefer cats over dogs, and dogs over pigs.
But does that mean you want to needlessly support violence against any of them on factory farms?
We wish the videos on this site were rare occurrences,
but such things are happening every day
on factory farms. What's rare is for cameras to make their way onto factory farms.
There's a strong industry effort to make filming of meat/dairy operations a crime
— to make it a crime to expose their crimes.
Thankfully, some brave investigators are still managing to document the
atrocities taking place. But ultimately, it's up to each of us to stop paying for them to happen.
1. The word "humane" is a misleading marketing term.
Using this word to sell items made from the bodies of exploited animals is known as "humane-washing."
It's a way to get conscientious people to continue spending money on inherently cruel and unavoidably violent products.
Look at this "Fairlife"
(a Coca-Cola company) dairy supplier. Even suppliers for
Whole Foods (which uses an
animal welfare certification gimmick) have been found to raise animals inhumanely. And Whole Foods has even
sued animal rights advocates
(yes, ironic).
2. If there were a humane meat/dairy supplier giving animals pleasant lives and painless
deaths, what would that look like? Suppose you killed a friend in their sleep without
any pain. Would a judge (or their mom, or their child) say it was okay because you killed them "humanely?"
Of course not. What if you said, "but I also ate him/her," would that make it okay? Of course not.
And of course, animals on factory farms are never killed so peacefully.
3. When discussing "humane" people often mention a seemingly
idyllic farm
they've imagined, or even
hunting or fishing
for their own food. But with 99% of animal flesh/fluids now coming from factory farms, the idea of "humane"
farming/hunting/fishing is irrelevant, and only serves to perpetuate an outdated culture of
exploiting animals.
4. In most cases, the animals raised on so-called "humane" family farms are taken to the exact
same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed animals.
Suppose the time had come to put your dog or cat down. Would you consider having that
done at a slaughterhouse, unsupervised, by the slaughterhouse workers rather than a veterinarian? Regardless, most of the animals
whose slaughters we're paying for are still young, and none of their slaughters are kind.
5. Regarding "cage free": Every year in Yulin, China there's a festival where
thousands of dogs
are slaughtered in the streets. They're dogs exactly the same as the dogs we keep as pets,
including Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Huskies, Labs, everything. Would you say that festival would be
okay if they just kept the dogs in larger cages?
6. If you think you're buying humane animal products, be sure to visit the "farm"
where those animals are being produced, and ask to witness at least one slaughter. Did it look like that slaughter was
consensual and humane? Remember that humane means "having or showing compassion."
1. Some people enjoy hunting, and nobody wants to stop doing what they enjoy –
we all understand that. Some people simply enjoy the outdoor aspect of hunting; others might enjoy the
camaraderie
of hunting with friends; others might get a feeling of security knowing they could survive in the wild
by hunting; others might reinforce a sense of manliness or toughness by hunting.
Trophy hunters might get an ego boost when taking a photo next to a beautiful animal they shot.
People dissatisfied with their lives might find something cathartic about causing other beings pain.
Or our own life may feel temporarily fuller when we take another's.
Hurt beings hurt beings, and when we do it seems to feel good.
It's important to look at what you get from hunting.
Then ask yourself: Is killing the best way to get that? Is that real joy? And is it who you really are?
2. One good thing about hunting is that it doesn't involve factory farming, and most victims
will only suffer briefly. But the idea that hunting can be an alternative to factory farming is foolish.
In just the last 50 years, 50% of the wildlife on Earth has disappeared, while human population has more than doubled
during that same time. We won't waste time with the math here. It's impossible.
3. Input from a visitor:
When I was a kid, my friends and I used to hunt small animals with airguns – birds, lizards, frogs, squirrels.
I never felt anything bad about it – no mercy, no guilt – it felt fun. But one day we shot a bird, it fell to the ground,
and it was still breathing, eyes open. It was alive, just it's wing was torn. Someone took a can of spray paint,
sprayed the bird, and lit it on fire. At first I felt nothing as usual. But as I watched the bird flap around in agony,
convulsing, it occurred to me that the pain it was experiencing was exactly what I would feel if I was burning to death.
And not just the physical pain, but that animal likely had a nest/home and young. In its mind, everything that mattered
was being lost.
I was only 10 or 11 years old then, but that was the beginning of my realizing how dangerous it is to
perceive another's suffering as less real than our own. Twenty years later I see clearly how finding joy in the suffering
of others is based on a misperception. And when I look deeply, I see that it might be the most self-undermining
misperception in our world.
I don't usually tell that story, because the typical assumption is that I was a disturbed kid with disturbed friends.
But what's really disturbing is to know that for just about every meal, every day, most those judgmental people
– including people I love – sit down and participate in something just as horrific as what was
done to that bird. Every day, the average person pays to put animals through not just a couple minutes of
misery, but entire lifetimes of it. I'll never do that again. Today I'm 100% plant-based.
"People who say they love animals sit down once or twice a day and enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly
deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living... who endured the awful suffering and terror of [factory farms]."
― Jane Goodall
What if I'm stranded on an island and only have a pig to eat?
What if I'm lost in the Alaskan wilderness and only have a moose to eat?
Truth is, in extreme situations, people will even eat other people. For example, in order to survive
a winter stranded in heavy snow, the Donner Party resorted to eating their travel companions.
But once the Donner Party got out of that extreme situation, they didn't keep eating other people.
And now that we have healthy plant-based options, there's no reason for us to keep
killing/eating other beings either.
So the more relevant question today is:
What if you had an abundance of nutrient-packed plant foods available to you 24/7...
would you continue harming animals for no reason?
*The island/Alaska scenarios also don't involve the issue at hand,
which is modern factory farming, which inflicts a lifetime of unnatural suffering.
**If you're ever stranded on an island with a pig,
the smart thing to do would be to look at what the pig is eating to determine what's edible. And if
there's enough for both of you, then you'll have someone to keep you company.
Some people express concern that if we don't keep killing/eating farm animals,
they'll overpopulate and overwhelm wildlife.
That's very unlikely:
1. On modern factory farms, most animals are produced through artificial insemination.
Many have been bred so large that they aren't even able to mate naturally anymore.
2. Because there's a cost associated with raising farm animals,
production rates are determined by demand. If meat consumption slows, animal breeding by farmers will also slow.
And since the world is far from going vegan overnight (it will be a very slow transition), there's zero chance
that we have to worry about surplus chickens, pigs, and cows taking over.
Some people express concern that if we don't breed farm animals for food, then
chickens/pigs/cows will go extinct.
Rest assured, that's not going to happen:
1. There are already many times more farm animals on Earth
than there are humans. In fact, 60% of all mammals on the planet are now farm animals. Just 4% are wild animals at this point.
And even if factory farming did end someday, there will always be family farmers raising chickens/pigs/cows.
2. If extinction of species is a concern for you, please remember that
our planet is currently in the midst of its largest mass extinction in 65 million years – comparable to the one
that wiped out the dinosaurs. This is largely due to our diet. In the last 50 years, over 50% of all wildlife on Earth has disappeared,
with about 1000 species still going extinct every year, and with that rate of extinction still accelerating.
Livestock production, which already takes up nearly 80% of global agricultural land, pollutes rivers, creates ocean dead zones,
and is responsible for most of the Amazon rainforest's continued clearing and habitat loss. At this point, we humans are actually risking
our own extinction for the sake of eating meat/dairy, even though those foods account for less than 20% of the world's calories.
3. If chickens, pigs and cows ever do need to be protected in zoos and animal sanctuaries,
which is already unlikely, it's also unlikely that eating them will be the solution.
1. Every country on Earth has the "freedom" to eat hamburgers and milkshakes.
The only reason you think that's freedom is because you've been
programmed to think that way.
2. But is it true? Would you ever say, "It's a free country, so I'll kidnap who I want,
rape who I want, and murder who I want"? Or would you say "I'm free so I'm gonna go kill a dog"?
No, that's not real freedom. Even if the meat/dairy industries finance
laws
allowing them and us to commit violence with impunity, legality doesn't always equal morality.
Throughout history there have been times when certain groups were considered
(by belief, culture, or law) inferior, and their suffering was therefore considered
less relevant
by those making the rules. But such attitudes have always led to disastrous effects, and have always proven untrue.
We now know that the animals we've been conditioned to see as "products" are in fact sentient beings
who feel pain and suffering just like us. They may not look like us or speak our language,
but what they're saying is very clear.
And we now know that the longer we ignore their screams, the more disastrous the effects on our health and Earth will be.
3. The most significant fights for freedom in our nation's history include
the Revolutionary War (gaining freedom from Great Britain) and the Civil War (gaining freedom from Slavery for Black Americans).
And at this point in our history, the majority (not all, but most) of us would be more proud to learn that our
grandparents/ancestors had fought for those freedoms than not.
Unfortunately, we're now confronted with a very similar situation ourselves.
Fellow sentient beings are being exploited on a scale never before seen on Earth, and the environment of future
generations is being destroyed at a rate never before seen. Our choices and actions today are likely to be the most important
in our planet's history. So it's time to decide: How do you want to see yourself,
and how to you want your grandchildren to see you –
as a person who was passive to needless animal exploitation, environmental destruction, and mass extinction,
or as one who helped end this largest-ever genocide?
4. This website's goal isn't to take away anyone's "freedom" to eat hamburgers –
that's very unlikely to happen during any of our lifetimes. Again, there's no country on the planet that doesn't have that
kind of freedom. We're simply trying to remind people that there is a choice today. The meat, dairy, and fast food
industries have spent billions of dollars shaping you into a person who thinks that eating animals is necessary.
But it's pure untruth. There's no longer any major health authority saying people need to eat animal products to be healthy,
not even the USDA. And we're pretty sure that if you had two refrigerators in your house, one full of delicious plant-based
foods, the other full of animals just like your own pets that you had to kill yourself,
most free-in-their-mind people would choose to eat differently.
Real freedom involves taking back your freedom to think and act for yourself. It's the freedom to act in
alignment with who you really are, rather than in passivity and subjugation to the corporate programming
that's been telling you what to think, buy and consume since childhood.
Legal does not always mean moral. Please spend some time watching factory farm footage on this website, and you'll soon sense
a law beyond written law, one that's inscribed within us.
It may be uncomfortable to watch, but it's important to become aware, because what we pay others to do, we do.
"However scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance... there is complicity."
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
What one considers a big problem is relative.
But with what we now know about animal agriculture's impact on the environment and human health, it's clear that the solution to many
of our planet's biggest problems hinges on solving this one.
"Nothing will benefit health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth
as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
― Albert Einstein
But even if there is a bigger problem, that doesn't mean we can't solve this
"smaller"
one in the meantime. Especially since this one has a simple solution that anyone can do.
P.S. If you found out that you or a loved one/person/dog/cat were going to be reincarnated into
a factory farm/slaughterhouse situation, would this seem like a more important problem?
Do unto others...
"Our planet's real problem is human overpopulation."
1. Human population growth is definitely a concern.
50k years ago there weren't even a million people on this planet. 10K years ago there were about 2 million.
300 years ago, 1 billion. Just 50 years ago, 4 billion. And today, 8 billion. Yes, a doubling of human population
in just 50 years on a finite-resource planet is certainly cause for concern.
However, it's important to consider that there are now several times
more farm animals on our planet than humans, with livestock (mostly cows and pigs) currently accounting for
60%
of all mammal biomass, humans for 36%, and wild mammals down to 4%. And while human numbers are rising at roughly
1.2%
per year, livestock numbers are rising at around 2.4% a year. That may sound like a small number, but 1.2% means doubling
in 60 years, and 2.4% means doubling in just 30 years.
2. Also, factory farm animals in the United States generate over 10 times more sewage than all
people do, and much of that sewage goes untreated directly into rivers, where it destroys freshwater life, creates ocean dead zones, etc.
Moreover, raising farm animals is already using three-quarters of the world's agricultural land, and is already having
more global warming impact than all cars, trucks, and planes combined.
So yes, we are facing overpopulation problems on our planet. But the most serious is
the overpopulation of farm animals. And that's a problem we can all easily help solve on a daily basis.
1. You're allowed to care
about more than one issue. You can care about human rights and animal rights simultaneously. Yes, you can be vegan AND care about people!
2. However, you can't really care about human rights without caring about animal rights.
As St. Francis of Assisi said:
"Those who exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion will
deal likewise with their fellow man."
Which is why Leo Tolstoy (author of War and Peace) said:
"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
And the U.S. President who abolished slavery said:
"I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being."
3. If you care about human rights, keep in mind that slaughterhouse workers have some of the
highest rates of anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide in the world. Just imagine what we're paying them to do and see.
And given what the animal exploitation industries are doing to to one sentient being, why would we expect them to be fair to another?
4. Ultimately, it's not necessary to argue about which is more important – human rights
or animal rights. We can support and work for both.
1. If we love someone, do we willfully pay to make them endure
enormous suffering and brutal deaths? And if we do that, can we still say we love them?
At the very least, being a lover of someone/something means not intentionally harming them physically.
2. If you've ever had a dog or cat you love, imagine for a moment that
your animal friend had instead been born into a dog/cat farm in Korea, or into the body of a pig/cow in
our culture.
Would the knowledge that every animal you ever ate had the potential of being the animal you
love make you think differently about what you're eating?
It's important to question what you were born into.
"People who say they love animals sit down once or twice a day and enjoy the flesh of creatures
who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living, and who
endured the awful suffering and terror of slaughterhouses – and the journey to get there."
– Jane Goodall
"I've reduced the amount of meat and dairy that I eat."
1. That's great! But would we ever say:
• "I've reduced the amount of child abuse I engage in."
• "I don't kill many people anymore."
• "I only intentionally run over dogs on special occasions."
No, we wouldn't say such things. Because if something is morally wrong, then it's wrong in any amount.
2. Imagine a time before Abolition when there were undoubtedly some
slave owners saying "I'm whipping my slaves less often than I did before."
Less may seem better on the surface. But like animal exploitation today, Slavery was an activity
that, although technically "legal" at one time, was never actually moral in any amount.
3. Cutting down on animal consumption does show that you're gaining awareness, and taking
steps in the right direction. Awesome job on that! But please keep going. Because as long as there's a victim of our behavior,
then the only way that behavior will ever really be okay is if it stops completely.
That's awesome. Being vegetarian shows that you care about animals, and that
you don't want them to be harmed for you.
But as an animal lover, it's important to be aware that what happens in the dairy/egg industries
is just as bad, and often worse, than the meat industry:
1. Do you know why cows produce milk? For their babies.
In the dairy industry, females are impregnated every year to induce lactation, and every year their
babies are taken from them (kidnapped) so that we can drink their baby's milk instead. Keeping in mind that the bond
between mother cow and calf is one of the strongest in nature, can you imagine having your baby kidnapped from you
every year of your life? And when female cows eventually dry up and can't produce anymore milk, they're
often turned into hamburger. That's right, the dairy industry is also the meat industry.
2. Since the dairy industry doesn't want calves drinking "our" milk, and since male
calves won't produce milk, what do you think happens to male babies in the dairy industry? Often they're
immediately slaughtered for their meat. Again, the dairy industry is the meat industry – milk involves infanticide.
3. Since male chickens can't produce eggs, what do you think happens to male chicks in
the egg industry? They're most often ground up alive, or suffocated. Egg-producing chickens are a different breed
than meat chickens that don't produce enough meat to be worth raising. But the murdered males are actually the lucky
ones – female chicks will have their beaks burnt off so that they don't stress-peck each other to death during
their entire lifetimes of confinement where their unnatural breeding forces them to lay up to 300 eggs per year.
P.S. Do you ever think it's strange that we humans drink a cow's milk?
If not, think about it now. Would you ever drink dog milk, or cat milk, or rat milk?
Industries have chosen to exploit cows because they produce lots of milk. But you could equally get your dog pregnant,
kill her pups, and drink her milk. But would you do that, or would you simply try oat milk first? If you wouldn't kill a baby
cow and then wrap your lips around its mother's udders, it's time to look at what a lifetime of exposure to dairy
industry marketing has you doing. It's ridiculous.
"The human body has no more need for cows' milk than
it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk."
― Dr. Michael Klaper
"Our laws are not always god's laws. Our laws are often written by people with very special self-interests."
"Morality is doing what's right regardless of what you're told. Obedience is doing what you're
told regardless of what's right."
Most vegans would be against getting an abortion every day, especially a full-term abortion every day.
And that's essentially what meat-eating is: Paying for the killing of a born, living, breathing
sentient being every day, for every meal. Yes, an animal being slaughtered for human consumption is already born.
And keep in mind that pigs are proven to be just as intelligent as 3 year old children.
And if asked whether we're against the killing of a child who's already born, absolutely.
If asked whether we'd be against the abortion of an unborn factory farmed fetus, probably not –
because that unborn fetus is virtually guaranteed a life of misery and pain, completely void of compassion.
But of course, the ideal would be for its mother's rape to have never occurred in the first place,
which is what veganism helps prevent. That's what this site is about.
As for the vegan view on pre-birth human abortion, opinions likely vary among vegans, just as they do among non-vegans.
Dogs and cats are carnivores, so many vegans still feed their pets
meat. And yes, there is a conflict in loving one animal when doing so causes the
breeding+suffering of many others who are equally deserving.
The good news is that plant-based alternatives are improving. This is especially true with kibble,
which is a processed food that wouldn't be part of a diet in nature anyway.
If your pet eats a mix of kibble and wet food, try replacing the kibble
portion with a plant-based alternative. Some examples are:
Wild Earth(Yeast-generated protein. Some vegans avoid.)
Bramble(Currently on East Coast, hopefully coming West soon)
Since slaughterhouse waste+byproducts form the base of most pet food(1) today,
and since kibble is usually quite processed, swapping your pet's kibble is a great step for animal lovers to
take toward being kind to all animals.
"And the lion shall eat straw like the ox."
— Isaiah 65:25
"I met a vegan who wasn't very nice, and I don't want to be like that."
1. Just because you encountered an unfriendly vegan doesn't mean that all vegans
are unfriendly, or that you have to be unfriendly if you go vegan. If you encountered an unfriendly Costco employee,
would you assume that all Costco employees are unfriendly?
2. As for "not nice", please watch some footage
of what's happening to animals on factory farms today. The two versions of "not nice" are in no
way comparable. Pigs are getting boiled alive, cows are having their arms and legs sawed off while still conscious.
These are animals that never did a single thing to deserve any harm coming to them.
If you wish to avoid being "not nice", please consider vegan.
Imagine going for a meal at a friend's house, and they served you your
own dog or child on plate. Would you be able to enjoy it? If you knew that was the plan,
would you still want to go?
In some cases, some vegans will begin spending less time with non-vegan friends.
This shouldn't be seen as a permanent rejection of the friendship, but rather as a necessary period of
self-care for your vegan friend while they find ways to cope.
1. One visitor put it like this: "I spent a lot of time watching
factory farm footage to educate myself about the truth behind meat and dairy, and to make sure that
I wouldn't participate again. That worked for me. But afterwards I went through a period where all
I could see while eating with non-vegan friends were those animals and their pain. It was like meeting for
a meal and discovering that it was my own dog being eaten by my friends. It's hard to enjoy watching
them enjoy that. I understand that they still know not what they do, but being okay takes time."
2. Another visitor explained: "Shared meals with family and friends
are supposed to be times of connection and joy. During the Holidays especially, eating is part of the
celebration. But connection, joy, and celebrations of life shouldn't require killing animals. That's outdated.
And I just can't participate in perpetuating that unnecessary association anymore. As long as there are animals
on plates in front of us, I don't see anything more important to be discussing. Sadly, most people don't want to hear
about the violence, ill-health, and environmental destruction inherent in their Holiday meal. The way I've personally
dealt with this is to make dates for non-holiday "Vegan Holidays" with my family.
Screw the other holidays for now. I find no joy in them, so what's the point. I hope that changes someday."
"The thinking person must oppose all cruel customs,
no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo."
― Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize recipient
As with all religions, many people call themselves Buddhists but don't follow that religion's teachings.
In fact, the very first precept of Buddhism prohibits the killing of any
sentient being. And the core teaching of
Buddhism is about reducing suffering, not inflicting it.
Reducing suffering involves considering the consequences of all one's actions.
As Thich Nhat Hanh (a Buddhist monk and friend of Martin Luther King Jr) said,
"We must look deeply. When we buy something or consume something, we may be participating in an act of killing."
Clearly, if we pay someone to kill for us, we are killing.
It's uncertain where the "killing is okay if you pay someone else to do it" idea came from,
but it certainly wasn't from any genuine Buddhist text. And while some so-called "Buddhists"
have tried to justify killing if someone does it for them for free, the Buddha
himself clearly said, "All meats eaten by living beings are of their own relatives."
Buddha means "awakened one" and no awakened or
awakening
one would choose to put their own relatives through the hell of a modern factory farm.
As for the Dalai Lama, yes, despite the Buddha's clear words, he still knowingly eats his own mother and children.
This is a good reminder that, no matter how many times you've strayed, the only leader
you can ever completely trust is your own heart (inherent knowing).
"The heart is the only thing we can trust."
― Maya Angelou, American poet and civil rights activist
1. If you saw a dog being beaten to death on the side of the road for no good reason,
would you say something to try to stop the person from harming it? Or would you keep going, because
you don't believe in imposing your beliefs?
Veganism is not a belief.
Being vegan is akin to being against murder, child abuse, slavery, and environmental destruction, all in one.
Those who speak up are simply choosing to end their culturally-induced passivity to 100% needless violence against animals
and Earth. Whereas consuming meat or dairy is like paying and saying to abusers, "Do that again for me."
When we sit at a table and quietly watch the tail end of a crime being committed against animals, our
silence makes us participants. If there's a victim, then speaking up is a matter of speaking self-evident truth.
It only seems odd initially, because that truth has been suppressed in our culture.
2. How many times have you gotten angry at the meat and dairy industries for forcing
false beliefs on you? American children, on average, see
three to five
ads for fast food every day of their lives. Did those brainwashing efforts ever upset you?
The only reason non-vegans don't yet see the pain on their plates is
because industries have been constantly forcing their perverse views on us since we were born.
They've literally spent billions of dollars to convince us that meat and dairy are necessary, harmless, and even fun.
They have children seeing happy cows and dancing pigs who can't wait to be killed/consumed.
These animal-exploitation industries have become experts at entertaining us into complicity in their crimes.
"However scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Once you find your way back to right view, you'll likely want to help raise awareness as well.
The challenge is that we don't have manipulative marketing departments
with billions of dollars. Many of us don't even have communications skills. But we do have the truth.
And although we may ruffle some of our friends' feathers, in this case that's what friends do.
"Morality is subjective, so it's just your opinion that animal violence is wrong."
1. If you believe that morality is purely subjective, then you must also believe that
all people in prison should be set free, that all court/justice systems should be eliminated, and that there's no need
for police to prevent violent crimes. Is that really your belief?
2. Subjective means "based on or influenced by personal opinions."
Yes, legality is often subjective. For example, in the 1920's, enough people felt that drinking alcohol was wrong that it
was made illegal. But later, the general feeling changed, and alcohol was made legal again. That was a
subjective law, as many are.
3. While legality may be subjective, and while the line between moral and immoral
may move a bit, there are certain behaviors that are always clearly immoral. This is always the case when there's
a direct victim of needless violence. For example, if someone you don't even know intentionally murders you for
absolutely no good reason, would you say they're guilty of a wrong? Of course.
And it's exactly the same situation with animal violence.
Given what we now know about nutrition, 99.9+% of the animals that we/humans are killing
to eat are being killed for no good reason. These animals are direct, unnecessary, unwilling
victims of our willful violence. And when there's a direct, unnecessary, unwilling victim of
intentional violence, that violent behavior is immoral. This is not a gray area.
4. Determining whether your food choices are moral is as simple as watching
the factory farm footage on this website, and then asking yourself:
Would I want that done to me for no reason?
This is applying the "Golden Rule" – the principle of treating others as you would want to be treated.
No major religion says it's okay to kill animals for food under normal circumstances.
Religious leaders may avoid this issue for fear of losing followers (+donations), or because they themselves
fail to follow God's instructions. But really, why would a loving God create a world where we
would have to harm creatures that feel pain and suffering? Why would God create a world for us that we would have
to pollute, deforest, and destroy in order to survive? It doesn't make any sense.
And that's not what God did.
"I have given you every plant... and every tree which has fruit... They will be yours for food."
– Holy Bible, Genesis 1:29-30 (in Eden, before Sin)
"He that killeth a cow is like one who kills a person."
– Holy Bible (Isaiah 66:3)
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
– Holy Bible, Luke 6:31 (aka The Golden Rule)
"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply only to one's own kind, but to all living beings.
And this Commandment was inscribed in the human heart long before it was proclaimed from [the Holy Land].
– Leo Tolstoy
Only once in the Bible did Jesus ever use force against other people. That was against money changers and merchants.
What were those merchants selling? Animals to kill.
NOTE: Some "Christians" will cite Noah being given permission to eat animals,
but that was immediately after The Flood, an unusual and
extreme circumstance.
Other Religions:
"All meats eaten by living beings are of their own relatives"
– The Buddha
"cruelty to an animal is as bad as cruelty to a human"
– Muhammad (Islam)
"Consciousness is when we feel the suffering of every creature in our own heart"
– Bhagavad Gita (Hindu)
"What is hateful to you, do not do to others. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary."
– Hillel (Jewish)
Some religious adherents argue that by breeding/killing/eating animals we're
sending them to Heaven. And therefore, we're doing God's work by eating them.
Please watch the factory farm videos on this website. Look how mothers and their young are torn apart,
and how the animals' bodies are torn apart, millions per day, without any anesthesia or mercy.
Then ask yourself:
Does what you see happening on factory farms look like the work of Jesus and a benevolent God,
or like the work of Satan? And given what marketing had you believing previously,
can you think of any greater
"deceiver of the whole world"?
Watching the footage may be difficult, but if religion is important to you, then it's important to
know who you're supporting when you purchase meat and dairy. Do you think that's what God intended?
Remember, the Garden of Eden was vegan.
"I have given you every plant...and every tree which has fruit...They will be yours for food."
– Holy Bible, Genesis 1:29-30 (in Eden, before Sin)
"Animals run no risk of going to Hell. They are already there."
– Victor Hugo
Some people believe that breeding animals for eating is giving them the gift of life,
and those animals should therefore be grateful to us for eating them.
1. If a child was born into a home where they were neglected, abused, and eventually
murdered while still young, would you say the child should be grateful to its parents for that gift of life?
Would you commend those parents for at least giving the brief gift of life?
2. If someone were breeding dogs for dogfighting, and keeping the dogs confined in cages without
any comfort or compassion, would you commend that breeder for at least giving those dogs the gift of life?
3. Can you imagine buying a dog from a dog breeder, and then immediately slaughtering it
while saying "You should thank me for the time you had"?
Eating animals involves scenarios similar to those above.
Hey vegans,
1. We all know from our own experience that criticism is counterproductive.
And since non-vegans still "know not what they do", accusations typically just
create aversion to discussion. When speaking to non-vegans, try to remember
that you once held the exact same perspective, and assumed it completely normal too.
2. Also remember that it was never a single conversation that righted your
perspective. So rather than frustrate yourself by expecting anyone to immediately
see the reality you've been unblinded to, see yourself as simply planting seeds of
awareness – ones that can't be forced to grow, but that subsequent conversions and
experiences will cultivate. And trust that whatever you're able to communicate calmly
will one day play a part in dislodging the splinters in others' minds.
To gain awareness of the violence involved in animal products,
and to then see other people still consuming those products, can sometimes lead to attitudes
that come off as righteousness. Unfortunately,
going vegan doesn't magically turn anyone into a master of human relations.
But if you look past appearances, you'll see that the reason for most people's
vegan diet involves a belief in equality, not superiority.
Actually, the most extreme example of an attitude of superiority can be seen in
the belief that briefly satisfying one's taste buds justifies putting another being
through an entire life of misery and brutal death.
But as for judgments on that, keep in mind that the vast majority of vegans were
once animal-eaters too. And whether well-spoken or not, what they're ultimately
judging is not you, but needless violence against animals.
1. Native Americans were living in conditions where they sometimes
had to hunt/eat animals during certain times of the year to survive. We, on the other hand, have year-round access
to more plant-based foods than any native culture ever did.
2. Do you think the way Native Americans obtained food looks anything like
our system of industrial animal production today? Most native cultures had tremendous respect for Earth's other inhabitants.
The way we produce, treat, and slaughter animals today is as disrespectful as it gets.
3. The ways of Native Americans were in balance with nature. If they over-hunted, they'd
run out of food, and balance was maintained. The way we're producing animals today is overpopulating and destroying
the planet at an extremely rapid rate.
"All creatures exist for a purpose.... Only human beings have come to a point where they no longer know why they exist...
They don't use the knowledge the spirit has put into every one of them... so they stumble along blindly on the road to nowhere...
I know where it leads to. I have seen it. I've been there in my vision, and it makes me shudder to think about it."
– Lame Deer, Lakota Holy Man
4. Unfortunately, returning to hunting/gathering not an option now. Think about
this: 50k years ago there weren't even a million people on the planet. 10K years ago there were around 2 million people.
300 years ago, 1 billion. 50 years ago, 4 billion. Today, 8 billion. As for wild animals, in just the last 50 years, 50%
of all wildlife has disappeared. Within the next 30 years, our oceans are going to be empty of wild fish.
No, hunting and gathering is not in our future. If we/humans are going to have a future, it's going to be plant-based.
1. Some people hear stories about ancient cultures utilizing all of an
animal's body parts, and interpret that as way to respect animals today. But the manner in which animals
are "processed" today is the complete opposite of respectful.
2. There's a flaw in seeing a being's worth as equivalent to their body parts.
If someone were to kill your child, your dog, or you, would you see
their actions as acceptable if they were to eat every ounce of your child, your dog,
or you? No. Because there's more to a sentient being than their body parts.
3. Modern "food" industry is actually very efficient at extracting profit
from animal bodies. If you've ever eaten hot dogs, you've likely eaten animal faces and butts.
If you've ever eaten an Altoid, a Starburst, Jell-O, Gummy Bears, Kraft Marshmallows,
or a Frosted Pop-Tart, you've eaten
this.
But that doesn't mean modern animal "agriculture" respects animals. It's just maximizing
profit extraction.
1. Yes, it's widely acknowledged
that Adolph Hitler chose a vegetarian diet during his later years. Witnesses reported that Hitler would even try
to dissuade dinner guests from eating meat by vividly describing the gruesome suffering of animals in slaughterhouses.
He also opposed animal experimentation, and was known to give Eva Braun a hard time for wearing cosmetics tested on animals.
However, aside from showing that even a person as evil as Hitler
had begun to recognize that what's involved in producing meat is
wrong and stopped participating, Hitler's vegetarianism really
doesn't mean anything
for vegetarianism in general. Hitler also took showers, should we stop taking showers? And he was against smoking,
should we all start smoking?
2. Some people believe that
Hitler's vegetarianism
was exaggerated by his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, as a scheme to compare Hitler to Mahatma Gandhi who was a strict vegan.
But again, whether or not we choose to respect and treat other beings kindly doesn't need to be based on what Hitler did
or didn't do.
Possibly the worst reason for continuing any
custom, tradition or behavior is "because those before us did it."
Other behaviors that have been part of human culture include child sacrifice, cannibalism,
forced child marriage, female genital mutilation, stoning, slavery, segregation, etc.
Yes, there's a part of each of us that desires the comfort of conformity,
social acceptance, and the status quo. But if you're here, reading this,
you're likely starting to discover a greater part of yourself, one that desires to
shed comfort's constraints and act in congruence with who you really are.
Much of what's right about our world today is owed to our ancestors who questioned assumptions,
and who listened to what the greater part of them knew. Imagine if none had ever challenged slavery,
or arranged marriage, or human sacrifice. If none had ever re-defined culture before us,
imagine the burden and cognitive dissonance we'd be facing now. But lucky for us, they did question,
and they did change. Paying it forward is our obligation to future generations now.
You define your culture.
"The thinking person must oppose all cruel customs,
no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo."
― Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize recipient
1. If your friends criticize or reject you for doing what you know in your
heart to be right, does that in itself feel right? If there's a problem, the problem might be your friends –
you might deserve a few new ones. With or without them, life is too short to not follow your path now.
2. If going plant-based is something you've determined to be the correct
decision (for health, environment, animals), then aren't you doing your friends and family a favor by setting an example?
Being the first-mover is certainly less comfortable than being a follower, but if you've found a better path,
then being a true friend might mean taking that path anyway.
3. Yes, many social activities are centered around food — we get it,
we all encounter challenges there. But with veganism becoming more popular all the time, and with more
plant-based options appearing on restaurant menus all the time, it's becoming much less of an issue very
quickly. And when you become another early adopter yourself, you'll be helping to normalize plant-based
eating even faster.
If you find a dog and beat it to death, is that a personal choice?
What if you find a person and beat him/her, would that be a personal choice?
The "my personal choice" argument is overlooking the fact that there's another
being, a victim,
involved in the choice to consume meat or dairy. It may seem to be our
choice while we're eating that murdered being's flesh or drinking their kidnapped baby's milk, but it certainly wasn't the
choice
of that being to be bred into a life of captivity/exploitation, or to be painfully slaughtered prior to
being sold to us.
It would be rational to say "I respect your choice to like rock music, so you should respect my choice to
like country music." There's no direct victim there. But to say "I respect your choice to not abuse children,
so you should respect my choice to abuse them" is not rational. There's a victim.
General rule: If there's a direct victim involved in anyone's choice of behavior, then
that choice isn't purely personal, and the "personal choice" excuse for the behavior doesn't apply.
It's never too late to stop harming animals and the Earth, and to start eating kindly.
This is especially true if you believe there might be more to your life than meets your eyes,
ears, nose, and taste buds.
Leo Tolstoy (the author of War and Peace) wrote a book called "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" about
a dying man who, after living an unquestioned life, asks "What if the way I've lived my entire life has been wrong?"
If you have even one day left in this world, and if you sense that how we live might matter at all, then this matters.
Every meal matters. Every living being on this planet is on a single family tree of life with you, and it's
never too late to act accordingly.
"One person won't make a difference."
1. If that were true, no social justice movement would have ever started.
Martin Luther King Jr wouldn't have fought for civil rights. Rosa Parks would have never sat at the front of a bus.
We would've never heard the name Mahatma Gandhi.
One person can definitely make a difference, and they often do.
Large movements are always made up of individuals, and it's ultimately individuals that bring paradigm shifts.
You definitely make a difference... it's simply up to you whether your life is for or against what you value.
"My life is my message." –Mahatma Gandhi
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." –Margaret Mead
2. Would you ever tell people "our vote doesn't matter, so let's stop voting"?
Every dollar you spend at the grocery store today is a vote for or against how you want to treat animals and the environment.
How you spend in this economy reflects who you're choosing to be as a person,
and is direct action for the kind of world you want to live in.
3. Our limited minds may not be able to see how our individual actions fit into changing the
big picture, but they do. As MLK Jr said, "You don't need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Even if we can't see it, each step that each of us takes in the right direction helps us all move in the right direction.
"The whole world's not gonna go vegan. And if there's no hope for the
animals/environment, why should I try?"
1. That first statement currently appears to be true. It seems very unlikely that
a significant percentage of our planet's population will ever go plant-based. We're far more addicted
to animal flesh and fluid consumption than we ever were to cigarettes, or any other harmful product.
In this case, we're willing to harm not only ourselves, but countless other beings, and even our own
children's future planet.
2. However, what the rest of the world does is really secondary to what you do.
And what you do is 100% up to you. If the rest of the world were to descend into chaos, hate, rape and murder,
is that who you would choose to be? You are a human being, and
human beings are unique in this world in that we are "moral agents". That means we have
the capacity to make decisions and take actions based on our inherent sense of right and wrong.
Given that you're in this world, and that you're of the rare being that was given such an ability,
how likely do you think it is that you weren't supposed to use that ability?
Are you sure that your purpose here is to unquestioningly harm other sentient beings
when you don't have to? Are you sure that following the crowd is the right choice in this case,
even when doing so is destroying the planet they all call home? Even if the rest of the ship is
going down, are you sure that who you really are is that ship?
Hint: you're not (sure).
1. Do you not care, or have you been
programmed
to not care?
Our entire lives we're shown commercials, billboards, and textbooks telling us that drinking milk is good, that eating meat
is fun, and that the animals we're eating are happy. Industries spend billions of dollars keeping us
convinced that we should
ignore our hearts, be indifferent, and harm our own health, planet, and
friends.
But suppose it was your own cat or dog being slaughtered, would you care then? Even if you knew that just one of
every hundred animals you ate might have had the same potential for being your friend as your own pet, would you care then?
2. We've been trained to see chickens/pigs/cows as edible, but it's a completely arbitrary
distinction from cats and dogs. In other cultures, cats and dogs are considered food, because that's what their culture
arbitrarily trains them to see.
"Eating pigs and cows while loving dogs and cats is the same as eating dogs and cats while loving pigs and cows."
Unless you enjoy harming all animals, you do not "not care" about harming
the animals you're eating. You've simply been trained to not care. But you can always return to who you were before that
training. Now that you're conscious of what's been done to your mind, returning to who you really are is just a choice.
Vystopia, as defined by psychologist
Clare Mann,
is the existential crisis experienced by vegans which arises when we become aware of our
trance-like collusion with a dystopian world where carnism goes unquestioned.
Carnism, as defined by
Dr. Melanie Joy,
is the invisible belief system that conditions us to eat certain animals, and to never question
why we eat them but not others. Fully waking up to the absurdity and violence we've been
needlessly participating in can be a very disturbing feeling.
One visitor put it this way: "Imagine you suddenly wake up in Nazi Germany, and find that half
your friends/family are Jews in concentration camps, and the other half are Nazis working the gas chambers.
And you suddenly realize that you've been goose-stepping your way through life without ever thinking about it.
That's how I feel." Another visitor described her feelings as similar to the feeling that anti-slavery Whites
must have felt living in the 1850's South when all their friends and family still assumed Slavery to be completely normal.
You may or may not experience such intense feelings. But if you do, know that what you're experiencing
is a completely appropriate reaction to the truth of what's currently happening in our world.
Of course we wish such things weren't happening, and that we didn't have to feel such feelings.
But when atrocities do come to light, it's important to remember that throughout history, similar feelings have been
encountered by all who've chosen to stand for transformation, progress, and making the world a better place.
So please don't turn away from the feelings. Instead, please be the change that those feelings are calling you to be.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf,
"and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
The more you know about carnism/veganism, the easier it is to
help animals, the environment, friends and family. If you'd like to further your vegan education (deprogramming
from the cult/ure of carnism) here are some suggestions:
We don't make a penny from these stickers, we've simply provided the designs to help you help animals.
If starting a site,
you can adapt the designs to your URL, add designs, or remove any.
Bye Flesh: BWWC
Choose Kindness: BW
Choose Plant Based: BWWC
Fur Fox Sake: BW
HumanKind: BWWC
Love Animals: BWWC
I Want Tofu: BWWC
Milk Is For Baby Cows: BWWC
Not Ingredients: BWWC
Seitan Is Good: BW
We're All Animals: BWWC Cities:
LAVegan: WC
SacramentoVeg: WC
SFVegan: WC
VegSanDiego: WC
GET YOUR V-SHIRT
We don't make any commission on these shirts, we've simply provided the designs to help you help animals.
If starting a site,
you can adapt the designs to your URL, add designs, or remove any.
IMPORTANT: Next page shows maximum print size. You can reduce the print size
by clicking "customize". You can also change the shirt and/or ink color.
white ink
black ink
white ink
black ink
black ink
black ink
white ink
black ink
white ink
white ink
black ink
green ink
black ink
red/white
white ink
black ink
white ink
black ink
white ink
black ink
black ink
white ink
black ink
black ink
white ink
white ink
black ink
All designs here were created with the
100% free and open source Inkscape software, with minimal skills.
Text-only designs are especially easy. There are many Youtube tutorials to help get your started, or check out our
signs video for an overview
starting at minute 5:20.
Just as it would be difficult to quit smoking
if everyone around you were still smoking,
you may find the plant-based transition easier if you team up with a friend or two.
If none of your friends are with you on this, you might find some who are in these
Bay Area groups:
(These groups are mostly dormant
due to the pandemic, but you can still join for notifications)
*If starting your own site,
you can change links above to groups in your area. If your area doesn't have any such groups,
you can hide the "meet" link.
Learning what animal "agriculture" has been doing to animals, our health, and our planet may
make you mad. And that's okay. Unfortunately, most companies
don't care
that you're mad. They only care what you're
paying for. And they'll keep doing what you're paying them to do.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
— Buckminster Fuller
The good news is that there's a better model available to us already:
the plant-based diet. Every time we choose plant foods, we help make outdated industries
obsolete
faster, and plant-based industries our reality sooner.
It may appear that a plant-based food system is a distant reality for humanity, but remember
that the benefits to you for choosing plant-based are immediate.
This website is licensed under
Creative Commons,
which means you can copy and customize it for your community. Local sites are a great way to
raise awareness.
You're free to make changes to text/logo/design.
*IMPORTANT: The Creative Commons license applies to the site design (html/css/js), not to 3rd party video clips.
If using those clips, be sure that your use, like ours, complies with
Fair Use
principles, that you retain credits/links
to filmmakers' full works, and that you don't extract
stock footage.
Give you a website to direct people to when doing vegan
outreach.
You can change any wording you want.
Make it easy for you to promote the documentaries that help people
understand. Add any films you want.
Allow you to simultaneously support vegan-friendly restaurants in your community.
You have full control over the content you're directing people to.
If there's anything you want to change/add/remove/improve on your website, no problem, it's your site.
One of the four factors
in determining Fair Use is "Effect Upon Potential Market." One objective of this website is to
PROMOTE films by including clips from them.
By keeping those clips short and credited, and by including links to the full films, the goal is
to increase the market for those films. Combined with compliance with the other
factors, it's unlikely that y/our Fair Use would be challenged.
Of course, this shouldn't be considered legal advice.
Some of the video compilations on this site include 3rd party "stock" videos/photos.
As long as those items remain part of the existing compilations, there's no need to purchase a
license to share them. However, if you were to modify any compilation that includes stock videos/photos,
or if you were to extract any stock video/photo for remixing in your own compilation, you'd need to
purchase a license from its creator. If that's something you'd like to do, you can find most of the
stock we used at StoryBlocks.com and 123RF.com.
Check meetup.com for
vegan-oriented groups in your area. If none exist, you might consider starting one...
even if just for long enough to make a few like-minded connections!
Finding a web designer:
If any of your friends know HTML, they likely know enough to customize this website.
If there's a vegan group on your local Meetup.com, send them a message to see if any members can help.
Fast and professional help can be found on sites like Freelancer.com and Fiverr.com
You can check with us (email at bottom of page).
Your web designer will likely have a preferred web host. However, you can get the
process started by registering a domain name. Cheap options that include free privacy protection
(meaning they don't display your name publicly) are NameSilo.com and NameCheap.com
The #1 thing we can always do to help animals is to not eat them, and to talk about our reasons with everyone.
And rather than frustrate yourself by expecting instant agreement, see yourself as constantly planting seeds
of awareness, and trust that some will grow.
Other ideas:
Animal Save Movement Attend a vigil outside a slaughterhouse. Simply bearing witness is a powerful way to raise awareness
of what's happening inside.
Find a chapter
Anonymous for the Voiceless Show factory farm footage during street outreach to raise public awareness of where our "food" comes from.
Find a cube
Challenge22 Provide personal guidance/mentoring to people making the plant-based transition.
Become a mentor
Direct Action Everywhere Work to achieve social and political change for animals through nonviolent direct action.
Take action
Humane League Help with a variety of outreach actions, both in-person and online.
Take action
Meat the Victims Challenge unjust laws by peacefully entering factory farms where animals are being exploited.
Meet MTV
Mercy for Animals Help this international nonprofit replace our cruel food system with one that's kind to animals and the planet.
Help offline
or online
PETA You know them: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Become one |
Students
Vegan Hacktivists Got design or coding skills? Help with the online aspect of a plethora of animal-rights causes.
Code kindly
Vegan Justice League Imagine if cigarettes were subsidized by your taxes. Meat and animal violence actually are.
Help end injustice
Vegan Outreach Empower people in your community with the facts about veganism, encourage restaurants to offer vegan, etc.
Spread the truth |
At colleges
Vegan Society Founded in 1944, this is the world's oldest vegan organization.
Help them
Handing someone a flyer makes it much more likely that they'll remember your URL and give
plant-based some thought. Here are two simple options to get started:
Print Flyers
Here's an example (PDF) Note that each page is 5.5×8" so they all fit on a single 2-sided 8.5x11"
sheet of paper that gets folded. Services like uPrinting.com can be used for printing in bulk.
Here's the source file (SVG) To add your URL and make other changes, you'll need to install
Inkscape (Free and Open Source Software).
The font being used is Liberation Serif, which you can download
here.
Don't have/want a website? Here's a PDF you can print without making any changes: Side 1 (back+front after folding) Side 2 (middle after folding)
Buy Booklets
Vegan Outreach publishes
booklets you can hand out.
You can't customize them, but at just 7 cents each, they're gonna be cheaper than printing yourself.
For general outreach, we recommend "Compassionate Choices" or "Why Vegan"
(or order a mix to see which you like).
If you want to mark the booklets with your website, use a rubber stamp. Example sources: 1,
2,
3
The main directory has three subdirectories:
"font", "pics" and "vids". Be sure to download each file
to the correct folder:
Absolutely. One of the challenges many outreach groups evenually face is
disagreements among members. But animals shouldn't suffer just because we humans don't always
get along. If there's anything you don't like about an existing local website/group/etc,
simply launch your own version! In fact, the more versions your fellow outreachers
have to choose from, the better.
Yes, that's part of the Creative Commons "ShareAlike" license. Remember that
the goal of this website is to help animals, and any contribution you make to help other
outreachers will in turn help animals. If your primary objective is to create a
unique business/brand, then you'll probably want to start with a different framework.
Yes, you can change any/all shirts and stickers
to your website with any vector-editing software (e.g. Inkscape is free). Because such changes could
be tedious if it's your first time using such software, you may want to disable those links initially.
Then once online, start with a couple shirts and/or stickers. Alternatively, hire a freelancer to do those
changes for you — these designs should be very simple for any graphic designer to modify. All the
fonts
we used are 100% free, and can be downloaded on sites like DaFont.com
Please send details to the email at the bottom of this site. Thank you!
The Creative Commons license requires providing attribution (giving credit) to the websites on
which your design is based. You can do that here. Providing a list of alternative designs is also
intended as a resource for anyone launching a new outreach site. The more we help each other with ideas,
the more we help animals, the environment, human health, etc!
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American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics:
"It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian,
including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention
and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy,
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and pregnant or breast-feeding women. The key is to be aware of your nutritional needs so that you plan a diet that meets them."
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Animal Protection and Rescue League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the rights and habitats of all animals.
Since forming in 2003, APRL has influenced animal protection legislation, conducted numerous animal rescues, and educated hundreds of thousands of people about humane eating.
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To help us help animals, the best thing you can do is tell friends about this website,
or start a site in your community.
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Before your next trip to the grocery store, please browse our site to learn why going plant-based is so important
for your health, the planet, animals, and more.
*Whole Foods has a great variety of vegan options:
