FOOD & SOCIAL JUSTICE: HOW WHAT WE EAT CAN BENEFIT PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Nick Pendergrast

Plant-based foods are better for the

ANIMALS

PLANT-BASED FOODS BENEFIT ANIMALS Nearly everyone is opposed to

“unnecessary suffering” to animals. Do we need to eat animal products?

Uproar: Not Your Typical TreeHugger

THE AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION ‘Appropriately planned vegetarian

diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and … appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.’

American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets

BUT DO “HUMANE” ANIMAL PRODUCTS INVOLVE SUFFERING?

Peaceful Prairie: The Free-Range Myth

Humane Myth

UNNECESSARY SUFFERING

Less unnecessary suffering is still unnecessary suffering.

Oppose unnecessary suffering = avoid animal products.

But what are you doing for

PEOPLE?

SHOULDN’T WE HELP HUMANS FIRST? Sympathetic about animal suffering but

too busy helping people? Still have time to eat. Doesn’t take time away from helping

people. ‘There is nothing to stop those who

devote their time and energy to human problems from joining the boycott of the products of agribusiness cruelty’ (Peter Singer).

ANIMAL PRODUCTS AND SLAUGHTERHOUSES

All animal products = slaughterhouses. My interview with a slaughterhouse

worker: Injuries to workers were common. Physical fights amongst the workers. Drug use and abuse, during and after

work. Emotional harm to workers eg “haunted”

by the experience.Nick Pendergrast: The Silence of the Lambs

NOT AN “ISOLATED EXAMPLE”STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR & MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Slaughterhouse employment increases: total arrest rates; arrests for violent

crimes; arrests for rape; arrests for other sex

offenses. Unique to the violent

workplace of the slaughterhouse.Slaughterhouses and

Increased Crime Rates

What about the

ENVIRONMENT?

DVD - EATING

Health-focussed. Covers

environmental and animal issues.

U.S.-centric. 1.10.25-1.13.35

LIVESTOCK’S LONG SHADOW - UN

‘The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.’

Livestock’s Long Shadow

MORE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THAN ALL FORMS OF TRANSPORT

‘Thinking of helping the planet by buying an eco-friendly car? You could do more by going vegan, say Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin of the

University of Chicago.’ Standard diet: nearly

1500 kilograms more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet.

It’s Better to Green Your Diet than Your Car

ANIMAL AGRICULTURE & GREENHOUSE GASES

United Nations: 18% greenhouse gases. World Watch Institute: 51% greenhouse gases. ‘A substantial reduction of impacts would only be

possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products’ (UN Report).

Vegan diet has the least impact on the planet: ‘A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.’

Sources: UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-Free Diet

Worldwatch Institute: Livestock and Climate Change

GRAIN – ANIMALS RATHER THAN PEOPLE

The world’s cattle alone consume enough food to feed 8.7 billion people – more than the entire human population.

Causing poverty? Problem of distribution. Animal agriculture is inefficient: It requires about 6

kg of plant protein to produce 1 kg of animal protein. A “standard Western” diet requires over 907 kg of

grain per person per year, whereas the typical plant-based diet requires less than 205 kg. 

More efficient to consume plant-based foods directly.

Eating Up the World

WATER: A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR AUSTRALIA

How do we solve the water problem?

WATER USE – DIET AND HOUSEHOLD USE

Eating Up the World

WATER USE FOR DIFFERENT PRODUCTS

Eating Up the World

WHAT ABOUT THE OCEANS?

‘There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study’ (BBC News).

‘Only 50 Years Left’ for Sea Fish

FOOD AND THE OCEANS

Seafood. ‘Pigs and poultry

around the world consume more than double the seafood eaten by Japanese consumers and six times the amount consumed by the U.S. market.’

Oceans being Killed Off to Feed Livestock, Farmed Fish

SUMMARY

Plant-based foods: For the animals (oppose unnecessary

suffering). For people (avoid the violence of

slaughterhouses). For the environment (animal agriculture

has a much higher impact on the environment).

For all of these issues, the problem is animal products, not just meat.

VEGANPERTH.ORG.AU

FURTHER QUESTIONS/INFO

2.10-3: Talk – ‘How to Live a Healthy, Cruelty Free Lifestyle’ by Nick Pendergrast.

Veganperth.org.au Further information: Find ARA on

Facebook, search: Animal Rights Advocates Inc.

nick@ara.org.au