HOLY COW!
It’s fair to assume that you aspire to be a good person. Showing kindness and compassion, respecting others, the world, and hopefully, yourself. Maybe it’s not constantly on your mind, but you’re definitely not deliberately harming, hurting, destroying, causing pain, fear, and suffering.
I’m sure you aspire to be a good person. Can that go hand in hand with eating meat and dairy?
How the food industry get’s in the way of your kind heart?
80 billion animals are slaughtered a year, after living a life of pain and torture, all in order to provide the insane demand for meat. Over 300 million cattle a year, are separated at birth, locked in small cells to create the tender meat on demand. They receive antibiotics and hormones, allowing their miserable body to hold on, despite the severe conditions. All in order to be slaughtered once reaching the final size, long before the natural life span. 300 million a year. Every year. And actually, despite the vegan movement growing, these numbers are rising, and the demand for lower prices decreases, even more, the conditions of living for these poor beings.
Cows are separated from their calves once they are born in order to exploit the milk. They are pumped with hormones and antibiotics to maximize profit and minimize care needed despite the terrible conditions in which they spend their short life span.
One can argue they don’t feel pain, don’t have emotions, don’t suffer by all these horrors mentioned. But one would be wrong. All research and observations prove that cows are very smart. Cows have a great memory, are highly emotional, form close friendships, love their babies, grieve, and morn deeply. If you’ll ever hear the heart-breaking cries of a cow separated from her baby, witness the relentless attempts on both sides to stay together, you will quickly understand how terrible this act really is. But instead, I recommend going to a sanctuary and playing around with them. Go and enjoy their sweet playfulness and affection. It’s a much nicer way to be reminded just how unimaginable the beef industry is.
Keren Orr sanctuary in Israel
But isn’t that just the way it is?
I know, a lot of people, including myself, were raised to believe this is animals’ purpose in life, to feed us. You won’t convince me a being was created with all this emotional intelligence, just to suffer through life and be killed long before the natural time. But I’ll play along. Is this really our best version of the meat and diary-eating model?
What about us?
And if not for them, what about ourselves? Do we really want our meat and dairy to be full of hormones and antibiotics, and packed with all this negative energy of a life full of harmdoing? The thing is, the demand for meat is so high that this has become the only version possible. Anything else just doesn’t deliver the amount or the price, we as humanity, demand.
What about the price for our planet? For our future on this planet? The only one we have…
A third of the world’s land area is used for livestock, almost half of the habitable land. Almost 80% of agricultural land is used for livestock while producing less than 20% of the global calorie intake. Meaning that hunger will rise as long as we use more land for livestock.
Beef is the number one cause for gas emissions in agriculture (compared to food amount produced) 80% of agriculture land is used for livestock while creating only 20% of the global calorie intake
90% of endangered species are on that list because of the expansion in agricultural territories. The land-use footprint of cattle is over 100 times more severe than rice, despite providing the same amount of calorie consumption worldwide. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil destruction, fewer crops, wildfires, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and various problems for indigenous people. The cattle industry is in charge of 80% of deforestation.
Do we truly believe this to be the right price tag for our future?
So what can we do?
Cutting down the amount of meat and animal products on our plate can go a long way in saving our planet. Despite our efforts to take down our only home, nature has continued to bless us with everything we need, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes.
There are currently on the market endless alternatives and substitutes, to make the change easier. But the meat and diary of the future as I see it is in lab-grown products. Not in convincing people they don’t need animal products, but in finding a solution without the current effects of this horrible industry.
And in the meanwhile, try to make a positive impact, by choosing to reduce meat, one meal at a time!
