Cowspiracy: The Ethics of Veganism

Five years later you can find the speech that started it all, the small body of work that convinced me to rededicate my life not to music, but to inter-special harmony, that all creatures might know the riches of life, the joys of freedom, and the securities of justice. Below you will find the transcript from my first major public speech at none other than the Ethical Society of St. Louis. This deeply transformative speech remains powerful even to this day; may both its sweeter and more acerbic chords rouse you and carnists alike to action.

We make a decision of tremendous importance several times a day, every day. Though we may not realize it, this decision has the power to heal our health or deteriorate it, to destroy our environment or salvage it. In sooth, the lives of billions, our health, and the very integrity of our planet hinge upon this seemingly innocuous decision. This is the decision about what we eat.

As we explore the moral, environmental, nutritional, social, and economic dimensions of this seemingly simple choice, you will be repeatedly astounded by the shocking reality, huge inefficiencies, and massive hidden costs which characterize modern animal agriculture. You will also learn the most meaningful, effective action you can take to combat these tremendous evils.

Before I begin, I would like to share a personal story. When I was young, I loved to eat, especially at dinner. My parents would prepare au gratin potatoes and pork chops, mashed potatoes and glop, macaroni and cheese, all standard American fare. I loved these foods tremendously and would devour them with great gusto, but I developed a problem because of them—specifically, a weight problem.

Not even 5 feet tall and more than 140 pounds, I was so obese by the age of 12 that I could touch my nipples to my belly-button, and lay my breasts like loaves of sourdough bread before me on my desk. I also developed a fascination with the super obese, as if to comfort myself should I become one of them.

As I developed chest pains, which flared with each macaroni and cheese dinner, each pepperoni pizza and cheese sandwich, schoolmates would ridicule me for my excess weight. I remember most vividly the day I was pelted with basketballs and mocked for my seal-like flabbiness.

On the fast track to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and other degenerative diseases, my life suddenly changed course. Seeking a reprieve from my constant humiliation and tween-age ostracism, I browsed youtube for light-hearted entertainment, back when YouTube was still a new phenomenon. Against the sheerest of improbability, I clicked a link to a video that would forever change my life. Not only did I unlock the secret to better health, but I also discovered the conviction that would forever guide a purpose-driven life.

Like many of you, I had never thought about where my food came from, let alone at what cost. Nor could I have imagined the almost unspeakable horrors perpetrated on an almost unthinkable scale, hidden away across rural America and lurking in our very fridges. You will now learn the dark reality that the most inhumane industry on Earth will do anything to hide from you:

Having watched this video, you probably feel much as I did, that fateful day seven years ago, when I was first exposed to the shocking reality behind the food we eat. You probably feel disgust and outrage. You probably feel shock and remorse. And you probably feel despair and disbelief, for you have seen the brutality of man, and you shall never forget.

Yet many of you will doubt the horrors you have just seen. At this very moment, you are probably asking yourselves, in utter disbelief, “How could anyone do this to animals? How could this ever happen? And how could I know nothing of it?” But just like you, I had known nothing of it, nothing at all. I could never have imagined this invisible world, this invisible world of such profound suffering, a world just moments before completely unknown to me. But as I ripped across the internet, absorbing all I could about this almost unfathomable reality, I learned that I had seen the truth—just as you have now seen the truth. Only years later would I realize that the full truth was even more devastating than the disturbing footage you have just seen.

But “ah-hah!” you say! “This simply can’t be! This abuse is only an aberration, not the norm!” But did not you see the animals prodded to the kill floor? Did not you see the tiny crates and bleeding sores? Did not you see the systemic mutilations and suffering animals? A life of deprivation can be just miserable as a life of active abuse, and animals must unfortunately endure both in order for you to eat them.

And “ah-hah!” you say once more! “Not all animals are treated like this! They have those special labels in the grocery aisle, grass-fed, cage-free, and humane!” But do the research, and you will see through these the misleading promises of an incredibly inhumane industry. As Harold Brown, a former beef farmer, writes, “animals who are destined for an abbreviated life that ends in a violent death” means, in his own experience and the experience of countless others, “there is no such thing as humane animal products, humane farming practices, humane transport, or humane slaughter.” And how could there be? These animals still face the same brutal deaths, murdered at a fraction of their natural lifespan, at the same atrocious slaughterhouses. Many are raised in conditions which are scarcely better than that of their factory farmed brothers and sisters. And most are raised in conditions practically indistinguishable from the modern factory farm.

Most “cage-free” chickens, for example, will still be crowded by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, suffer several painful mutilations to make such skimpy accommodations remotely livable, and be murdered as soon as their productivity declines enough to significantly impact the industry's bottom line—profit.

Worse yet, the baby chicks which feed such operations almost always come from industrial hatcheries, where baby male chicks, the very epitome of innocence and purity, are ground alive just hours after hatching or are literally thrown away into massive dumpsters to die of starvation, dehydration, suffocation, and stress.

Though a precious few animals will indeed enjoy a genuinely good life on the fields of a real animal sanctuary, horrors untold almost doubtlessly lurk behind each carton of eggs, glass of milk, and bite of flesh you consume, whatever its label. Moreover, the mere existence of these lucky few in no way diminishes the cold, inescapable reality that more than 95% of our meat comes from factory farms. Nor does it negate the hard, incontrovertible fact if you eat any animal products at all, they almost certainly come from a factory farm. Nor yet does the mere existence of these animals skirt your responsibility to avoid and eschew animal products as much as possible.

At this point, your minds are probably reeling, searching for a justification, for an absolution from factory farming, for an escape from the harsh reality of it all. But I ask you please, do not barricade yourself from the truth which so perturbs you! Do not hide behind the mental defenses and weak rationalizations of a mind distraught! Question instead what you have always accepted, what you have been conditioned to accept. And embrace instead the compassion that tells you that factory farming is wrong, so very wrong, and that we cannot defend the indefensible!

And know that it is not your fault that this is all so very turbulent. It is not your fault that you are so wildly disgruntled by the startling undercover footage of factory farms and slaughterhouses. None of this is your fault; it is only natural that you feel this way. All people cringe when shown the images of these suffering and abused animals. All people cringe when shown the shocking reality behind what we eat. And all people cringe when shown injustice so profound, our language can hardly accommodate its excesses.

As Melanie Joy, Harvard-educated winner of the Ahimsa Nonviolence Award, which boasts past recipients from Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Lama, writes, there is an invisible belief system ingrained in us from birth, a potent ideology that goes unrecognized and unnamed. This belief system distorts our thoughts, numbs our feelings, and dictates our behavior. This is carnism, and for once in your life, this footage has roused you from your carnistic slumber.

In fact, you are now uncomfortably aware of the Matrix that is carnism, the artificial reality of happy cows, idyllic farms, and pristine pastures. You are now uncomfortably aware of the superficial constructs that obscure the reality of animal agriculture. For you are now so uncomfortably aware of the cruelty behind the food you once enjoyed without qualm, without hesitation, without thought. But what if I told you that you have only seen the tip of the iceberg? What if I told you that the rabbit hole goes much deeper? And what if I told you that what you have just seen is not only legal, but legally protected?

You see, not only does the animal industry horribly mistreat the most innocent among us, but it does so with virtual impunity. The animal industry has effectively opposed or declawed virtually every initiative that could possibly and meaningfully protect its literally billions of victims. Common Farming Exemptions, or CFE’s, passed in more than 30 states over the past few decades, legitimize any practice, no matter how cruel, so long as the animal industry deems it common enough. CFE’s allow an incredibly inhumane industry to define cruelty, a task with which those who will grind millions of animals alive to suit their bottom line should never be trusted. You will now witness just a few of the gratuitously cruel practices protected by Common Farming Exemptions.

And if you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the animal industry has successfully rewritten the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, or HMSA, to exclude fish, chickens, and turkeys. And for the less than 1% of farm animals to which HMSA still applies, HMSA is almost never enforced, with most kill-floor operators completely unaware of its provisions and inspectors virtually powerless to penalize slaughterhouses for clear, systematic violations of what policy actually exists.

And if you thought it couldn’t any worse, the animal industry has successfully passed ag-gag laws in over 20 states, including Missouri, which make it illegal for undercover investigators and whistleblowers to expose animal cruelty, worker’s rights violations, and serious food safety hazards by any means whatsoever, including undercover footage and photography. Compassionate people now face stiff fines, steep penalties, and even jail sentences for revealing the revolting truth about factory farming to a blissfully and dangerously unaware, under-informed, and misinformed American public.

And if you still thought it couldn’t get any worse, the animal industry has successfully enacted the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Signed into law under the Bush administration, this act makes it illegal to interfere with the ordinary operation of any animal enterprise, including, but not limited to, puppy mills, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. But the AETA contains one provision so sweeping as to incriminate anyone who could in any way reduce the profit of any animal enterprise by any means whatsoever. Though generally reserved for more serious violations, this act includes conspiracy charges, threatens free speech, and remains radically unconstitutional.

As you learn about farmed animals and the law, you will be repeatedly stunned both by the paucity and flimsiness of existing legislation. You will be outraged by the glaring inconsistencies and massive loopholes exploited by special interest groups so powerful, they can literally redefine the word “animal” to exclude rats, mice, and birds; cows, chickens, and pigs. In fact, after reviewing the existing statutes and learning ever more about the harrowing reality of factory farms, you may even begin to suspect that the only things these laws apparently don’t protect are the animals themselves.

But the rabbit hole goes even deeper. What if I told you we waste more than half our precious water, more than half our precious grain, and more than half our precious antibiotics on livestock here in the US? What if I told you that livestock are responsible for up to half of all climate change, responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than every car, truck, boat, plane, train, and every other mode of transportation on Earth combined, even by the most conservative estimates? And what if I told you that livestock are the most environmentally destructive force on Earth due to their leading roles in deforestation, desertification, erosion, water depletion, pollution, habitat destruction, land degradation, ocean dead zones, and species extinction? And what if I told you our largest environmental organizations often refuse to address or even acknowledge the single largest contributor to many of the most serious environmental problems which face not just humankind, but all animalkind today?

Many of you will find this information difficult to believe. But to visualize how livestock could possibly be one of the most environmentally destructive forces on Earth, here is an excerpt from the 2016 vegan blockbuster, Cowspiracy, a documentary that explores the astounding impact of modern animal agriculture on our environment:

After witnessing this footage, does it come as any surprise to you a recent UN report concludes that "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”, or that the impact of animal agriculture is “so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency”?

But a healthy plant-based diet can do far more that alleviate animal suffering and the greatest environmental crises facing humanity. Now, by a show of hands, how many of you would like to experience better health? Your best health? How many of you would like to be slimmer, prettier, healthier, and happier? Please raise your hands—these are all good things for you to want, and these are all things we do want!

Now for those of you not experiencing your best health, raise your hands and keep them raised if any of the following applies to you—do you have high blood pressure? High cholesterol? Diabetes? Heart disease? Kidney stones? Cancer? What if I told you a healthy plant-based diet can prevent, delay, and, in some cases, even reverse these diseases? In fact, after reviewing dozens of epidemiological and nutritional studies, as well as dozens of meta-analyses thereof, I can reasonably conclude not only will a vegetarian or vegan diet maintain your health, but it will most likely improve it.

 But don’t take my word for it. Ask the American Dietetic Association. “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” The ADA reaches similar conclusions about lifelong vegetarian and veganism. Nevertheless, I would recommend you read the full article so you can learn how to optimize your health on a vegetarian or vegan diet.Now, a vegetarian or vegan diet will not cure or prevent every ill, and there is some evidence which suggests they can be improved. For example, vegans will need to ensure they receive an adequate supply of vitamin B12, calcium, and vitamin D. Fortified foods or a multivitamin just to be safe can help ensure that you are getting the most out of your vegetarian or vegan diet. Minor alterations in your daily routine, such as going outside to exercise, will also help you realize your best health.

Contrary to popular belief, animal products are not necessary for good health, just as the ADA attests. In fact, animal products are often detrimental to your health due to their higher concentrations of calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, pesticides, heavy metals, hormones, antibiotics, and harmful bacteria. Higher animal product consumption is also positively associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, obesity, diabetes, kidney stones, kidney failure, premature death, and even ovarian, breast, prostate, and certain gastrointestinal cancers. The data became so compelling I simply stopped writing down the results of various health studies, overwhelmed by the benefits of a vegetarian or vegan diet.

As I mentioned, a vegan or vegetarian diet is not perfect, though any problems you encounter can usually be remediated by small dietary changes on your part. Indeed, to realize your best health will almost always require some thoughtfulness and diligence on your part.

Everything considered, I am here to tell you that the evidence is overwhelming. We can no longer stay in the dark about the consequences of our dietary choices. We can no longer ignore the environmental impact of what we eat; we can longer ignore the billions, no, trillions of victims of animal agriculture, ourselves included. Animal agriculture not only reflects a humanitarian crisis, but a moral catastrophe of the highest order for all life on Earth.

It is now out of the question whether our dietary choices matter. It is now out of the question whether livestock are one of the most if not the most environmentally destructive force on Earth, after the humans who bred them into existence. At this point, it is simply out of the question. The only question which remains is this: just how environmentally destructive is animal agriculture? We can only debate this finer point. But do not ignore the larger picture just because we have not yet resolved this issue with the utmost confidence. Even if animals were responsible for only 1/5 rather than half of all greenhouse gas emissions, and even if animals were insentient blobs, we would still have every reason in the world to not eat them.From all my research, from these burgeoning stacks of books and all their hundreds upon hundreds of citations, I derive one master thesis. Animal agriculture is bad, very bad, and factory farming is even worse! Now it may be more logical to reverse the terms of the foregoing statement, but I am inclined to elevate factory farming above animal agriculture due to the sheer inessentiality and absolute brutality thereof. I dare you to challenge me on this point. I dare you to challenge my thesis. And I dare you, most of all, to do the research yourselves. And if you manage to conclude any differently than I have, please let me know.

I remember when I was first exposed to the almost unbearable cruelty which surrounds us all, even though we often fail to realize it. I remember when I first learned about this almost unfathomable world of such profound suffering, of such enduring devastation, of all places, behind the food I ate. And I remember as I sat spellbound, in awe and horror before the all-telling screen, every fiber of my being in revolt. As I watched what happened to these animals, I knew I could never eat them again.

I forget exactly how long I wondered this Earth as a vegetarian, whether for a week, whether for a month. But one day, my knowledge reached critical mass. I revisited the horrors I had done my best to distance myself from. And I realized I had yet to renounce the last vestiges of a former lifestyle, defined by almost boundless cruelty, and my almost equally boundless ignorance of it. From that day, I have remained forever vegan, steadfast and loyal to my morals.

For many of you, the transition will not be as punctuated, but rather, quite gradual. And this gradual approach is often more effective for molding your behavior to obtain desirable health, environmental, and humanitarian benefits.

In fact, I have devised a one year plan to help you achieve these desirable outcomes. First, try new foods. Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, and so on, are all delightful cuisines I never knew about until I went vegan! Many vegetarians likewise report that they enjoy their new diets even more than their old ones, precisely because they now eat a wider variety of foods than ever and regularly indulge in new favorites.

 Secondly, keep your old favorites. If you happen to love cheese pizza, keep your cheese pizza. But if there is something you don’t like, eat less or don’t eat it at all! What do you have to lose? Eat more of what you like!

Thirdly, cut out whatever you don’t like. If you were like me, you probably think ground beef was disgusting. Perhaps you think pork is disgusting. Whatever it is you don’t like, just cut it out! If you don’t like it, don’t eat it!

Fourthly, find plant-based substitutes for your favorites. If you just love that cheese pizza, try making your own, but this time, with vegan cheese—Daiya cheese is both vegan and divine. In fact, my family now enjoys my gourmet vegan pizza more than their meat-lovers Pizza-Hut pizza.

Fifthly, having reduced your consumption of animal products and found delicious, nutritious alternatives, celebrate by going all the way, for you are now vegan. Now, your veganism does not need to be absolute or dictatorial. If you lapse every so often, so be it. Just do your best and strive always for the ideal, that is, your best health and the least amount of animal suffering.

But the greatest benefit of all, something we all deserve more of, is empowerment. Because I now live true to my morals, and because I now feel as though I am doing the best I can to make the world a better place, I no longer feel so insignificant and powerless against a vast and seemingly indifferent world. I feel as though I can change the world about me, if only one heart, one mind, one stomach at a time.

You can do precisely the same. Please make an informed decision the next time you eat, follow your 1-year plan, talk to me afterward, contact me whenever, bring me with you to the store, out to eat, over to play, and, most of all, be the change you wish to see in the world. It is all your choice.

What are you waiting for?