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Today, I’m going to share my capstone paper about ethical veganism.
I hope you enjoy it.
Table of Contents
Abstract
This paper addresses the issues of factory farming and the form of CAFO through the ethical points of one health approach to heal environmental destruction and the suffering of living beings including humans through the outbreak of COVID-19 and the possible causes of zoonotic diseases. It shows how ethical veganism approaches for the highest good for Mother Earth, living beings, and humans to overcome the causes of zoonotic diseases and take actions daily and individual dimension. The introduction part (part1), defines ethical veganism and the differences between a dietary vegan. The next part(part2), closely looks at the fact and data of factory farms and how it deteriorates the environment, animal welfare, and human wellness. The last part (part3), shares why humans need to change the way of factory farming and how individuals take actions from one health approach.
Keywords: ethical veganism; COVID-19; Omnivorism; climate change; animal welfare; health
1. Introduction: Ethical Veganism
As a living beings, humans need to eat something for their survival. That also implies “the flow of life into death and death into life” (Tuttle, 2005). There is nothing wrong with eating plants and animals; however, there is an ethical argument of raising and killing animals for human consumption. To extend this argument, some people choose to go vegetarian (those who do not consume meat) or vegan (those who do not intake any kind of animal products such as dairy and honey) so that they do not commit to the unnecessary suffering of animals.
There are mostly two types of vegans: dietary vegan and ethical vegan. Ethical veganism includes the values of animal welfare and environmental reasons to be a vegan. All types of veganism are ethical as a result, but the significant difference is that ethical vegan goes far beyond humanism and even the other type of veganism in terms of spirituality it holds. The values of ethical veganism are different from that of dietary vegan because ethical veganism cares for fellow living beings and intentionally chooses to live harmoniously with them. In the spiritual context of veganism, it embraces the relationship with human fellows, animals, and Mother Earth to heal the dark sides of capitalism and humanism at the global level.
The thing calls “ethical vegan” means that they do not consume any types of animal products from the ethical perspective of killing sentient beings and the influence of the global meat industry over the Earth; climate crisis. They have two main dimensions of being “ethical” in their lifestyle; one is for animals and the another is for Mother Earth. Unlike the health-conscious vegan (self-centered veganism), ethical vegans have different mindsets, mindset motivations, and reasonings to practice veganism. They have broadened the horizon of oneness and interconnectedness with animals and the Earth as well as themselves.
It is needed to mention that this paper is not against the culture of carnivorism and Omnivorism, especially in traditional contexts of indigenous cultures and those who have no access to plant-based protein by no choice. This paper is not going to deny the human lives which depend on animals. In the case of Alaska, indigenous people live in harsh and extreme weather conditions with not having enough fresh vegetables, fruits, and plant-based protein, they need to depend on animal meat for their survival. This is the situation that they need to eat animals because they do not have any other choices to maintain their lives.
This paper is going to cast the ethical issues of the global meat industry, and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Today, humans have the globalized capitalist system, division of labor went penetrated well on a global scale, which has potential problems of an “unseen” story about global animal production. Thanks to the division of labor, a dark shadow of the industry is easily vailed and out of reach from societies, and loses a direct connection with animals as a life cycle. Today, the majority of humans go to a supermarket and buy packaged meat if they want to eat meat. All they have to do is pay for food and it has no killing involved at that time due to the division of labor. In a point of view, humans have a choice to shortcut to get their food in a supermarket; however, literally, they don’t know how animals are raised and killed. Furthermore, they are not willing to kill animals since it involves bloody suffering of animals, but they love to eat animals ironically. This is why humans lose appreciation for the sacrifice of lives as well as the loss of the sense of humans as a part of life circulation.
In capitalism, the priority is economical profits rather than the well-being of animals, and the only thing that it matters to the system is productivity and cost-efficiency. Animals have lives as same as humans do, however; they are seen as profit-making “products”, which is a fallacy of capitalism. Here it can see the need to deeply observe the issues that humans cause unnecessary harm to other sentient beings. Moreover, after the dominance of Omnivorism and carnivorism in human society, there is no doubt about eating and using animals for human life and had become taboo to question the culture of meat.
Many people in modern times think that eating animals is “natural”, “normal”, “necessary”, and “nice” (4N). According to Dr. Will Tuttle, it is said that “Food is not only a fundamental necessity; it is also a primary symbol in the shared inner life of every human culture”, “It is not hard to see that food is a source and metaphor of life, love, generosity”, and “ironically a source and metaphor of control, domination, cruelty, and death, for we often kill to eat.” (Tuttle, 2005). He mentions that humans never be happy and peaceful without looking deeply into the violence in which humans harm animals. If humans cause others unhappiness and violence, they never reach a state of peace and inner happiness in themselves.
Even people know that animals are killed for food, but they are not dear to witness the suffering of animals if they face the reality in factory farming. That’s why they simply blind their eyes to the suffering of animals. This is another say from Dr. Will Tuttle, “we blind ourselves not only to the horror and suffering we are instigating and eating but also to the beauty of the world around us” (Tuttle, 2005). There is so much to see on this beautiful planet; Mother Earth. Ethical veganism is not a simple diet choice, but it goes beyond health-oriented reasons of going to vegan, goes beyond humanism, and seeks inner connection with Mother Earth and fellow animals in oneness.
Ethical veganism is such a life-changing revolution that starts from a simple choice of going plant-based. In addition, ethical veganism is concerned about the Earth where humans live and depend on the rise of climate change which is due to human activity, and the threat of pandemics and zoonotic diseases as it is well recognized in the situation of the COVID-19. There are undeniable facts and relations of the pandemic and animal exploitation which is seen in global animal agriculture, which is explained in the subsequent paragraph. This paper is going to address the veiled issues of global animal agricultural industries and factory farming and search for the well-being of the Earth, living beings, and humans as a part of living beings on the mother and how ethical veganism contributes to a better future for all lives from spiritual approach.
2. The Fundamental Cause of COVID-19 and the Neglected Cost of Health
The COVID-19 is one of the zoonotic diseases and has been conquered the entire globe for about 2 years without a single rest. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), zoonotic diseases (also known as zoonoses) are caused by germs that spread between animals and people, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals (2021).
Emerging infections such as SARS, HIV, Evora, Influenza, and recently COVID-19 are said to be animal origins. For example, it is told that HIV was infected from Chimpanzees, Influenza can be varied from pigs and chickens. In the case of COVID-19, the origin of the virus is not determined yet; however, one of the most believed hypotheses about the origin tells that the virus was started from the wet market in Wuhan, China, and started from a bat to humans via pangolin.
Wet markets are the place where living animals including wild lives are sold and slaughtered at the right time when the customer’s order. In wet markets, a variety of animals are packed tightly, which creates the perfect place for viruses’ mutation. There is xenophobia against Chinese and Asians just because the COVID-19 was started in China and many COVID-19 patients have been cruelled and passed away. When it looks back at the history of zoonoses, they have happened every place on the globe, so it is nonsense to criticize only Chinese people and their culture of eating wild animals or animals that are not commonly eaten in other countries and regions. It is nothing different from eating pigs, cows, chickens. Companies like Goldman have investments in the chicken market in China and the UK government visited China to expand business opportunities in wet markets after the Brexit. Nevertheless, they knew that there might be another potential for zoonotic diseases.
In capitalism, health deteriorates worse and the priority was shifted to economical profitability. From this perspective, China is not the only one that has responsibility for the outcome of COVID-19 and the matter is not where the virus was originated. In the world, humans have tens of thousands of “virus productions” everywhere and the potential can be enormous and risky. Those who blame China may think that they do not own the responsibility of the pandemic; however, as is mentioned earlier, this issue is due to the excessive human domination on the Earth. When it looks at the percentage of human domination on the Earth, humans consist of 36 % and the most of the left 60 % is occupied by livestock, which is food for humans, and only 4% of small pieces is for wildlife (the Guardian, 2018).
What is it like to be determined the destinies of livestock before their births? They are meant to be slaughtered for human consumption. When it looks objectively, the problem is over floating the human population and the Earth does not own resources to make alive all humans. Some people say that wild animals have serious damages to humans; for example, crows eat crops in a field or the overpopulation of dears in a forest. However, the real problem is the excessive human population. Without humans, it would be a better place for other living beings and Mother Earth to live peacefully and safely. That is all because of human domination on the Earth and human have an overwhelming population as it is followed by the basic demand for food.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 60 billion animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption (2014) and Peter Singer says that this is equivalent to approximately nine animals for each human on the Earth (Why Vegan? Eating Ethically, 2020). Because of the enormous number of humans on the Earth and the global food system, the exploitation of land, resources, and animals have been exceedingly overwhelmed as a result. They never can blame Chines if they purchase and eat animal products that are made in factory farming.
In the case of deforestation, it is due to the rise of the human population and following demands. It is said that 80% of the deforestation of Amazon is accountable for global meat production (Ritchie,2021). Rainforests and forests are the heritage of living beings since they create a sufficient amount of oxygen worldwide. They possess an important role as natural air circulators to produce clean air as well as anti-biotics. Today, Amazon’s native forests have been fragmented by unsustainable mono agriculture and factory farming, which causes less biodiversity and habitats loss for wildlife as a result. As humans enter and destroy natural habitats of wild animals, they have lost their homes and they have more likely to meet humans and livestock nearby. This increases the opportunities to encounter emerging infections of zoonotic diseases. ThoughThrough the history of humans, they have kept healthy boundaries with other animals to live sufficient enough; however, the human populations today dominate the entire Earth and wild lives are forced to emigrate in tape from human inventions. Unfortunately, there are no places left for their habitats. Furthermore, the food demand of humans has been rising as follows to the gigantic population globally, which makes wealthier nations better pay off and the poorer nations face the scarcity of food and low quality of life. In addition, the presence of the global market kills the opportunities of local workers. Some people seek bush meat for survival and sell these to earn money and escape from economical scarcity.
The demand for bushmeat is a growing market, and especially seen in the low-income places in African forestry. The bushmeat is a crucial source of protein and nutrition, whose varieties are from pangolins, bats, and hippos to the apes such as chimpanzees and gorillas. As a consequence, bushmeat has an illegal global trade system which no secured and sanitized roles to prevent unwanted viruses. In the bushmeat trade, any kinds of animals are packed closely without distance to avoid infections. When they excrete, sneeze, cough, and interact with other species, animals are more likely to infect viruses, which is one of the main causes of zoonotic diseases and the chances of spillover (WWF, 2020). According to WtheThe WF report of “The Loss of Nature and the Rise of Pandemic”, it is mentioned that deforestation and the change of natural habitats for the use of land is responsible for almost half of emerging infections (2020). In the case of Evora, this was due to the human invention into forests and the hunt for bushmeat in East Africa.
Many humans probably hope that they go back to “normal life” like before the outbreak of COVID-19, but what is needed to do is to think about why the pandemics have been happening frequently. If humans have returned to their previous lifestyles without proper changes, they would encounter new zoonotic diseases more often and destroy further the environment and living beings in the coming future.
In capitalism, the economy is the most priority to be achieved, which lefts dark sides; one of these is the ignorance of the interconnection of public health and zoonotic diseases have been emerging more often than ever before. Without the fundamental treatment to deal with zoonotic diseases, humans are more possibly encounter emerging infectious diseases. This is needed to revolve the system and set the priority for the sake of human well-being, animal welfare, as long as the healthy environment of the Earth. There are outcomes and predictions about zoonotic diseases. It is said that “the risk of a new zoonotic disease emerging in the future is higher than ever, with the potential to wreak havoc on health, economies, and global security” (WWF, 2020). In COVID-19: Urgent Call on protecting people and Nature, it mentions that “COVID-19 and other recent pandemics have exposed the grave dangers linked to exploiting high-risk wildlife and encroaching on nature, with tragic costs for communities around the world.” (WWF, 2020).
It is certainly clear to see why animal protein is one of the main risk factors for zoonotic diseases. Humans are in a state of uncertainty due to the pandemic and the insecurity of health and well-being as the consequence.
When it is closely looked at who are the most vulnerable and suffering in the time of the pandemic, that is those Indigenous people and low-income people. In the middle of COVID-19, the rich have been wealthier and accumulated capital enormously, on the flip side, the poor have been poorer in devastating situations, which tells the extended poverty gap between the two groups. In particular, it is observed that food distribution is twisted and not equally leachable to all people. In some countries like the US, approximately 42.4% of the population suffer from over-eat and receive medical treatment to tackle obesity (CDC, 2021); on the other way, in countries such as Ethiopia and Afghanistan, people in modern times suffer from starvation still. Humans have truly enough food to feed all the population of the Earth; however, tragically food distribution fails to feed those who are hungry.
The truth is that grains and crops are raised to produce meat. When it is calculated how much resources are required to produce 1 kilogram of steak, it costs 25 kilograms of grain and 15,000 litters of water (Green Peace, 2020). Factory farming boosts resource scarcity furthermore and puts stress on the water resources. Instead, if 25 kilograms of grains and 15,000 litters of water are distributed to those who are in need, it improves the quality of living and healthy lives for a greater number of people. The way how meat is produced contains a lot of waste and avoidable causes of animal suffering, world poverty, and starvation. In the global food chain, the distribution channel of food supply contains a lot of waste. For example, the feed of factory farming depends on global trade from outside of one’s country, so it takes the environmental cost of CO2 production. Furthermore, 90% of soy which is produced globally is used for feeding livestock to produce meat (Green Peace, 2020). It is not just the overuse of food and water; it also requires 83 % of the world’s land to produce these grains as well as grazing livestock (Science, 2021). That means forests are cutting down to seek unnecessary desire to eat meat. The productivity that factory farming owns never be the solution to tackle global poverty and hunger, it only escalates the situation much worse.
Today, it is expected that there will be a food crisis in the future; however, the problem is not the lack of food, but the unfair distribution and the use of foods on a global scale. Humans already have enough foods to feed all the population on the Earth, the thing is to stop feeding livestock in factory farming to end the waste of edible foods. It is wise to intake protein directly from plants rather than from animals. When it is zoomed at the productivity of protein, plants surpass the animals, and the proportion of protein is 0.25:1= beef: plants (Hoshino, 2018). If it seeks the better productivity of food, plants protein is the best source to get protein in terms of efficiency, less environmental harm, and better quality of animal welfare. It is declared that the largest scale of world land is used for factory farming and it is the main cause of deforestation (FAO, 2006).
Factory farming is also accountable for 1/3 of the world’s nitrogen emissions (Nature Food, 2020). Nitrogen pollution is considered an environmental distraction and is responsible for acid rain, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, and climate change.
When it comes to the carbon emission from livestock, it accounts for 14% of the world’s emissions and is equivalent to the emission of all vehicles and transportations combined (Greenpeace, 2021). At a glance, animals look greenery and natural; but livestock produces methane and other greenhouse gases, which are the one factors of climate change. In addition, factory farming heavily depends on fossil fuels for productivity. According to Rafael Woldeab, 500 million tons of excrement of livestock emerge every year in the United State and it is exposed to the ground and underwater without proper sewage systems (2019). That means pollutants leak causative factors and contaminate water into land, rivers, and oceans. In addition, they are administered antibiotics daily-basis and the mass amount of waste matter generates water pollution of rivers and oceans furthermore and more severer. Astonishingly, the excrement of pigs contains leftover cadmium from antibiotics and it causes endocrine system disturbance and carcinogenic subsistence. This is why the environmental pollution of toxic gases, bacteria, pathogens happens and threatens food hygiene as a result of serious health issues emerge. One of the reasons why animal foods are the highest pollution risks is that almost all foodborne pathogens come from the excrement of animals. According to the research which was done by FDA, 90% of commercialized chicken in the United State is contaminated by excrement through the process at slaughterhouses (Tuso, Ismail, Ha & Bartolotto, 2013). That implies meat-eaters are more likely to expose themselves to diseases. It is clearly stated that 16 thousand people die every year due to air pollution caused by PM 2.5 and 80% of the death is responsible for animal agriculture in the United States (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2021). That was the result of decades of research to detect which foods pollute the air the most and become a leading cause of asthma, heart attack, and stroke, and factory farming was revealed to be guilty of serious health issues (Greger, 2017). As is mentioned earlier that factory farming and any sorts of CAFO are the contributors to deforestation, habitats loss, insufficient food production, pollution, and climate change.
The system of factory farming has been ignored the natural cycle of birth and death, the balance of biodiversity, and commercialized living beings for the sake of capital gain. When it is closed up animal welfare at factory farming and CAFO, female pigs are forcibly put on pregnancy at the age of unnatural sexual maturity, which ignores the health and well beings of pigs and the cost-efficiency and productivity are prioritized over living beings. That is pigs are not ready and confirm to go on the process. If this is the human society, this is worth the sexual violation and abuse of well beings. Unfortunately, this is the story of animals, and they are used as capital production machines. Until mother pigs give birth to their babies, they are enclosed by the just size of their bodies and not able to move or turn around, which is a stressful environment for sacred pregnant pigs.
In the case of cows, pregnant female cows are another victim of factory farming. After the birth of their babies, the mother’s mother and her child are immediately separated after a few days and never meet again. Their family ties are diminished, and they never know what is love and how it feels like to be. Instead, they receive a stressful place for their survival and the violence from the workers in factory farming.
Today, eating meat and other forms of animal protein are not simple as just eating them because global food production makes things more complicated and less accessible to the food chain. For instance, the extension of climate change possibly accumulates terrorism activities due to natural disasters, food and water scarcity, the devastation of societies (Adelphi, 2019). This uncertainty helps to make stronger terrorist groups and gather their followers. In the case of refugees, there are so-called climate refugees who are forced to leave their homeplaces due to environmental changes such as the rise of sea level, desertification, floods, and drought. The climates of the Earth already have been unstable and caused the devastating disaster, ers especially in developing countries and minorities who are indigenous, people of color, women, and children, which leads to escalated disputes over resources, refugees, fragile governments, poverty, and instability of food production. It is estimated that the number of climate refugees will be surge by 1 billion people by 2050. (UNHCR, 2012)
What is more, factory farms and CAFOs are forms of human violation as well. According to the criminal psychologist Amy Fitzgerald, slaughterhouse workers have a higher rate of arrest, violent crimes, domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, suicide (self-hurt), drug and alcohol addicts, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other forms of violence rather than other industries (2005). In slaughterhouses, killing and violence are normalized and in repetitions, which triggers desensitized violence and psychological distress. It creates cognitive dissonance because the killing of humans is considered as vice and immoral and if someone kills others, he, she, or they would be arrested and tagged as a murderer. However, it is not the case for slaughtering animals. The mass assassination of animals is not accused not at all in global agriculture, and happens everywhere in the world and causes the insensitivity to violence against animals. The workers may traumatize the scene of bloody killing sentient beings. Suffering in factory farming is not deteriorating animals but also humans (the workers). Moreover, the research of the relations between the carcinogenicity of bird virus exposure and the workers shows that those who work at chicken slaughterhouses have 9 times higher risks of death from pancreatic cancer and liver cancer (Xu, Murphy, Kochanek, & Bastian, 2016). Veganism and vegetarianism argue the discrimination against human races. In general, people do not willing to work to murder living beings at defilement, so those who work at slaughterhouses would be socially displaced minorities and their wellness is no consideration.
In the United State, it is said that “most are African American or Latin American people from low-income families” and among them, approximately 38% are migrant workers in factory farming (Slater, 2020). It is the pattern seen in the world. Operation of industrial grinders, guns, and saws in fast-paced causes serious injuries to the workers because the workers are required to work fast pace. There are at least two amputations a week (the Guardian, 2018). In 2019, the Human Rights Watch stated this is “a violation of international human rights standards”. A factory farm is one of the modern forms of slavery and has been rampant. It clearly shows the presence of racism in the global meat industry and exploitation of the weak position.
The uncertainty of climate change hinders the most vulnerable groups which include wildlife. According to WWF’s LIVING PLANET REPORT 2020, it announces that “the population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles have seen an alarming average drop of 68% since 1970”. In fifty years of a half-century, humanity made the mass extinction of wild animals. There is no such history that one species her fellows dishonorably. In the quest for humanism, humans disconnect with nature and other living beings and have started to lose reciprocity and oneness with them. Some might think that they have no relations with animals and plants; however, humans’ lives are depending on living beings no matter they are vegans or omnivores. For example, bees are just seen as one of the insects; however, their role as pollinators is essential for vegetables and fruits to pollinate and connect to next generations. Around the 1990s, the number of bees is decreasing especially because of neonicotinoid pesticides which paralyze the bee nerves and kill. Without pollinators like bees, humans cannot have complete vegetables and fruits. It is harder to see the connection between the food that humans eat and how the foods are growing. But, when the issue is deeply considered, pesticides are also penetrated the human body and toxins accumulate inside the body, which is interconnected with human health as well.
Last but not least, it shall be mentioned about the use of antibiotics in the factory farms. Margaret Chan, the director of WHO alerted that many infectious diseases will lose the remedies and emerge deathly diseases in the time of post-antibiotic. In the first step, antibiotics were used to grow pigs better without having enough time to experiment with long time effects of antibiotics. According to a survey, 80 % of antibiotics are used in factory farms today and 70% of them are for preventive care and growth promotor rather than treatment of diseases (Mellon, C. Benbrook, K.L. Benbrook, 2001). Unfortunately, the unnecessary use of antibiotics on a huge scale in farms has been the perfect place to reproduce the stronger types of drug-resistance bacteria because animals are stressed out of the environment and weakened immune systems. CAFO is the best place to widespread emerging infections to other animals including humans. It is something similar to terrorism if pandemics happen because it kills randomly mass populations. The overdose of antibiotics in factory farming has been concerned and alarmed the rise of antibiotic resistance as a threat to public health (WHO, 2017). It happened as a form of emerging infections and was already achieved worldwide when the rise of COVID-19. There are no zoonotic diseases that ever happening worldwide except the latest pandemic of COVID-19. Now the nature of zoonotic diseases has appeared.
3. Conclusion: Ethical Veganism as the Way to Approach the Healing in Mother Earth
Veganism is not perfect nor everything to solve the issues; however, still veganism expands one’s horizon out of humanism and ego-centered mind to the state of reciprocity with living beings and Mother Earth. Veganism holds the potential to heal the Earth, animals, and human beings altogether. Veganism does not commit activities that harm the earth and deteriorate animals along with the well-being and health of humans. It is certainly clear to see how the health of Mother Earth, animals, and humans are interrelated to each other, and lives are dependent on the Mother. All living beings need clean air to breathe, water to drink, soil to nurture.
The food choice of meat and animal products from factory farming cannot be announced as freedom of choice anymore since it causes the destructions which are mentioned such as the violation of humans and animals, climate, and the cause of zoonotic diseases. It is not a freedom of choice to destroy well beings of others and the healthy planet even it is incidentally. Factory farming only contributes to the overconsumption of crops, which further worsens the condition of world hunger and poverty, and environmental pollution. Factory farming never is a solution to maximize productivity to produce more crops for the sake of tackling world hunger and poverty in human societies. To extend, veganism is not just a trendy lifestyle choice, or fancy hobby of celebrities (celebrities purchase expensive imported organic products and superfood, which labels vegan and organic foods as unachievable from the public, etc.). Peter Singer mentions that “our ethics regarding animals are still a long way from reaching that point”, but the development of plant-based alternatives to animal foods has progressed the status of vegan from fantasy to a possible future. (Singer, 2020).
Vegetables and fruits are indeed far more expensive compared to $100 for a hamburger and any type of fast food. What people eat shows their social classes. The more expensive foods such as vegetables and fruits are only applicable for the wealthier people, and the poor have less access to fresh foods and eat more of the cheaper foods such as processed foods as a result. However, it is unfair to limit food choices based on economical positions, and unhealthy foods are presented globally and escalate chronic diseases to vulnerable human beings and worsen their living conditions.
Factory farming is located upon social discrimination within a country as well. Veganism also embraces this jerk shadow. As a surprising element of veganism, it has similarities with historical civilian movements such as the slave liberation Movement, civil disobedience in India, women’s rights movement, black citizenship movement in the US, and the LGBTQ movement, that is the empowerment of minorities and the voiceless, and the acquisition of the equity in human societies. These civil movements have bottomed up the minority groups and caught the voiceless voice to be heard in public. It embraces the wholesomeness of the diversity of genders, colors, and beliefs and gives power to the voiceless groups.
In the case of ethical veganism, the notion of civil movements has castled up to advocate justice for non-humans. The range of the vegan movement broke up the barrier between humans and animals and expanded the moral and ethical perspectives of human beings. It is the evolution in one’s life and in human history to overcome the insensitivity to violence against sentient beings and transform into non-violent and harmonious relationships with animals and the Earth, which creates spiritual health and social harmony. This is the state that one’s mind is fully matched with one’s behaviors and reached the state of self-awareness and self-realization. Ethical vegan has full attention to caring for living beings and the mother and withdraws from the cause of the suffering of animals and humans along with the environmental destruction of the Earth.
Veganism overcomes humanism and egoism to enhance the well beings of all lives in Mother Earth. It sounds like the value of veganism is presented for living beings and the Earth; however, it heals humans as following with the healing living beings and the Earth through the interconnectedness among fellows in Mother Earth. Researches show that a plant-based diet boosts the quality of life apparently and the feeling better (Greger, 2017). For example, the comparison of the Asian traditional diet (eat less meat and fish) and vegetarian diet tells those males who eat a diet are 50% less likely to get diabetes and vegetarian female are 75% less possibility to have diabetes compared to traditional ones (Greger, 2017). As a result of the survey, it proved that vegan meal contains sufficient nutrition, the more nutritious rich, and well balanced well-balanced when is compared to the same number of calories of omnivores.
In the spiritual context of veganism, it embraces the relationship with human fellows, animals, and Mother Earth to heal the dark sides of capitalism and humanism at the global level. There is the best word to express spiritual health and harmonious relations among living beings: “biophilia”. The word biophilia was introduced by the ecologist Edward. O. Wilson. The word biophilia comes from life (bio) and love (philia), which enhances the relationships with living beings and interdependence with each other. Biophilia embraces the spirits of love and desire to interconnect with other species and feel the oneness as a living being in Mother Earth. Biophilia breaks up the distinction among species and discrimination against non-human species and opens up interconnectedness among all lives. In the contemporary era, it has been harder to make friendships with animals since humans occupy the entire world without exception and they are seen everywhere on the Earth, not like other fellow animals. This overwhelming population of humans has something that has the responsibility for the loss of animals and the devastation of Mother Earth. Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, if humans continue to suck on the sacrifice of the environment, livestock, the workers, minorities, and the poor, the outbreak of zoonotic diseases will never stop but boost the spread of vicious outcomes in many aspects of not only humanism also all living beings on the Earth. Consumption of animals for humanism is such a burden and nothing is beautiful. The exploitation contains overwhelming costs that more than humans themselves can handle.
It is just time to reflect on the unethical practice of factory farming and CAFO to reform the way it is now for the fundamental solution of zoonotic diseases, animal exploitation, and environmental destruction. Eating meat is not normal anymore and not necessary for human survival when there are nutritious alternatives available. It is the time to wake up from the illusion of meat worship. Humans never die nor be malnutrition without animal products, it only increases poverty and hunger, the killing of innocent lives, the breaking global environment as a result.
Human beings especially in economically developed countries do not always need to eat animals to get sufficient nutrition, especially protein. People may believe that protein is only attainable from meat and animal foods; however, the protein comes from plants that animals eat. The source of protein is all come comes from plants, not from animals. Eating animal-origin foods today are not ethically confirmed enough to eat and there is no need to select animal foods that cause harm to the environment, animals, and humans.
There are peaceful solutions to tackle factory farming, which is a wonderful alternative to plant-based foods; plant-based meat, soy cheese, oat milk, and other forms of plant-based alternatives.
This is a reminder that ethical veganism that is discussed here is not opposed to the presence of carnivorism, Omnivorism, and vegetarianism. Here is not the place to discuss the cultural context of carnivorism and Omnivorism, but it is more about the ethical perspective of global industrialized animal agriculture. It casts doubt and conspiracy behind factory farming and globalized animal agribusiness.
Today, consumers cannot contact directly to producers in the global supply chain, it has been lost their holistic connection with foods that are not them becomes a part of who they are. They don’t know how the foods they eat are raised and treated, which stripped away their self-governance of their food choices. The ethical perspective of foods gives opportunities to reflect foods what they eat and how foods are produced. In the global food chain, it is complicated and the traceability is not clear enough to check all of the information about the environmental effects, the quality of animal welfare, and the working conditions of producers from consumers’ reach. That’s why customers should not neglect that their purchasing decisions and the power make huge impacts and responsibility to the entire food chain. When it is looked at every single choice, it seems nothing matters to change the large global food chain; however, bigger movements always stem from trivial matters of individuals.
Here are facts about how vegan is powerful; a vegan saves the life of an animal, 20 kilograms of grain, 4,164 litters of water, and 30 square meters of land only in a day (Hamerschlag & Venkat, 2011). Veganism is the choice of individuals but the influence is more than individual level and it is extended at the global level. It has the more enormous power to fully commit to the value of non-violence and environmental conservation which ethical vegans have. The food choice of ethical veganism is a passive decision that is not to consume any forms of animal foods; however, the outcomes are rather positive and influential even done by a person. It starts from a simple decision of three times a day as a way of resistance and non-violent practice, which every each of humans has an opportunity to heal the dark side of human species over living beings, and the environment.
The purpose of ethical veganism is not to make every single human become a vegan, but rather focus on spiritual interconnectedness and oneness with living beings and Mother Earth to embrace the fact that humans’ lives lean on the well beings and health of the mother and relations with fellow living beings. What is needed is a healthy environment not polluted lands, air, and contaminated water.
The outbreak of COVID-19 should not be neglected just as an event but as a lesson for humanity. It revealed the stemmed issues of humanism and it should not be denied even though it has given a lot of difficulties and negative effects. When it takes from positive aspects of the pandemic, it can be thought about the emergence of COVID-19 as an opportunity to step back from fast-paced chaos in globalized societies and reflect the relationships with Mother Earth, living beings, and human beings for the highest good among Mother Earth, which holds back reciprocity and interconnectedness among living beings and Mother Earth. Ethical veganism is a pathway toward love and empathy with Mother Earth and fellow living beings to overcome the hidden violence and surrender to the diversity of colors. It does not mean something like that one’s life has more value than another life. One’s mother may be more precious than a life of a cow, but it does not necessarily mean that it should be decided which one is more valuable and the other is less worth, and no need to calculate the weight of the lives to determine which species to be superior or inferior. It does not have to be an animal lover to be a vegan because veganism benefits not only animals but also the environment and human health as well.
Veganism is all about peaceful coexistence, non-violent resistance for animals, and the equity of all living beings. Ethical veganism is a powerful pathway toward the coexistence with living beings and brings a healthy environment of Mother Earth, and well beings of animals, and humans at once. Humans already have the way at hand, all they need to do is just take affirmative actions. The first step begins from the food revolution of three times a day.
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