Archive for August, 2009
Sustainable animal agriculture and ethical vegetarianism
Aug 28th
The sustainable dairy, egg and meat trend presents an interesting moment for animal advocates, as it brings to the fore the limitations of the anti-suffering, anti-cruelty rhetoric of animal welfare organizations. Read any vegetarian starter kit or eat-less-meat booklet from one of these groups and you’ll find they are treatises against factory farming (animals suffer in factory farms; factory farms hurt the environment). Many take great pains to state clearly that they’re talking specifically about factory farms, and not about other farms that breed, raise and kill non-human animals.
Sustainable animal agriculture neatly sidesteps all animal welfare concerns. This is why, for the public, it offers an attractive alternative to factory farms. When I worked for an animal welfare corporation handing out their anti-factory farming literature, people all the time would say to me, “That’s why I don’t buy animal products from factory farms! I buy local, organic, free range!” The arguments against factory farming have no relevance to sustainable animal agriculture (if anything, they support it!).
Peter Singer, around whose philosophy all the modern animal welfare corporations are based, was clear from the start that his anti-suffering philosophy only prohibits eating products from animals in factory farms. In Animal “Liberation”, Singer writes “So we must ask ourselves, not: Is it ever right to eat meat? But: Is it right to eat this meat?” (Second Edition, p 160). In a recent book, The Way We Eat, he tells readers where to buy sustainably and humanely raised animal products. Two of many examples:
- “[A]void animal products that come from factory farms. … Information about farms that do not use factory methods is available … at www.eatwellguide. org [the web site’s tagline: local, sustainable, organic], and from … www.eatwild.com [tagline: the #1 site for grass-fed food and facts].” (p. 287)
- “If you eat marine animals, choose species that come from sustainable fisheries … www.thefishlist.org” (p. 288, in the ‘Sustainable Fish’ section)
It’s an odd quirk of history that Singer’s anti-suffering ideas, which explicitly endorse consuming animal products, have been used as the ethical argument for vegetarianism. It is this tension that is exposed by sustainable animal agriculture.
As vegetarian advocates, I think sustainable animal agriculture offers us a great opportunity to examine our message and our ideas. When speaking with the public about vegetarianism, do their questions reveal problems with the message we are presenting? If so, rather than ignoring those problems, I suggest reconsidering the ideas underlying our message. In my own case, it was speaking with a skeptical public that led me to realize that my own ethical vegetarianism was grounded in the vegan ideal of non-exploitation, and not in the anti-suffering arguments promoted by animal welfare corporations. Of course, your reasons for vegetarianism may be different from mine. Regardless of what those reason are, by continually and honestly examining our personal reasons for being vegetarianism, we strengthen our understanding of our beliefs and become more articulate, confident and effective advocates.
fat-phobia is not vegan
Aug 26th
people are understandably angry and offended by a recent PETA billboard in jacksonville, florida that compared overweight women to whales and demanded that they ”lose the blubber” by going vegetarian. the billboard has since been removed (albeit replaced with a snarky, equally fat-shaming one that leads me to believe that PETA’s staff feels they’ve done nothing wrong and won’t have me waiting by the phone for an apology) but the hurt remains — and the ridiculousness continues. PETA president ingrid newkirk sounded off to the huffington post, essentially rolling her eyes at all the “prudes” and “reactionaries” who rightfully pointed out that this billboard is hateful and hurtful and has no place in animal activism.
newkirk’s article is a gem. she makes comments such as, “the majority of fat people need to have some discipline” and “being fat means being a bad role model to our children.” i wish i was making this up, but i’m not sure i could even come up with something so cruel. i’ve blogged before about how i find it so important to respect the identities and backgrounds of our fellow activists and indeed our fellow humans, and it’s so interesting to me that newkirk continues to defend this campaign despite how incredibly problematic it is. it appears that she — an incredibly privileged, able-bodied, thin, white, heterosexual woman — is unable to acknowledge and respect the lives of people who don’t fall into those privileged categories. that people still call her an ally to animals is problematic. that she is [still] considered a “leader” of the animal rights movement is unfortunate. that she can sleep at night after having made statements like the ones she made to the huffpo is unforgivable.
ida at the vegan ideal has a really thorough analysis of this whole fiasco, but my favorite part is this:
Usually, no matter how oppressive PETA’s campaigns get, nearly everyone I talk to who still supports PETA will at some point always recite a version of the phrase: “But PETA does some good.” This is the “get out of jail free” card most commonly used by PETA supporters to dismiss harsh criticism and seek concurrence and unanimity. But the reality is there is no amount of ostensible “good” that can justify perpetuating oppression.
veganism is a stand against exploitation, oppression, and subjugation of living beings, including humans. we can’t liberate one group at the expense of another. we can’t throw people under the bus to abstractly “save animals.” there are so many compelling reasons to adopt a vegan diet and live a vegan life that don’t involve degrading other people for the way they look or whom they love or what they believe or where they live. as my friend andrea wrote, “[Go vegan] to improve your health and the planet’s. Do it to improve and save animals’ lives. Don’t do it because PETA bullied you into it.”