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Veganism, Ethics & Diet
Veganism
"The word 'veganism' denotes a philosophy and way of
living which seeks to exclude - as far as is possible
and practical - all forms of exploitation and cruelty to
animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by
extension, promotes the development and use of
animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals,
humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes
the practice of dispensing with all products derived
wholly or partly from animals." ...The Vegan Society
Therefore, veganism can primarily be seen as an
expression of compassion and also as a form of social,
philosophical, ethical and/or spiritual protest against
the unnecessary exploitation of other sentient beings,
when alternative options are available to maintain and
even optimize the health and well-being of animals,
humans and the environment.
Compassion (derived from Latin and meaning: "to suffer
together with") is a profound human virtue and emotion
prompted by the pain of other living beings and is
ranked as one of the greatest virtues in numerous
philosophies and spiritual traditions. More vigorous
than empathy, the feeling of compassion commonly gives
rise to an active desire to alleviate another's
suffering. This desire to alleviate suffering is the
primary motivator for embracing veganism and a strict
vegetarian diet.
Sentience implies the ability to experience pleasure and
pain. As vegans, we believe that all sentient beings are
entitled, at the very least, to the right not to be
subjected to unnecessary suffering. We also assert that
all sentient beings, humans or nonhuman, have the basic
right not to be treated as the property of others.
"We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them.
It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace." ...Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization
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Omnivores and Carnivores
The practice of consuming meat and other animal products
originated with ancient hunting and herding practices
and the reliance upon animals for survival when plant
foods were scarce or difficult to obtain. The
consumption of meat by humans is also directly linked to
concepts of predator and prey and the observation that
all organisms in Nature feed upon other living things
(except those that photosynthesize). For many
individuals, the use of animals and animal products for
sustenance is simply viewed as part of the natural order
- animals that are higher on the food chain consume and
benefit from animals that are lower on the chain. Many
insist that humans are no more or less predatory than a
lion hunting a gazelle, for example.
In response to this logic, it should be noted that
humans do not possess the same physiological
characteristics as lions or other carnivores nor are we
driven completely by instinct. We are also the only
species that take much more than needed from Nature to
survive and we are the only species that kill for
reasons other than survival - or kill with intentional
cruelty. Yes, it's very apparent that humans can be
predatory in many ways, towards each other and towards
the world around us, but eating animals is really just a
learned behavior passed down and sometimes forced upon
us by our parents and society. Very few children, if
any, relish gnawing meat from cartilage, tendon and
bone.
Carnivores are animals that biologically need to ingest
flesh to survive and omnivores are animals, either human
or nonhuman, that can survive by ingesting either plant
and animal matter. "Carnivore" and "omnivore" refer to
one's biological predisposition, but when eating meat
becomes a choice, rather than a biological or survival
necessity, then this behavior is based upon an ideology
(set of beliefs). This choice is referred to as carnism.
Because of the violence inherent in carnism (modern meat
production requires intensive and extensive violence
toward animals), this ideology uses a set of social and
psychological defense mechanisms to distort people's
perceptions and block their awareness and empathy when
they eat meat, enabling humane people to participate in
inhumane practices, often without realizing what they're
doing.
In meat-eating cultures around the world, people tend to
find a small handful out of thousands of animal species
palatable and view the rest as distasteful. The species a
culture deems palatable is not based upon logic or
economics but simply upon social conditioning.
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Dominion
The belief in human superiority and moral authority to
exploit and exert dominance over other species and the
land, can be traced to the ancient world and is
maintained to this day by several commonly held ideas:
A widely accepted belief is the theological concept of
"dominion," from Genesis (1:20–28), where Adam is given
"dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth." The Qur'an Majeed of Islam also states that man
has dominion over animals; however, it is emphasized in
Islam that animals be treated as humanely as any other
of God's vast creation, but this does not prohibit
slaughter.
The concept of dominion has been misinterpreted over the
ages to imply ownership, rather than "responsibility of
guardianship". This belief in ownership reinforces the
idea that animals are mere objects or property whose
reason for existence and sole purpose is to serve
mankind. There is also the belief that animals are
inferior because they lack rationality and language, and
as such are worthy of less consideration than humans, or
even none.
Also springing from this is the idea that individual
animals have no separate consciousness or identity: a
pig, for example, is merely one of any number of other
pigs, which leads to the conclusion that the
exploitation of individual animals is acceptable so long
as the species is not threatened with extinction.
Speciesism
Assigning different values and rights to the life of
another species, based on its supposed difference from
humans, is known as speciesism. This is discrimination,
and like all discrimination it overlooks or
underestimates the similarities between the
discriminator and those discriminated against.
Many humans seek to justify their oppression and
exploitation of non-humans by pointing to other supposed
empirical differences. One of the many claimed
differences is that non-humans, unlike humans, are
unable to think or act morally. That is, we claim that
only those who can recognize and act on moral
obligations to others can be members of the ethical
community and since animals are supposedly incapable of
such conduct, we are justified in treating them as
things without moral significance. This is a very
distorted and arrogant view of mankind's place and
importance within the Universe.
"The animals of the world exist for
their own reasons. They were not made for humans any
more than black people were made for white, or women
created for men"...Alice Walker, author of the Color
Purple
Tradition
Tradition often plays a key role too in the human/animal
relationship - this is how things were done in the past
for survival and this is how things are done today.
However, our modern lives bear little or no resemblance
to ancient living whatsoever. Modern methods of animal
agriculture (factory farms) are very different from that
of our ancestors. Somehow, the respect and value of life
has been lost along the way. One must also consider that
the majority of us are no longer experiencing extreme
survival situations related to food.
Modern Animal Agriculture
In the late nineteenth century there was a movement
toward mass production in industry, causing a surge in
urban settlement. This meant more people to feed, with
fewer farmers to supply the food. As a result, the
agricultural industry had to begin adopting the same
mass production techniques that lead to the demand for
more food. At this point in history, meat and animal
products were not only considered a necessity for health
and survival, but also an economic commodity.
To meet ever increasing demands for animal products,
factory farms began to emerge. The first animals to be
factory farmed were chickens. The discovery of vitamins
and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two
decades of the twentieth century, led to vitamin
supplements, which in 1920s America allowed chickens to
be raised indoors. In 1960's America, pigs and cows
began to be raised on factory farms. This innovation
then spread to Western Europe.
The concept of the family farm, where animals had
pasture to graze and room to exercise their natural
behaviors, gave way to large scale commercial operations
whose sole purpose was mass production of meat and
animal products. The well-being of the animals was no
longer a consideration at all.
It has become very apparent that factory farming is not
only contributing to unimaginable suffering for animals,
but is also destroying the environment and jeopardizing
human health. The livestock from factory farms are major
contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, which are
thought to be responsible for global warming. They are
also major contributors of ammonia emissions, which
contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification
of ecosystems. The term “livestock” refers to all farmed
animals, including pigs, birds raised for meat,
egg-laying hens, and dairy cows.
Livestock are also key players in increased water use,
accounting for over 8% of global water use, mostly for
the irrigation of feed crops. Factory farms are probably
the largest source of water pollution, contributing to
"dead" zones in coastal areas, destruction of coral
reefs, human health problems and the emergence of
antibiotic resistance. The major sources of pollution
are from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones,
chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides
used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures
(information obtained from
veganoutreach.org).
Many people are completely unaware that the dairy and
egg industry also contribute to an enormous amount of
exploitation and suffering, probably more so than
animals raised for meat consumption. These animals are
basically slaves of production throughout their extended
miserable lives. Animals raised for meat at least
proceed from stockyard to slaughterhouse relatively
quick.
While "vegetarians" who shun meat for ethical reasons
but consume eggs and dairy products have good
intentions, few realize that male chicks, who offer
nothing to the egg production industry, are destroyed
immediately and often by gruesome methods. Dairy cows
are force inseminated and remain in a constant state of
pregnancy. Baby calves are immediately removed from
their mothers, causing great distress to both mother and
calf. Male calves are slaughtered for veal or shipped
off to stockyards for meat production and female calves
are raised and then forced into dairy production.
If you honestly put yourself in the position of an
animal enslaved in the factory farm industry, confined
to an artificial world, beaten and tortured, denied the
chance to live a long, healthy life, even denied
sunlight most of the time, then you would understand why
the unconscionable industry of factory farms must be
abolished. These are issues that have long been
neglected or intentionally ignored by society. For many
it's just a lack of awareness. Indifference, on the
other hand, is having that awareness and doing nothing
about it, and this is simply unacceptable for ethical
human beings.
Strict Vegetarianism - the
Compassionate Choice
Fortunately, with all the mechanical innovations in crop
farming and harvesting, a better understanding of
nutrition and supplementation, and a wider variety of
organic and plant-based food options available,
consumption of animal products is no longer a necessity,
nor even the best option for health or survival.
Individuals can now make alternative and compassionate
choices as to how they wish to nourish themselves.
Strict vegetarianism, or vegan diet, is the practice of
subsisting wholly on a diet composed of vegetables,
grains, fruits, nuts, and seeds. A strict vegetarian
therefore abstains from all meat, including game,
poultry, fish, crustaceans and shellfish. A strict
vegetarian also excludes all animal products such as
eggs, dairy and honey and any animal by-products of
slaughter, such as rennet or gelatin.
The vegan diet is a relatively new concept to many
Westerners, even though the practice can be traced back
to ancient times and has existed for thousands of years
in some Eastern philosophies. Strict vegetarianism, or
vegan diet, is a dietary option for individuals who are
concerned with animal rights and animal welfare; the
ethics of factory farming; the environmental and social
benefits of organic farming and agricultural
sustainability; and holistic wellness. It should be
noted that a vegan diet is only one aspect of veganism.
Occasionally, vegetarians encounter the claim by
non-vegetarians that plants are sentient, as an
objection to promoting and adhering to a strict
vegetarian diet. Their reasoning suggests that since
"all life" is sentient, it doesn’t matter what people
eat. This reasoning is generally not based upon a
concern for life at all, but is rather an absurd
rationalization for killing without moral consequence.
This reasoning also suggests a poor understanding of
"sentience" (see "Sentience in the Plant Kingdom"
below). Even if this reasoning were valid, it should be
noted that agricultural animal farming is responsible
for the destruction of far more plants and damage to the
environment than vegetarians could ever inflict upon the
land.
Sentience in the Plant
Kingdom
One argument supporting the sentience of plants is that
they are highly evolved and complex organisms that
'react' to their environment in different ways. Some
plants 'react' to insects by releasing deterrent or
poisonous chemicals. A few plants react to touch
stimuli. The Venus Flytrap, for example, catches and
consumes insects when insects come in contact with tiny
hairs that trigger the trap to close. Some plants
release chemicals to deter other plants from growing
near them. Some plants are either aggressive or passive
in root development depending on whether or not they are
around their own species.
The misconception arises when the assumption is made
that such plant 'behavior' is caused by the plants
subjectively experiencing the world through sense data,
or sentience, rather than by insentient hormonal,
electrical, mechanical, and chemical processes. It has
been observed that some plants do respond somewhat to
voice or musical stimuli, but this response generally
takes hours or days, indicating a very low level of
sentience (Sentience Quotient), or no sentience at all
compared to that of animals.
We recognize that there are insentient hormonal,
electrical, mechanical, and chemical processes that
cause various "behaviors" and events to take place. The
development of these insentient processes can be
explained by hundreds of thousands of years of natural
selection, where hundreds of billions of small, genetic
mutations and combinations survived or failed to survive
based on their ability to adapt.
Neuroscientists have positively confirmed the areas of
our neurology (brain stem, limbic system, autonomic
nervous system) that serve to provide sentience and
complex emotion. All vertebrates and at least some
invertebrate animals have these nervous system
components, providing strong positive, empirical
evidence that such beings are sentient, and that most of
them have highly subjective, emotional lives. Plants do
not have any of these neurological components. Even an
organism with a hormonal system instead of a nervous
system could be intelligent to some degree in theory,
but it would be an extremely low level of intelligence,
to say the least. Some plants are also able to produce
electrical signals, yet it is questionable if they use
them in the same way animals do.
Organisms such as humans, dogs, chickens, pigs, cows,
goats, and sheep look, behave, and move in ways that
highly suggest sentience defined as the experience of
sensation and emotion. Organisms such as plants look,
behave, and are stationary (unless the wind is blowing)
in ways that highly suggest little or no sentience
(again, defined as the experience of sensation and
emotion).
If there is any room for debate and legitimate questions
on sentience, it would apply to the insect world.
Insects such as spiders certainly behave and move in a
manner that highly suggests at least some degree of
experiential sentience. Sentience is measured in
degrees, and how sentient certain organisms like spiders
may be, is difficult to determine. But we know beyond
any reasonable doubt that vertebrates are sentient; and
we know with a very high degree of confidence that
plants are not sentient, or at least not in the same way
or to the same degree as vertebrates.
As entities with limited or no sentience, plants would
have no subjective, conscious interest that would be
morally relevant to whether we use them for food or
other sufficient reasons (e.g. removing/destroying them
to build a shelter). However, we should respect plants
in the same way in which we respect the beauty,
complexity and the soul of all Nature. This respect
includes reducing our impact upon them as much as is
reasonably possible, and avoiding senseless and
unnecessary destruction. Our moral obligations regarding
plants, however, do not compare in kind to our direct
moral obligations to vertebrates, whose sentient and
conscious, intentional striving for life and survival is
obvious to us.
In Closing
There's no argument that the vegan diet can be a
challenge initially. It involves a complete change in
the way one purchases and prepares food and this change
can be overwhelming for some. But it is not a difficult
diet to maintain and with time it becomes second nature.
It does, however, require education, commitment and some
practice in the kitchen. There are many resources
available to help those wishing to make the transition.
I have included several on the
Vegan Resources page, and almost every
supermarket or local co-op contains an organic and
natural food section where vegetarian items can now be
purchased. It is my sincere wish that this website will
also help you with your vegan culinary skills and open
to you a whole new world of taste, texture and peace of
mind.
“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. Well-planned vegetarian diets are
appropriate for individuals during all stages of the
life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy,
childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes."
"An evidence-based review showed that vegetarian diets
can be nutritionally adequate in pregnancy and result in
positive maternal and infant health outcomes. The
results of an evidence based review showed that a
vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death
from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to
have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels,
lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension
and type 2 diabetes than non-vegetarians. Furthermore,
vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and
lower overall cancer rates.”...Position
of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets,
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, July 2009 |
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