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Showing Original Post only (View all)PETA Is Not the Enemy. [View all]
While one can argue about the effectiveness of PETA's methods, it is hypocritical to use this as an excuse to avoid the question of whether to switch to a plant-based diet.
If an organization defended abortion rights by displaying graphic pictures of botched abortions in public places, would that make you anti-choice? If a group went around defending minority rights by showing graphic pictures of lynchings, would that make you join the KKK? Did the Dutch anti-Mohamed cartoons convert you to Islam?
There are three major reasons to switch to a plant-based diet. Many otherwise thoughtful and intelligent people either don't know about these or don't think about them long enough to reconsider their reluctance to switch to a plant-based diet. Here are those reasons.
1. Stop supporting the factory farm industry.
If you buy animal products at a grocery store, you are sending your hard-earned money to the factory-farm industry. As you can read here, "factory farms raise 99.9 percent of chickens for meat, 97 percent of laying hens, 99 percent of turkeys, 95 percent of pigs, and 78 percent of cattle currently sold in the United States." This is an industry that cares about nothing more than its bottom line. They push animals to the absolute breaking point so that they can make a few more pennies on each one. Read more here.
2. Reduce your environmental footprint.
You can reduce your carbon footprint more by switching to a plant-based diet than by switching to a Prius. Animal farming is not only energy-intensive, but it produces significantly more waste than the Earth can handle. Finally, the liberal use of antibiotics on factory farms presents a serious risk of an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Read more here, here, and here.
3. Improve your own health.
There is overwhelming evidence that a plant-based diet significantly reduces the rates of cancer and heart disease. Read more here and here.
It may at first seem inconvenient to have to make such a drastic change in one's diet. But any initial resistance you may feel should not stop you from considering the question. My husband and I both switched to a plant-based diet last February after watching Vegucated (available streaming on Netflix). It was much easier than we expected it to be. I've never been happier or healthier. If you'd like to try it, you can get help and ideas from those of us on DU who have done it.
I strongly recommend any omnivores on DU who can deal with having their assumptions challenged to watch Vegucated and to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Eating Animals is a beautifully written book. Vegucated has a couple of brief graphic parts, but you get a warning beforehand, and you can look away. I looked away, and I still got the message. (Honestly: if you're too sensitive watch graphic videos of animals being slaughtered or put in cages for their entire lives, how can you bring yourself to eat animals? Don't kid yourself: the chicken on your plate, regardless of whether it was advertised as "cage-free" or "free range," came from an animal that was stuffed for its entire life in a space no larger than an 8.5x11-inch sheet of paper. The milk you drink came from a cow that was separated from its calf immediately after it was born. Every time you buy an animal product at your grocery store, you support an industry that cares more about money than about animal welfare, the environment, or your health.)
Think about this issue. You owe it to yourself and to the world you live in.