Perhaps my most commonly asked question. On an emotional level, I dislike our mistreatment of the earth, including the mistreatment of all non-human animals, particularly because I find myself able to empathise with them. Though my more "logical" answer is that I believe abstaining from eating animal products is healthier, reduces greenhouse emissions in many cases, and is more efficient in an ecological sense. By ecological efficiency here I mean that considering the energy needed to sustain us and the planet, it is most "cost-efficient" (for lack of a better name) to reduce our consumption of animal products, and let these larger biological creatures share space with us, because ultimately they are on average more resource intensive purely because of their higher position in the so-called "food chain", compared to plants and fungi.
Philosophically I understand the arbitrary nature of selecting Kingdom Animalia, but I defend this stance politically: if we are to take care of the earth, and treat it with respect, let us start somewhere, and let us start with the animals that most people empathise with easier than they might empathise with plants, fungi, or bacteria. This is not to be speciesist, quite the opposite, it is to see the parallels between our own struggles, and those shared with our friends, that of our community, of humans, of other animals, and then of plants, fungi, bacteria, and protozoa. It is the obvious next step after recognising that our own struggles are tied up with other humans. And I hope that once we see the ways in which we constrain the free movement of animals for their entire lives, we can begin to see the similiarities and differences in how we create unsustainable monocultures amongst plants and how we treat them.
Taming and domesticating limits the imaginative capacity of our worlds, whether we do it to plants, fungi, other animals, or each other.
So no, there is nothing inherently sacred about other animal species, I hope I have made that much clear. I do not put the needs of other species over my own needs. But I do recognise that I can greatly minimise my support for these dominating and disgusting acts of anti-speciesism, with no negative impact on my quality of life (and in many ways, I've learnt so many things about food I wouldn't have otherwise). But your mileage may vary.
And yes I get it, humans have eaten animal products for thousands of years. But I don't see the vegan diet as a final state for all of humanity to strive for. The vegan diet is a product of our times, a reasonable reaction to the horrors that we have created in the slaughterhouses and the egg farms. I do, however, see anti-speciesism as something to strive for and something I hope will grow to become a culture of respect for our ecological systems, just as it has existed in Indigenous Australian cultures, to name just one example (but even then, I'm implicitly naming hundreds from just that name alone). I don't believe factory farming has any place in an anti-speciesist world. I don't believe lifelong imprisonment, forced insemination, experimentation, and torture should be carried out against any species. I do believe we can imagine a near future with sustainable and respectful hunting practices (perhaps in the form of rituals that act as spiritual reminders), but given the current state of the earth, we all can do our best to minimise our impact on animals.
If you're interested in trying to live in a more anti-speciesist way, especially in the way you eat, there are many different ways you can do it. To give a personal example, I started by cutting out all meat except fish. Eventually I found myself able to do without fish. Slowly I started enjoying coconut yoghurt and the huge variety of alternative milks until I realised I never really drank dairy milk anymore. I then made deliberate effort to cut out eggs and cheese, which I found much easier when I discovered that baking was still very easy and fermented nuts can make great cheeses! Finally I cut out honey and replaced it with agave, maple syrup, or malt syrup. Yet this whole process took me about 3 years.
But I still eat white sugar, white flour, and I use a leather wallet, leather shoes. In other words, I'm not a "perfect" vegan, but that's also not the point. The point is to do your best in whatever way you can. Perhaps you just wanna be vegetarian on weekends. Or maybe only eat meat when you go out to restaurants. Maybe replacing dairy milk with other kinds of milk is super easy for you and you start doing that tomorrow. The best change to your diet which will help other animals the most is the one that you stick to. Don't let people shit on you for not doing it perfectly, but do try and challenge yourself every so often. We gotta just try and keep trying.
A common pitfall is also believing that if you have "failed" once then you have failed completely. I know someone who went vegetarian but after she "relapsed" and ate meat for a week, she gave up on the idea. Why? Vegetarianism is not some contract that you must fulfill and if you "fail" the terms and conditions, you're out completely. How have you failed when you still did something. This something was better than nothing. If you keep trying (and "fail" repeatedly) then you are still doing better than if you had never tried at all. Cut yourself some slack.
Also you don't have to be a crazy animal lover to show respect for other species. Take this from someone who's certainly not an animal lover.
Imagine a world where other animals stay around our household because we protect them, in exchange for wool and eggs. On land where there are no fences, yet other animals hang around. Where horses let us ride on them because they know our route well enough and now want to go in the same direction. Where hunting is intentionally made inconvenient through the use of bow and arrows or slings, and songs are sung respecting the nutrition that a kill has provided.Guns, fishing, and traps are only used when absolutely necessary so an inverse relationship is created between the conveniences available for killing other animal species, and a people's current diet quality.
Page last edited on 6 May 2024.