TRIGGER WARNING

Mass murder, assault, abuse, sexual assault, racism

From a purely economic standpoint animals are incredibly expensive to grow. 50% of the world’s antibiotics are used for animals. 91% of deforestation is for animal agriculture.

There are more statistics but I’m sure you understand how incredibly expensive it is to grow animals. Especially in comparison to the cost to grow crops.

I would never recommend that anyone make the switch to veganism overnight. That would be very difficult to pull off simply due to how much information you need to learn. And I don’t recommend transitioning to a vegan diet without talking to your doctor and a nutritionist first.

“Anyhow, animal agriculture has so many negative effects on our society other than the effects on the animals themselves. Slaughterhouse workers are predominantly minorities, forced/coerced into unfair working conditions, and suffer high rates of physical/mental health issues”

Working conditions

It’s mostly BIPOC who work in slaughterhouses. When it comes to immigrants, over 60% are people of color and that figure has been steadily rising. The rates of undocumented workers also seem to be a growing number. Who is looking out for their rights and mental health?

PTSD rates from slaughterhouse work are among the highest in any profession. And sadly, PTSD isn’t the only psychological disorder commonly associated with slaughterhouse work. We also see a rise in domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse and PITS. In addition to all of this, we see an increase in crimes committed by slaughterhouse workers.

The working conditions of slaughterhouses are not acceptable. Workers are three times more likely to be seriously injured than the average profession. In fact, amputations occur twice a week on average.

Long term injuries are astronomically expensive in this industry as well. Carpel tunnel syndrome costs over two billion annually in medical care alone. This does not include the lost wages.

“Slaughterhouse workers file administrative civil rights complaint with the USDA alleging dangerous working conditions exacerbated by racial discrimination in workplace policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Sexism & sexual assault

Laying hens produce eggs. Aside from reproduction, their male counterparts serve no purpose in animal agriculture. As a result, seven billion male chicks are slaughtered annually around the world. Perhaps you’re wondering how exactly a chick is killed. The most common killing method is by grounding them up alive.

Given the elevated rates of crime among slaughterhouse workers, it should come as no surprise that sexual assault is an issue. There have been countless reports of sexual harassment, assault, and rape committed against not only female workers, but also animals in slaughterhouses.

Rape culture is normalized within not only slaughterhouses but also animal agriculture. In fact, so much so that the device used to confine female cows in order to inseminate them artificially is commonly called a ‘rape rack’.

“If anyone at URI knows anything about “the slaughterhouse” or any other sexual assault cases, @urirapist is anonymous and is also posting many many resources.'”

Climate change

The fact is that it’s mostly BIPOC that are dying of starvation. Over 800 million people die from starvation annually. And each year that number climbs. Even the rates of malnutrition are disproportionately higher among countries with dominantly BIPOC populations.

It’s mostly BIPOC who are going to die or be displaced by climate change.

The reality is that veganism, or at minimum a plant-based diet, would end global hunger many times over. Presently, we don’t even have a food shortage globally. We have a food distribution problem that causes starvation and malnutrition on a mass scale.

The people in developing nations are starving to death even though crops are grown abundantly in their countries. Why? We produce much of our grains and produce in developing countries for livestock consumption. Meaning, we grow crops abroad and ship them to feed animals we’re raising domestically.

As you can imagine, this contributes to the climate crisis, is incredibly inefficient and wasteful of not only food, but also money and other resources. Don’t worry, there’s a solution to all of these issues that I’m getting to.

“Literally Pick an atrocity, and see it for yourself. I’m done.”

The economy

Transitioning from animal products to plant-based products will take time BUT demand creates supply. So the first thing with that would be that more jobs will be created in the plant-based sector. Therefore giving people in the farming industry other job opportunities. 

The second part to that the meat and dairy industry receive absolutely massive subsidies from the government. What this means is that we are literally paying taxes to pay the prices we do for animal products. 

Imagine if instead of those “discounts” going towards animal products they went towards fruits and veggies. Now suddenly fresh produce is much more affordable for everybody. And we can also have an economy that can survive and thrive.

This becomes possible because produce is much cheaper to grow than an animal is to grow. You can vote for this to happen!

And again these would still be jobs that need people to work in them. The nature of the work changes, but it is still farming. Minus the PTSD and high rates of violent crimes people suffer from working in slaughterhouses. 

“vegans: maybe farming animals is harmful bc it’s causing— meat eaters: UHM this is NOT the time to bring up world hunger, deforestation, environmental racism, ocean dead zones, cancer, heart disease, animal cruelty or climate change all due to animal agriculture! ppl are dying!!”

The Next Steps

We know animal agriculture is presently the second biggest global polluter. However, it’s on track to surpass oil and become the biggest. We also know that global hunger is killing hundreds of millions of people.

It’s been established that animal agriculture leverages rape culture and sexism to harm female employees and harm and kill animals. And we understand that slaughterhouse workers are subjected to dehumanizing experiences on an ongoing base, disproportionately impacting women and BIPOC.

Encouragingly, there are solutions to all of these problems. There are billions of people around the world who have the financial and medical ability to become vegan. This is not about the people living in food deserts, or living in poverty where meat and dairy are cheaper food options.

Nor is this about people with medical conditions that make it impossible for them to even consider a vegan diet. It’s about the billions of people who can go vegan and choose not to. If you’re concerned about freedom of choice after reading this article, please also read this one and do additional research on the issue.

There are also billions of people who can vote for political representatives. They can elect people who provide subsidies for fruit and veggies, offer nutritional vegan food in schools, and work to stem the climate crisis.

There are also billions of us who can support local farms and a lot of us who can even grow our own food. All of these things help mitigate the climate crisis. Yes, it’s true that corporations should be held accountable for the part they play. At the same time, do you really want continue watching the world burn while you want for them to take action? Do your part.

“Found these facts on @MercyForAnimals’s website & felt compelled to share: •Going vegan cuts ur carbon footprint in HALF •Meat production contributes to world hunger •Pigs are smarter than human toddlers •Factory farming is anti-female •We could see fishless oceans by 2048”