Although this article by Titanic director James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis Cameron is five years old and was written before the pandemic, its message is more urgent today than ever.
The vegan commitment the Hollywood power couple made nearly ten years ago for ethical and environmental reasons, has led them to projects focussing on ending animal agriculture. Recently, they produced Amy Taylor’s prize-winning documentary MILKED.
(Feature photo credit by Roxanne Mccannon/Malibu Times)
In raising the alarm about climate change recently Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres said we’re ‘going in the wrong direction’ in combatting global warming, but failed to mention animal agriculture as a significant cause. In November 2021, the COP26 climate summit left animal agriculture out of its agenda completely.
In my country, New Zealand, a full half of our greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture, yet our new Climate Change Adaptation Plan fails to address the problem.
The United Nations has formally stated that we are in a ‘Code Red,’ environmental emergency, and all around us we see the climate crisis playing out in realtime – for example, the European heatwaves and Pakistan floods just in the last few months.
When it comes to global warming, animal agriculture is the elephant in the room we refuse to see. The process of raising and killing animals for food is much more carbon-intensive than growing and harvesting plants, and comes with a high cost in emissions. In breeding, raising, and slaughtering billions of animals for food every year we use much more land and fresh water, and create massive amounts of waste and pollution.
When it comes to veganism, though, there is not one, but two gigantic elephants in the room. The Russian/Ukraine conflict has now been recognised as a full-scale war, one of many conflicts and insurgencies going on around the globe. What is the other elephant in the room that is standing in the way of all our efforts to make peace in the world?
The other elephant in the room is the violence and cruelty inherent in the animal agriculture industry, and the misery it inflicts on sentient beings. As many Jewish writers, including Isaac Beshavis Singer, have pointed out, it is a holocaust of vast proportions where we show the victims no mercy, and from where there is no escape.
“As long as there are slaughterhouses there will be battlefields” Tolstoy said in ‘What I Believe’. If we want a world without wars, we have to stop waging war on helpless animals.
And if we want a chance to bring global warming back from the brink, our leaders need to begin to name animal agriculture as a large part of the problem, and start working towards a plant-based world
If you care about our planet and all the Earthlings we share it with, then you should read this wonderful book.
Monbiot, a vegan, believes that animal farming is unsustainable, and industrial meat and dairy could collapse remarkably rapidly. (At May Safely Graze we believe that it could be as early as 2025). There is a complexity of reasons for this, including the rise of alternative proteins and fats made from plants, fungi, and genetically modified bacteria.
Here are some reviews of Regenesis:-
“Brilliant, mesmerizing, vital . . . a whole new way of thinking about our agriculture and our diets, our climate and our future.” – David Wallace-Wells, New York Times bestselling author of The Uninhabitable Earth
“A world-making, world-changing book . . . It rings and sings throughout with Monbiot’s extraordinary combination of passion, generosity, and justice.” – Robert Macfarlane, New York Times bestselling author of Underland
“Regenesis is a lively and deeply researched enquiry that confronts our dilemmas head on.Transformation is urgently needed, and this book shows how it is possible.” – Merlin Sheldrake, international bestselling author of Entangled Life
“Monbiot writes with all the imaginative sympathy of a great storyteller as well as the overarching understanding of a moral visionary. This is a fine and necessary book.” – Philip Pullman, New York Times bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy
“People from all walks of life should read this remarkable book. It is in my view one of the two or three most important books to appear this century.” – Professor Sir David King, former chief scientific advisor to the UK government
“Regenesis speaks to us like a poem. . . . It offers a magnificent political economy of global food production and concludes with a hopeful vision of a techno-ethical equilibrium between Humanity and Nature. It must be read.” – Yanis Varoufakis, author of Another Now
“Regenesis calls for nothing less than a revolution in the future of food—one that will literally transform the face of the Earth. . . . This is Monbiot’s masterpiece.” – Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics
“A harmonic vision of how changing our relationship to land use, farming, and the food that we eat could transform our lives.” – Thom Yorke
“A visionary, fearless, essential book.” – Lucy Jones, author of The Big Ones and Losing Eden
“Inspiring and compelling. A transformative vision of a new food future with the potential to both restore nature and feed the world.” – Caroline Lucas, MP and former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
“A genuinely brilliant, inspirational book.” – Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project
“Monbiot reaches for new ideas that might ignite the collective consciousness in a push to protect, rather than tragically destroy, the biosphere.” – ANOHNI
“Essential reading . . . This deeply researched book provides a blueprint for the future.” – Rosie Boycott, journalist and activist
“The writing, observation, and devotion is infectiously compelling. The learning is deep and immense.” – Mark Rylance, actor
“Regenesis gives us an inspiring vision of the future. . . Monbiot has combined his gifts as an investigator, interviewer, and witty storyteller to create an exhilarating epic!” – Robert Newman
The book is available in hardback, and as an e-book and audio-book.
End Animal Slaughter’s congratulations go to Professor Peter Singer who is the sixth recipient of the Berggruen Institute’s annual $1 million Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.
Established by French-born billionaire philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen in 2016, the award goes each year to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped our world.
The Berggruen Prize jury chose Singer because he has been extremely influential in shaping the animal rights and effective altruism movements, and has for decades worked for the eradication of global poverty.
I have some of Professor Singer’s books, and admire him as a rigorous and fearless ethical philosopher. Some of his views have been controversial, but as he wrote when he launched the Journal of Controversial Ideas in 2020, suppressing a view that may offend some people ‘would drastically narrow the freedom of expression on a wide range of ethical, political and religious questions.’ Freedom of thought, rightly, receives absolute protection under international human rights law. Rather than suppressing views, it is informed, rational and compassionate public debate that is called for.
I still remember as a young woman reading Animal Liberation, the book Singer wrote in the 1970s to argue that the suffering we inflicted on our fellow animals in food production and research was morally indefensible. Even today I recall how my hand shook as I turned the pages, wondering what other horrors of our inhumanity to our fellow beings would be revealed. This book helped chart the course of my life, and I will always be grateful to Professor Singer for that. I also know of many other activists who read that book, and acknowledge the seminal it played in their life’s work.
Nearly fifty years later, Singer remains a powerful force for change. He will donate half the prize to The Life You Can Save, a charity he founded to help the world’s poorest people, and the remainder will go to animal charities, especially those working to free animals from factory farms. You can help decide how some of the money he is donating will be allocated by going to his charity’s website.
As Nicolas Berggruen says, Singer’s ideas ‘have inspired conscientious individual action, better organised and more effective philanthropy and entire social movements, with the lives of millions improved as a result.’
Thankyou Professor Singer for everything you have done and will continue to do. This prize is very well deserved.
Sandra Kyle, Founder, End Animal Slaughter
NASA is already considering what kind of habitation we’ll need to survive on the surface of Mars and are working towards colonising the planet by 2030, Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, has settled for a date even before then. Those of us old enough will recognise the parallels with President Kennedy’s 1962 speech: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth”.
The colonisation of Mars is now out of the realms of science fiction and into the realms of practical possibility. Will we colonise Mars within the decade? What will it mean for the human race and other animals? Will the new food system be Humanity’s Do-Over? Can we cease eating animals before we even set foot on Mars?
Read the Sentient Media article here
Like so many others, I’ve realized that a new reality has set in, where we’re facing threats to our survivability, unprecedented in our lifetimes. Yes, these are frightening times, not only because of the dire threats of the COVID-19 virus to our health, but because we’re undergoing, out of necessity, drastic changes in our daily habits and the ways in which we interact with others.
More than ever before, this global pandemic has become a driving force for us to re-examine our place in the world.
This is not to minimize mankind’s extraordinary achievements, the progress we’ve made in so many areas of human endeavor, and the immense advances we’ve made in science and technology. It’s those very advances that have allowed us to remain, albeit remotely, connected to each other, and maintain awareness of the rapidly-shifting landscape of the crisis we’re in.
Somewhere, along the way, our society has lost a sense of connection to the natural world that surrounds us.
But somewhere along the way, our society has lost a sense of connection to the natural world that surrounds us. I’m certainly not an expert on global health, life sciences, or the complexities of the earth’s ecosystems. But it’s just become more and more apparent to me how the collective actions, attitudes, and energies that we put out into the world do indeed reflect back to us, and become manifest. In these times, we’re seeing the truth of that saying, “All things connect.”
So I share here some of the thoughts, observations and reflections I’ve had over the past couple weeks. I’m sure that some of you have had these thoughts as well, and others of your own that reflect your own unique lens on the world. I think that sharing our perceptions with each other can be valuable ways to communicate meaningfully, as we grow and transform our lives through this difficult time.
If nothing else, the current global pandemic is a direct sign that humans must move away from exploitation of animals. In not doing so, we will continue to put our own lives in peril. It’s not as if we haven’t received warnings before – the Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, avian flu, swine flu, salmonella, Ebola – all stem from animal exploitation.
I hope that the coronavirus pandemic leads us to conscious global awakening and awareness of how our actions are wreaking destruction on the planet. Industrialized animal agriculture, fossil fuel use, deforestation, pollution, urbanization, mining, decimation of sea life – all have led to a staggering loss of habitat and biodiversity.
I hope that the coronavirus pandemic leads us to conscious global awakening and awareness of how our actions are wreaking destruction on the planet. Industrialized animal agriculture, fossil fuel use, deforestation, pollution, urbanization, mining, decimation of sea life – all have led to a staggering loss of habitat and biodiversity. As David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, wrote: “We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses. We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.” Over 70% of emerging infectious diseases can be traced to animals. Our species cannot expect to survive if we continue to perpetuate our egocentric view of the world, that the earth’s resources are inexhaustible and its inhabitants expendable.
How successfully we deal with this challenge and the many more that are sure to come, will depend upon our ability to aggressively pursue preventive courses of action. This is inherently difficult, as one could argue that it’s a part of human nature to be more reactive than proactive; we can feel powerless and distant from being part of the solution, waiting until circumstances become so dire that we are then forced to address the problem. Once the challenge of the moment passes, will we only fall back to our usual habits and complacency, until the next crisis arrives?
The damage of animal agriculture is a symptom of something much deeper than its physical effects. For it is a denial, a contradiction and a betrayal in the most violent way, of our most precious and powerful instinct – compassion.
The damage of animal agriculture is a symptom of something much deeper than its physical effects. For it is a denial, a contradiction and a betrayal in the most violent way, of our most precious and powerful instinct – compassion. Our ability to feel for others is at the center of our hearts. Certainly many of us, especially those of us with companion animals, would say, “I love animals!” Yet in what is the greatest cognitive dissonance of our time, society turns a blind eye to the billions of animals who suffer a brutal death. It’s an invisible thread in our lives, so deeply embedded that most of society never questions, let alone gives thought to it. More than ever, it is time to open our eyes, our minds and above all our hearts.
By refusing to exploit the innocent and the vulnerable, we can truly live the Golden Rule and spread veganism’s positive message that the world needs now, more than ever.
As an ethical vegan and animal advocate, I can say that becoming vegan was the most positive, powerful and transformative decision I ever made. As many of you can attest, the plant-based lifestyle is so much more than making nutritious food choices; every time we eat whole plant foods, we’re choosing not only good health, but compassion, non-violence, empathy for other beings, a deeper sense of peace, and respect for all life and the planet. By refusing to exploit the innocent and the vulnerable, we can truly live the Golden Rule and spread veganism’s positive message that the world needs now, more than ever. Every individual makes a difference! As Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
I believe that this crisis is a turning point for us, and that in meeting the challenges we face, it will be the best of our human qualities that move us forward: our intellect, ingenuity, inventiveness, creativity, compassion and determination.
I like to imagine that a future society looks back upon our time and sees that we were the ones who courageously envisioned a new world. One in which we’ve moved beyond self-interest, material gain, division and conflict, to an elevated awareness that we are all connected as equals. One in which we’ve realized a new (even exciting!) future of food that is healing and not borne of violence to other beings. And a world where we’ve ended the ravages upon our planet, instead, regenerating and preserving its beauty and many gifts.
