|
On this day (February 1) in 1995, British animal rights activist Jill Phipps was crushed to death by a truck transporting veal calves during a protest in England. This was a profoundly devastating and tragic event. Ms. Phipps was protesting the veal industry, which is also tragic, as are all of the other slaughter and exploitation industries. With respect to veal in particular, in the dairy industry, since female cows must be repeatedly impregnated to produce milk, many of their resulting calves (including *all* of the males) are considered a “byproduct”, with most being disposed of by selling and killing them for veal. When it comes to cruelty and death, dairy is veal, and veal is dairy. Dairy (as well as meat, fish, eggs and all other animal products) involve unimaginable cruelty on a massive scale. Also tragic is the fact that the livestock industry, overall, is an environmental disaster of global proportions — being the #1 cause of deforestation, per the UN, as well as a leading driver of land degradation, water pollution, climate change, and loss of biodiversity on land and in the oceans. But despite the uncontroversial fact that we have no biological need to consume any dairy (or any other animal products), we continue to do so at a staggering scale, with the UN projecting a 20% increase in dairy consumed globally in the next 10 years alone. What will it take for the urgently needed, mass global shift away from unjust, environmentally devastating, and completely unnecessary animal products? It’s *easy* to live vegan, and it’s one of the best and most impactful actions you can take right now as an individual on so many levels. If you’re not vegan already, please look into these issues further and go vegan. If you are vegan, please do whatever you can to help raise awareness. |