When we look at animals, what makes them different?
Fundamentally, they look different, they talk differently
They may walk differently
Some may fly, some may swim
But fundamentally when we boil it down
What is different about these beings that we think that we can use as resources?
That we've objectified and reduced to "livestock"
Stock on the shelves that just so happens to be alive - almost an inconvenience that they have to be alive in the first place
What is it is so different about them?
We say it's the circle of life
But is artificial insemination, farming, genetic modification,
is that the circle of life? is that natural? Is it preordained?
Is that natural? Is it preordained?
What about the concept of a food chain? Our food chains are incredibly important
They help maintain natural population sizes of animals, help maintain the ecology in food systems and ecosystems of which they exist
What we do to animals does the opposite as we've already heard. It destroys habitats, it destroys ecosystems
It destabilises population size of animals
It's the leading cause of biodiversity loss
So what we do to animals has the opposite effect on the food chain
And so can we really cite our consumption of animals as being something that should be considered natural?
Normal?
It acceptable just because it is normal?
Is culture and tradition a good benchmark for how we should live our lives and what we consider to be acceptable?
Let's look at other places around the world and see if that does hold up
In Yulin where they kill dogs at the Yulin dog meat festival - is that acceptable because it's cultural?
Is it acceptable that fishermen off the coast of Taiji kill dolphins every single year because it's traditional?
Is it acceptable that in the Faroe Islands - a small island off the coast of Denmark
Is it acceptable every single year, they kill hundreds of pilot whales simply because it's a cultural practice?
It really jarred me last year - the Winter Olympics were on in South Korea and
some of the British public in media were calling on a boycott of the Winter Olympics
And I thought, blooming heck, this must be really interesting, what's happening here?
What's going on that would call for such a boycott?
And it turned out it was because South Korea has a dog meat trade
The British press in some areas,
and the British public in some areas, were saying these athletes who have trained their entire lives to get to this point,
who have worked day in day out to get to this point, should boycott because in South Korea they have a dog meat farm
which means that they kill different animals to the ones that we feel comfortable killing
When some of the athletes were out there, they went to a dog meat farm and rescued some dogs
which was an incredibly noble thing to do. The British media said that they were heroes, animal rights activists and animal lovers
but they got back to where they were training with these rescue dogs and ate pigs and cows and
sheep and chickens and turkeys and geese and fish and all the animals that we conventionally consumed
Why is it that this is the normality of the world that we live in?
Why is it that we allow culture and tradition to define how we live our lives?
Let's look at that argument and apply it to a situation outside of a
non-human-animal-centric position and say what about how we treat each other?
Is female genital mutilation and moral practice because it's cultural and traditional?
Of course not
Is what happens in some countries around the world to other humans acceptable just because they're ingrained in
cultural practices or even laws
Does legality equal morality?
Often people point to me and say yes, but if it was so bad
it wouldn't be allowed to happen
If we actually unearth that something illegal was happening in these farms
The RSPCA would step in, the Trading Standards would step in, the FSA - the Food Standards Agency -
they would step in, there's no way they'd allow these things to happen
But does legality equal morality? And can legality be trusted, when there is such huge vested interests at stake?
Because wherever we want to admit it or not
These industries hold so much power because they hold so much money and, because they have so much money,
they can influence us to keep buying these products which is why we see labels
like "free-range" plastic everywhere and "high welfare" and
"humane slaughter" and we walk into a supermarket and we see things like "Happy cows produce happy milk"
These industries are allowed to get away with it and we think about what does this actually mean "happy cows produce happy milk"?
Because when we boil it down and we say "Is a cow happy when she's forcibly impregnated?"
Is the mother cow happy when her baby is taken away from her?
Is she happy when her baby is taken to a solitary confinement pen?
Is she happy when she is exploited for the milk that she produces for her child?
Is she happy that when she is so exploited and depleted,
she's loaded into a truck or trailer and taken to a slaughterhouse?
And is she happy when the bolt-gun is placed against her head and the knife pulled across her throat?
Make no mistake - the industry will paint an idyllic picture of what farming looks like
but they will hide the insidiously tepid reality of what must happen
for animals to be farmed. What about free-range?
We see it all the time - boxes of eggs and even on meat products as well
Now I was vegetarian for a while and even before I was vegetarian, I'd only ever buy free-range eggs
And I'd go around the supermarket with my bacon., my steak, my free-range eggs
And if I saw anyone with caged eggs, I'd look at them and think "What sort of person would buy caged eggs?!"
How could you be so cruel to animals?!
Because we are sold this idea of freedom in these eggs, because when we see the word "free-range" we put our ideals of freedom onto this box of eggs
and so freedom to us means living a life of peace,
doing what we want to do, being with friends, family
Fundamentally it means living a life free from exploitation, harm and suffering
That's what being free means to us - autonomy
So we're saying these hens must have lived a good life. They must have done what was natural to them
They must have had autonomy, but we also say they must have lived a life without suffering and exploitation and harm
But of course we know that's not true
And so when we see these labels
We've got to understand that they're there to manipulate us and make us buy this product,
make us consume this product
These industries have vested interests and so they have to sell us an
ideal of farming that we want to buy into,
that we will ardently defend and turn away when we see something that contradicts our values
Now within society, we all suffer from cognitive biases - these almost flaws or
vulnerabilities in our brain that sometimes get in the way of us thinking rationally about something
And one of these is called the "Ostrich effect" where, when confronted with something that
contradicts our values or the way that we want to live, we simply ignore it and bury our head in the sand
and pretend it doesn't exist
or we say grass-fed animals are great for the environment because Allan Savory says so
Ignoring all of the UN and the University of Oxford the University of Cambridge and all these other studies that have come up to contradict
someone that has absolutely no reputable science
Or we see what happens in farms
because activists document it all, or because it's shown in the mainstream media on occasion
and we turn away and say that's one bad egg,
that's one bad farmer,
that's one bad situation,
but it doesn't reflect the industry as a whole
But at some point we have to recognise that the choices that we make
have a far greater impact than maybe we want to believe and maybe that we even do perceive
but we have to understand they exist
It's when we go into a supermarket and we pick up a steak or a box of eggs - caged, free-range, organic
Whatever labels on there
We have to understand that that purchase cannot be justified simply by citing individualistic reasons
like taste or sensory pleasure or convenience
or culture or personal choice
We have to understand that, as beings that have so much power in this world -
because it's undeniable that we have complete dominance on this planet - that dominance doesn't mean that we have the freedom to exploit
But instead means that we have the responsibility and obligation to safeguard
We should view ourselves not as the top of the food chain as we often like to say but as stewards
Our job here is to maintain a planet not just for us
But for all animals to thrive for all species including plants to thrive
to create a harmonious ecosystem and world that hopefully we can all live symbiotically in
potentially idealistic
Potentially slightly utopian, but it's something we should strive for and of course we can never be perfect
But in the world that we live in, in Cambridge in the UK
Consuming plant-based foods is not challenging
It's about reshaping what's normal to us, reshaping habits, reshaping what we're used to - but it's easy
We don't have to reinvent the wheel
When I started being vegan, I thought "I've got to eat quinoa and kale every day - that's what vegans do right?"
I made a big mistake and I was eating all this kale and quinoa thinking
"Well, this is what vegans eat, I ain't feeling too good about it though"
And then I realised actually I don't have to change so much about the way that I live
And I thought what foods do I enjoy? I'm a big pasta fan so spaghetti bolognese is like my number one right?
I thought well, this is pretty easy
I just take out the beef mince and put soy mince or lentils
and obviously I've got the same dish but it's entirely vegan, put some vegan cheese or some nutritional yeast, you're done, right?
Or mac and cheese or curries or even burgers
and you think well, actually, going vegan doesn't mean giving anything up
except animal exploitation
Going vegan doesn't mean we have to really make any sacrifices in our life - in fact, we do the opposite
We stop sacrificing. We stop sacrificing those around us for an unnecessary reason
And I was what's rightfully being said simply being vegan isn't enough
And we should also make a distinction between something being vegan and something being ethical
As we should also look at the origins of foods that we consume or types of foods that we consume as well
but going plant-based and vegan - the whole lifestyle, including the clothes that we wear -
is the single first step that we should make on that journey
It just so happens to be the biggest step that we can make as well and then we can start looking more consciously at other
aspects of our lives and how we have it impact in this planet of living beings, human and non-human
But make that first step
Try it
See it
So much easier than we're led to believe
So much simpler than we were led to believe
and we have nothing to lose from trying it
The best thing we can do for our planet,
the best thing we can do for the animals, and the best thing that we can do for ourselves as humans as well
And so the question that I'll leave you with - a few questions I'll leave you with - is
How do we morally justify what we do to animals when we know the damage that it causes?
We recognise them as being sentient individuals and we know that we can live without having to consume them
What moral justification can we use?
What do we place higher value on?
Our taste buds, our convenience, our habits and routines?
Or their lives?
The life of an animal, but also the life of our planet
and the biodiversity that exists within our planet for the habitats that are destroyed, for the emissions that increase global warming that leads to
habitat erosion, soil erosion, water droughts, conflicts
What do we place higher value on?
A simple 15 minute meal that we forget about almost as soon as we've consumed?
A simple meal that really means nothing to us?
Apart from a means to an end for sustenance
A simple meal that we just move on from?
Or their lives?
Our future, the future for our children, the future for other non-human animals - indeed our own future as well
What has higher value to us?
Thank you so much for listening
[applause]