hello everyone and welcome to a new
video i hope that you're all doing well
and i hope that you're all safe
i think we've come to a point now in the
pandemic where it's appropriate just to
pause and reflect on what we've been
taught so far the lessons that covert 19
has shown us
and as a consequence the actions those
tangible actions
that we've taken as a result obviously
in many countries around the world right
now we are
easing lockdown restrictions or kind of
reintegrating back into somewhat of a
normal society and so i want to talk
about some of the failings of our
agricultural system
and i want to pose the question is this
the beginning of the end
for animal agriculture so i think
firstly let's start off a little bit
more broad than that because i think
generally speaking
one of the biggest lessons that we've
been taught by this pandemic so far
is just how interconnected we all are as
a species how the actions of someone on
the other side of the world can have
far-reaching consequences that in turn
affects us as well and vice versa of
course
the actions that we partake in can
affect others we're in this situation
now because of the actions of people who
live
in wuhan that's not to blame people who
live in wuhan because actually it's a
collective responsibility because it's
not just about the consumption of
animals from wet markets in asia
it's about animal farming in general
that greatly exacerbates the risk of
infectious zoonotic disease
another thing we've been taught is how
from an environmental perspective
if we give this world space to breathe
and to try and
regenerate and heal itself it will do
just that
and in a very short space of time we
started to see significant differences
whether that be of wild animals or
general pollution levels when we reduced
some of the harm that we're doing to our
environment
we saw the benefits of that almost
immediately to me i think that's a
really optimistic thing because it shows
moving forward
how changes within the way that we live
as a species can have really profound
and beneficial consequences
i think it's important to note now that
nothing that has happened has come as a
surprise to infectious
disease experts governments and experts
have known for a long time that we are
really at the mercy
of a novel infectious disease with
pandemic potential and we've known that
such a disease could cause billions of
people to be placed in quarantine
cost the global economy trillions and in
turn kill hundreds of thousands if not
millions of people but even though our
governments have known about this
well what have they done this isn't new
information in fact dr greger was
speaking about it over a decade ago
and yet nothing has changed in fact
we've exacerbated the problems because
we're still destroying the natural world
decimating
huge areas of rainforest or of natural
ecosystems
and importantly we've also still ramped
up the industrialization of animal
farming we're rearing more animals
globally than we ever have even though
rearing animals for food and these
intense confined conditions
is one of the biggest risk factors if
not the biggest risk factor
when it comes to the creation of
infectious zoonotic disease now covert
19 may be
strongly thought to have started from a
wet market
in asia but the problem isn't wet
markets in asia
it's animal farming all around the world
which is why the 2009 swine flu pandemic
started in mexico but the genetic
lineage of the virus was traced back to
a north carolina pig farm it's why the
1918 influenza pandemic which killed up
to 50 million people
started in a kansas chicken farm and
it's why since the 1970s we've seen a
significant increase
in the development of novel infectious
diseases such as
bse and of course highly dangerous
strains of avian influenza like h5n1
in fact in the 1970s we entered into
something called the third
epidemiological transition
which is characterized as being notable
due to an explosion in
novel infectious disease now it's no
coincidence that we ended into the third
epidemiological transition
around the same time that we ramped up
the industrialization of animal farming
and began consuming even more meat dairy
and eggs ultimately from an agricultural
perspective
covert 19 has shown how when we exploit
animals
that in turn comes back to us and causes
us suffering as well as a species
that's a really important thing to
recognize because like i said earlier
we've been shown how we're all
interconnected
but that's just not interconnectedness
between humans that's interconnectedness
between
all life it's exposed again the facade
that farmers
love their animals i mean right around
the world currently tens of millions of
animals have been killed in farms in
truly horrendous ways in fact it's just
been exposed in the us that on a pig
farm
these farmers were keeping the pigs
inside the barns turning off the
ventilation
and pumping the barns full of hot steam
and steaming
these animals to death when i was
reading that what disturbed me wasn't
just what was happening it was the idea
that it doesn't matter how much we learn
about what we do to animals
there is always something that we don't
know some other brutal and horrible and
violent thing that we do to animals it
doesn't matter how much i educate myself
i always
find myself becoming so shocked and
disappointed
by the number of ways in which we
violently persecute
and kill these animals we do so many
horrible things to them yet there's
always something
that we do to them that we've not
learned about yet it's just it's really
disappointing and i think that's
something that's actually been shown to
so many people now as vegans were aware
of it before
the culling of animals the complete
disregard for their life
but now i think the wider population has
been shown the true
horrors of animal farming and the
complete disregard that we have
for non-human animal life we've also
been shown throughout the pandemic
what little regard the industry has for
human life as well how
slaughterhouse workers don't just only
have exceptionally high rates of mental
health problems
but are also in times like this forced
to work in these environments
even though doing so comes at a great
risk to their life
it's also shown to us just how
irresponsibly we spend money on these
industries
i mean around the world we spend
hundreds of billions
subsidizing and giving bailouts to an
industry that simply wouldn't survive
in the free market which just further
illustrates how absurd this situation is
because
in the us trump has just signed a 19
billion
dollar bailout to the industry but
bailouts and subsidies are socialist
fiscal measures and so we have a
far-right republican and conservative
when it comes to fiscal policy
adopting socialist measures to bail out
this industry because
it simply won't survive in the free
market to further put this into
perspective
let's say that coronaviruses and
influenzas were caused by
chickpeas so the current pandemic has
now been caused by a chickpea farmer
how would we then feel if the government
signed in a 19
billion dollar bailout to allow chickpea
farmers
to farm more chickpeas now to add
further insult to injury
throughout the pandemic the animal
agriculture industry has been
campaigning
to get people to consume more animal
products all whilst those most at risk
of dying from covert 19 except the
elderly of course
are those of underlying health
conditions such as heart disease
which is caused by our consumption of
animal products and can be reversed
through a whole foods plant-based diet
now all of these issues
are actually having a huge knock-on
effect and people learning about these
different systems and situations
is causing people to think differently
and consequently change how they
consume and change how they live so for
example in the uk
a survey was done which showed that 20
of britons are reducing their meat
consumption during the pandemic
and 15 of britons are reducing their
dairy and or
egg consumption during the pandemic not
only that but there's been record
numbers of sign ups
for meat-free may now in the u.s since
the pandemic
started there's been an increase of 264
percent
in the sales of plant-based meat
alternatives and also in the us there's
been a piece of legislation tabled
called the farm
system reform act which is seeking to
phase out factory farming by the year
2040
has been championed by representatives
and senators including elizabeth warren
perhaps even more concerning for
members of this industry is the fact
that investors have been turning their
attention away
from animal-based foods and turning to
plant-based foods instead in fact
over the years recent years we've seen
huge yearly growth in the amount of
investment
into plant-based foods and during the
pandemic the head of commodities
research of goldman sachs
which is of course one of the biggest
investment banks in the world
had this to say we had a problem with
livestock going into this
we now have a very serious problem
now a good example of the shifting
consumer trends here in the uk can be
seen through wicked healthy
who have the wicked kitchen range in
tesco and tesco is the biggest
supermarket chain
in the uk in their first 20 months of
trading
they sold 10 million units which makes
it the biggest launch in tesco
history now the success of the launch
also caused other leading supermarkets
to release
their own plant-based ranges as well
further amplifying the success of the
wicked kitchen launch
now within their range they have a
variety of products from sandwiches and
wraps
to pizzas and ready meals and they're
also just about to launch something
called wicked meaty
which is where they're taking
plant-based ingredients like mushrooms
for example
and they're creating like-for-like
replacements to the products you would
normally see
down the meat aisle in the supermarket
now this to me is an absolute game
changer because if you're a consumer
walking down the meat aisle
and you see a product that looks
delicious but is also healthier than the
meat
is more sustainable than the meat and
also now let's also remember that people
are going to be thinking to themselves
you can't produce coronaviruses and
influenzas in mushroom farms
when you couple all that together it
creates a very persuasive argument for
consumers who are increasingly likely to
support those plant-based options
instead now from a personal perspective
i didn't just want to highlight wicked
healthy because of their incredibly
successful wicked kitchen launch
but also because it's run by a couple of
really good people derek and chad who i
know personally
are really good guys and importantly
they're staunchly ethical vegan
and it's wonderful now that we live in a
society where we can support brands and
companies
they're not only producing delicious
food but are also doing so to end animal
exploitation and to make the world
a better place for everyone who lives
here and that to me is a really
important thing not only that but they
also have a youtube channel which i'll
link in one of these top corners now
and on the youtube channel they've got
some delicious recipes which you can
make at home
and they also have this new really cute
selection of videos which is plant-based
cooking with children which is
encouraging families
to make plant-based food together so
let's pose that question that i
mentioned right at the beginning of the
video
is this the beginning of the end for
animal agriculture
now i think we can take everything out
the equation that we just talked about
let's take everything we just said about
investments about the political spectrum
about the consumer trends just remove
all of that let's simplify this
situation down and i just want to ask
you
a series of questions and just think to
yourself what your answer to these
questions would be
does the taste of the wild animals
slaughtered in wuhan
make what is happening right now
acceptable
or justifiable does the economic impact
of wild animal farming and the fact that
provides
jobs or wet markets provides jobs in
asia does that make what's happening
right now
justifiable and does the fact that it's
cultural and traditional
for these animals to be raised farmed
and killed in asia
make what's happening now acceptable i
think most of us if not all of us have
of course answered
no to those series of questions but if
we answered no to those series of
questions we must also by default
answer no when those questions are
changed to reflect
animal farming in the places where we
live and so we would say that chicken
farming
and the taste of chicken does not make
avian influenza
acceptable the taste of bacon does not
make swine flu
acceptable we say that the economics of
animal farming and
because animal farming provides jobs
doesn't make the future risk of
influenza and coronavirus
pandemics acceptable and we say it
doesn't matter if it's cultural and
traditional that we eat chickens and
cows and pigs and ducks that's
irrelevant because the fact that it's
culturally traditional does not make
the looming impact of antibiotic
resistance
justifiable and acceptable either and
now antibiotic resistance by the year
2050
will be killing more people than cancer
every single year 10 million lives
a year not only that but it'll cost the
global economy a hundred
trillion dollars we don't think that
that's acceptable
and if it's not acceptable then that
means that we need to make changes
fundamentally we need to disrupt change
and dismantle
animal agriculture ultimately when we
boil it down animal farming is
responsible for causing hundreds of
billions of sentient beings
intense pain suffering and ultimately
death there's also one of the leading
industries in many forms of
environmental degradation and often
the leading industry in those forms of
environmental degradation the
consumption of animal products greatly
increases our risk of things like heart
disease certain forms of cancer
stroke type 2 diabetes our leading
diseases and illnesses
illnesses that kill tens of millions of
people every single year
fundamentally animal agriculture is an
industry that has no place
in our future and there are so many
things that we can do differently
especially
with the subsidies that we continue to
give to animal farmers
one of the first things that we can do
is give those subsidies to animal
farmers but give them to animal farmers
to help them transition to plant-based
agriculture
that's one of the most important things
that we can do for an environmental
perspective we can give those subsidies
to farmers
but to ensure they rewild and reforest
their lands
better for the environment better for
the animals better for us
we can also use subsidies to champion
technological advancements such as
vertical farming and hydroponic systems
of agriculture there are a multitude of
solutions that we have at our disposal
to make this world a safer place a more
harmonious place
a more ethical place a healthier place a
more sustainable place both economically
as well as environmentally but
importantly none of those solutions
involve the continuation of animal
farming it doesn't matter if you come
from the political world
the consumer world the academic world or
the investment world
that is a realization that more and more
people
are starting to realize and the change
is inevitable and so just before the
video ends i want to draw your attention
to this which is a white paper
it's the first white paper that we've
ever published at search
we've got dr michael greger to go
through with his expert's opinion
because it's a white paper all about how
nearly every single major infectious
zoonotic disease outbreak in the past
120 years
is inextricably linked to our
exploitation of animals
now it's completely free to download on
our website which is
www.searchactivism.org so if that sounds
like something you'd be interested in
give it a download
read it and let me know what you think
as well and we really hope that it's a
beneficial resource
for you guys so thank you so much for
watching today's video i would also like
just to draw attention to my podcast
which is called the disclosure podcast
and in recent episodes i've been talking
extensively
about the current pandemic so if you'd
like to learn a little bit more or learn
a little bit more about my thoughts
about certain aspects of it
then check that out the disclosure
podcast on spotify
and on itunes alright guys thank you so
much for watching please
do continue to stay safe look after
yourselves and your loved ones
and i look forward to speaking to you
all in the next video
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