Presentation by Nick Pendergrast at the Cruelty Free Festival in Perth organised by Animal Rights Advocates Inc.

1. FOOD & SOCIAL JUSTICE: HOW WHAT WE EAT
CAN BENEFIT PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
Nick Pendergrast

2. Plant-based foods are better for the
ANIMALS

3. PLANT-BASED FOODS BENEFIT ANIMALS
 Nearly everyone is opposed to “unnecessary
suffering” to animals.
 Do we need to eat animal products?
Uproar: Not Your Typical TreeHugger

4. THE AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
 „Appropriately planned vegetarian diets,
including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are
healthful, nutritionally adequate, and …
appropriate for individuals during all stages
of the life cycle, including pregnancy,
lactation, infancy, childhood, and
adolescence, and for athletes.‟
American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets

5. BUT DO “HUMANE” ANIMAL PRODUCTS INVOLVE
SUFFERING?
Humane Myth
Peaceful Prairie: The Free-Range Myth

6. UNNECESSARY SUFFERING
 Less unnecessary suffering is still
unnecessary suffering.
 Oppose unnecessary suffering = avoid
animal products.

7. But what are you doing for
PEOPLE?

8. SHOULDN’T WE HELP HUMANS FIRST?
 Sympathetic about animal suffering but too
busy helping people?
 Still have time to eat.
 Doesn‟t take time away from helping people.
 „There is nothing to stop those who devote
their time and energy to human problems
from joining the boycott of the products of
agribusiness cruelty‟ (Peter Singer).

9. ANIMAL PRODUCTS AND SLAUGHTERHOUSES
 All animal products = slaughterhouses.
 My interview with a slaughterhouse worker:
 Injuries
to workers were common.
 Physical fights amongst the workers.
 Drug use and abuse, during and after work.
 Emotional harm to workers eg “haunted” by the
experience.
Nick Pendergrast: The Silence of the Lambs

10. NOT AN “ISOLATED EXAMPLE”
STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR & MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
 Slaughterhouse
employment
increases:
 total arrest rates;
 arrests for violent
crimes;
 arrests for rape;
 arrests for other sex
offenses.
 Unique to the violent
workplace of the
Slaughterhouses and Increased Crime Rates
slaughterhouse.

11. What about the
ENVIRONMENT?

12. DVD - EATING
 Health-focussed.
 Covers environmental
and animal issues.
 U.S.-centric.
 1.10.25-1.13.35

13. LIVESTOCK’S LONG SHADOW - UN
 „The livestock sector
emerges as one of the
top two or three most
significant contributors
to the most serious
environmental
problems, at every
scale from local to
global.‟
Livestock’s Long Shadow

14. MORE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THAN ALL
FORMS OF TRANSPORT
 „Thinking of helping the
planet by buying an eco-
friendly car? You could do
more by going vegan, say
Gidon Eshel and Pamela
Martin of the University of
Chicago.‟
 Standard diet: nearly
1500 kilograms more
carbon dioxide per
person per year than a
vegan diet.
It’s Better to Green Your Diet than Your

15. ANIMAL AGRICULTURE & GREENHOUSE GASES
 United Nations: 18% greenhouse gases.
 World Watch Institute: 51% greenhouse gases.
 „A substantial reduction of impacts would only
be possible with a substantial worldwide diet
change, away from animal products‟ (UN
Report).
 Vegan diet has the least impact on the planet: „A
global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save
the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the
worst impacts of climate change, a UN report
said today.‟
Sources: UN Urges Global Move to Meat and
Dairy-Free Diet

16. GRAIN – ANIMALS RATHER THAN PEOPLE
 The world‟s cattle alone consume enough food to
feed 8.7 billion people – more than the entire human
population.
 Causing poverty? Problem of distribution.
 Animal agriculture is inefficient: It requires about 6
kg of plant protein to produce 1 kg of animal protein.
 A “standard Western” diet requires over 907 kg of
grain per person per year, whereas the typical plant-
based diet requires less than 205 kg.
 More efficient to consume plant-based foods directly.
Eating Up the World

17. WATER: A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR
AUSTRALIA
 How do we solve the
water problem?

18. WATER USE – DIET AND HOUSEHOLD USE
Eating Up the World

19. WATER USE FOR DIFFERENT PRODUCTS
Eating Up the World

20. WHAT ABOUT THE OCEANS?
 „There will be virtually nothing left to fish from
the seas by the middle of the century if
current trends continue, according to a major
scientific study‟ (BBC News).
‘Only 50 Years Left’ for Sea Fish

21. FOOD AND THE OCEANS
 Seafood.
 „Pigs and poultry
around the world
consume more than
double the seafood
eaten by Japanese
consumers and six
times the amount
consumed by the U.S.
market.‟
Oceans being Killed Off to Feed
Livestock, Farmed Fish

22. SUMMARY
 Plant-based foods:
 For the animals (oppose unnecessary suffering).
 For people (avoid the violence of
slaughterhouses).
 For the environment (animal agriculture has a
much higher impact on the environment).
 For all of these issues, the problem is animal
products, not just meat.

23. VEGANPERTH.ORG.AU

24. FURTHER QUESTIONS/INFO
 2.10-3: Talk – „How to Live a Healthy, Cruelty Free
Lifestyle‟ by Nick Pendergrast.
 Veganperth.org.au
 Further information: Find ARA on Facebook,
search: Animal Rights Advocates Inc.
 nick@ara.org.au