A lesson in turning adversaries into allies
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0:01 - 0:04In the summer of 2014,
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0:04 - 0:08I found myself sitting across from a man
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0:08 - 0:11who, by every definition, was my enemy.
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0:12 - 0:14His name was Craig Watts,
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0:14 - 0:17and he's a chicken factory farmer.
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0:17 - 0:21My career is devoted
to protecting farmed animals -
0:21 - 0:23and ending factory farming.
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0:23 - 0:26And up until this point in my life,
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0:26 - 0:29I had spent every waking moment
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0:29 - 0:32standing up against everything
this man stood for, -
0:32 - 0:35and now, I was in his living room.
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0:36 - 0:38The day I met Craig Watts
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0:38 - 0:41he had been raising chickens for 22 years
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0:41 - 0:43for a company called Perdue,
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0:43 - 0:46the fourth largest chicken company
in the entire country. -
0:46 - 0:48And as a young man,
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0:48 - 0:51he had yearned for this way
to stay on the land -
0:51 - 0:55in one of the poorest
counties in the state. -
0:55 - 0:57So when the chicken industry came to town,
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0:57 - 1:00he thought, "This is a dream come true."
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1:00 - 1:03He took a quarter
of a million dollar loan out, -
1:03 - 1:05and he built these chicken houses.
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1:05 - 1:08Perdue would give him a flock,
he'd raise them, -
1:08 - 1:09and each flock he'd get paid,
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1:09 - 1:12and then he'd pay off
in small increments that loan, -
1:12 - 1:13like a mortgage.
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1:14 - 1:17But pretty soon, the chickens got sick.
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1:18 - 1:19It's a factory farm, after all,
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1:19 - 1:22there are 25,000 chickens
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1:22 - 1:24that are stuffed wall-to-wall,
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1:24 - 1:28living on their own feces,
breathing ammonia-laden air. -
1:28 - 1:31And when chickens get sick,
some of them die. -
1:31 - 1:33And you don't get paid for dead chickens,
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1:33 - 1:35and Craig started to struggle
to pay off his loan, -
1:36 - 1:38he realized he made a mistake,
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1:38 - 1:42but he was all but an indentured
servant at this stage. -
1:42 - 1:46When I met him,
he was at a breaking point. -
1:46 - 1:49The payments seemed never-ending.
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1:49 - 1:51As did the death,
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1:51 - 1:54despair and illness of his chickens.
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1:55 - 2:02Now, if we humans tried to think
of some super unjust, -
2:02 - 2:05unfair, filthy and cruel food system,
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2:05 - 2:10we could not have thought
of anything worse than factory farming. -
2:10 - 2:14Eighty billion farmed animals
around the world annually -
2:14 - 2:16are raised and slaughtered.
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2:16 - 2:20They're stuffed in cages and warehouses
never to see the light of day. -
2:20 - 2:24And that's not just a problem
for those farmed animals. -
2:24 - 2:25Animal agriculture,
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2:25 - 2:29it accounts for more
greenhouse gas emissions -
2:29 - 2:33than all of the planes, trains
and automobiles put together. -
2:33 - 2:37And one third of our arable land is used
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2:37 - 2:39to grow feed to feed
factory-farmed animals, -
2:39 - 2:41rather than ourselves.
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2:41 - 2:45And all that land is sprayed
with immeasurable chemicals. -
2:45 - 2:48And ecologically important habitats,
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2:48 - 2:50like the Amazon,
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2:50 - 2:53are cut down and are burnt,
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2:53 - 2:56all so we can feed
and house farmed animals. -
2:56 - 2:59By the time my three kids grow up,
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2:59 - 3:02there's very unlikely to be polar bears,
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3:02 - 3:05Sumatran elephants, orangutans.
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3:05 - 3:08In my lifetime,
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3:08 - 3:12the number of birds, amphibians,
reptiles and mammals has halved. -
3:13 - 3:16And the main culprit
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3:16 - 3:20is our global appetite
for meat, dairy and eggs. -
3:20 - 3:23And for me, up until this point,
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3:23 - 3:26the villain was Craig Watts.
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3:27 - 3:30And as I sat there in his living room,
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3:30 - 3:34my fear and my anger
turned into something else. -
3:35 - 3:37Shame.
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3:38 - 3:40My whole life I had spent blaming him,
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3:40 - 3:41hating him,
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3:41 - 3:43I even wished him ill.
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3:44 - 3:47I had never once
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3:47 - 3:50thought about his struggle, his choices.
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3:51 - 3:53Could he be a potential ally?
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3:53 - 3:55I never had thought
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3:55 - 3:58he feels as trapped as the chickens.
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4:00 - 4:03So we had been sitting there for hours
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4:03 - 4:06and the midday turned into afternoon,
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4:06 - 4:08turned into dusk, turned into darkness,
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4:08 - 4:09and he suddenly said,
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4:09 - 4:12"OK, are you ready to see the chickens?"
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4:12 - 4:14So under the cover of darkness,
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4:14 - 4:18we walked towards one
of these long, gray houses. -
4:18 - 4:20And he swung open the door
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4:20 - 4:22and we stepped inside,
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4:22 - 4:25and we were hit
with this overpowering smell -
4:25 - 4:28and every muscle in my body tensed up
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4:28 - 4:30and I coughed and my eyes teared.
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4:30 - 4:34I was too overwhelmed
by my own physical discomfort, -
4:34 - 4:35I didn't even look around at first,
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4:35 - 4:37but when I did,
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4:37 - 4:40what I saw brought me to tears.
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4:40 - 4:43Tens of thousands of newly hatched chicks
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4:43 - 4:46in this darkened warehouse
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4:46 - 4:49with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
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4:50 - 4:53Over the next few months,
I returned many times, -
4:54 - 4:55with filmmaker Raegan Hodge,
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4:55 - 4:58to record, to understand,
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4:58 - 5:00to build trust with Craig.
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5:00 - 5:01And I walked his houses with him
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5:01 - 5:04as he picked up dead and dying birds,
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5:04 - 5:07birds with messed-up legs
and trouble breathing -
5:07 - 5:09and difficulty walking.
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5:09 - 5:12And all of this we caught on film.
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5:13 - 5:15And then we decided to do something
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5:15 - 5:18I don't think either he or I
ever expected to do when we first met. -
5:18 - 5:20We decided to release that footage.
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5:20 - 5:23And that was really risky for both of us.
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5:23 - 5:26It was risky for him
because he could lose his income, -
5:26 - 5:30his home, his land,
his neighbors hating him. -
5:30 - 5:33And I could risk
getting my organization sued, -
5:33 - 5:36or being the reason
that he would lose everything, -
5:36 - 5:39but we had to do it anyway.
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5:42 - 5:44"The New York Times" broke the story
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5:44 - 5:47and within 24 hours,
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5:47 - 5:50a million people had seen our video.
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5:50 - 5:53It went viral by every definition,
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5:53 - 5:56and suddenly we had this global platform
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5:56 - 5:59for talking about factory farming.
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6:01 - 6:04And working with Craig got me thinking.
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6:04 - 6:08What other unlikely allies are out there?
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6:09 - 6:11What other progress,
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6:11 - 6:15what other lessons can I learn
if I cross those enemy lines? -
6:17 - 6:19The first lesson I learned
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6:19 - 6:23is that we have to become comfortable
with being uncomfortable. -
6:24 - 6:27Only talking to people who agree with us,
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6:27 - 6:29it's not going to get us to the solution.
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6:31 - 6:35We have to be willing
to enter other people's space. -
6:35 - 6:36Because quite often,
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6:36 - 6:40the enemy has the power
to change the problem -
6:40 - 6:42that we're trying to solve.
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6:42 - 6:45In my case, I'm not in charge
of a single chicken. -
6:45 - 6:47The farmer is and so are
the meat companies. -
6:47 - 6:50So I need to enter their space
if I want to solve the problem. -
6:51 - 6:54And a couple of years
after working with Craig, -
6:54 - 6:57I did something again
I never expected to do. -
6:57 - 7:00I sat down with an even bigger
so-called enemy: -
7:00 - 7:03Jim Perdue himself.
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7:03 - 7:06The man I had made the villain
of my viral video. -
7:08 - 7:10And again, through difficult conversations
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7:10 - 7:13and being uncomfortable,
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7:13 - 7:16Perdue came out with the first
animal care policy -
7:16 - 7:18of any poultry company.
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7:19 - 7:21In it, they agreed to do
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7:21 - 7:25some of the things we had criticized them
for not doing in the viral video, -
7:25 - 7:28like put windows into houses.
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7:28 - 7:29And pay for them.
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7:31 - 7:33And that was a really
important lesson for me. -
7:35 - 7:36The second lesson
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7:36 - 7:41is that when we sit down to negotiate
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7:41 - 7:42with the enemy,
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7:42 - 7:46we need to remember,
there's a human being in front of us -
7:46 - 7:49that very likely
has more in common with us -
7:49 - 7:52than we care to admit.
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7:52 - 7:53And I learned this firsthand
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7:53 - 7:57when I was invited to visit
at a major poultry company's headquarters. -
7:57 - 8:01And it was the first time
that my organization had been invited, -
8:01 - 8:06and any organization had been invited,
to visit with them. -
8:06 - 8:08And as we walked through the corridor,
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8:08 - 8:11there were literally people
who were peeking our from the cubicles -
8:11 - 8:14to get a quick look at what does
an animal rights activist look like, -
8:14 - 8:16and we walked --
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8:16 - 8:19I look like this, so I don't know
what they were expecting. -
8:19 - 8:20(Laughter)
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8:20 - 8:23But as we walked into the boardroom,
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8:23 - 8:26there was an executive
who was in charge, sitting there. -
8:26 - 8:28And his arms were crossed
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8:28 - 8:30and he did not want me to be there.
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8:30 - 8:33And I flipped open my laptop,
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8:33 - 8:35and my background photo came up,
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8:35 - 8:37and it was a picture of my three kids.
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8:37 - 8:40My daughter clearly looks
different than my sons. -
8:40 - 8:44And when he saw that photo
he uncrossed his arms -
8:44 - 8:48and he tilted his head
and he leaned forward and he said, -
8:48 - 8:49"Are those your kids?"
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8:49 - 8:51And I said, "Yeah.
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8:51 - 8:53I just got back
from adopting my daughter -- " -
8:53 - 8:56And I babbled on way too much
for a professional meeting. -
8:56 - 9:00And he stopped me and he said,
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9:00 - 9:02"I have two adopted kids."
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9:03 - 9:07And for the next 20 minutes,
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9:07 - 9:08we just talked about that.
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9:08 - 9:11We talked about adoption
and being a parent -
9:11 - 9:14and in those moments,
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9:14 - 9:16we forgot who we were supposed to be
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9:16 - 9:17at that table.
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9:18 - 9:20And the walls came down,
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9:20 - 9:24and a bridge was built
and we crossed this divide. -
9:24 - 9:27And more progress
was made with that company -
9:27 - 9:31because of that human
connection that we made. -
9:32 - 9:34My last lesson for you
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9:34 - 9:39is that when we sit down
with the so-called enemy, -
9:39 - 9:41we need to look for the win-win.
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9:41 - 9:44Instead of going in
with farmers like Craig Watts -
9:44 - 9:46and thinking, "I need
to put them out of farming," -
9:46 - 9:50I started to think how can I help them
be different kinds of farmers, -
9:50 - 9:53like, growing hemp or mushrooms.
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9:54 - 9:57And a farmer I later worked with
did exactly that. -
9:58 - 10:01He did do the exposé with me and filmed,
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10:01 - 10:03and we went with
"The New York Times" again, -
10:03 - 10:05but he went beyond that.
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10:05 - 10:06He quit chicken factory farming,
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10:06 - 10:08and it turns out
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10:08 - 10:11that those big, long, gray warehouses
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10:11 - 10:13are the perfect environment
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10:14 - 10:15for growing something else.
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10:15 - 10:19(Laughter)
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10:19 - 10:23(Applause)
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10:23 - 10:26That's hemp, people, that's hemp.
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10:26 - 10:28(Laughter)
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10:30 - 10:35Here is an environmentally friendly way
to stay on the land, -
10:35 - 10:37to pay the bills,
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10:37 - 10:40that a vegan animal rights activist
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10:40 - 10:42and a chicken farmer can get behind.
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10:42 - 10:45(Laughter)
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10:45 - 10:47And instead of thinking,
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10:47 - 10:51how can I get these big
meat companies out of business, -
10:51 - 10:55I started thinking, how can I help them
evolve into a different kind of business. -
10:55 - 10:58One where the protein doesn't come
from slaughtered animals, -
10:58 - 11:01but rather, plants.
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11:01 - 11:02And believe it or not,
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11:02 - 11:06these big companies are starting
to move their ships in that direction. -
11:06 - 11:12Cargill and Tyson and Perdue
are adding plant-based proteins -
11:12 - 11:14into their supply chain.
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11:14 - 11:17And Perdue himself said that,
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11:17 - 11:19"Our company is a premium protein company,
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11:19 - 11:23and nothing about that says
that it has to come from animals." -
11:23 - 11:27And in my own home town of Atlanta,
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11:28 - 11:31KFC did a one-day trial with Beyond Meat,
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11:31 - 11:33for plant-based chicken nuggets.
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11:33 - 11:35And it was insane,
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11:35 - 11:37there were lines
wrapped around the corner, -
11:37 - 11:39there was traffic stopped
in all directions, -
11:39 - 11:42you would think they were giving out
free Beyoncé tickets. -
11:42 - 11:46People are ready for this shift.
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11:47 - 11:50We need to build a big tent
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11:50 - 11:52that everyone can get under.
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11:52 - 11:54From the chicken factory farmer,
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11:54 - 11:56to the mega meat company,
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11:56 - 11:59to the animal rights activist.
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11:59 - 12:01And these lessons,
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12:01 - 12:03they can apply to many causes,
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12:03 - 12:07whether it be with a problem with an ex,
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12:07 - 12:09a neighbor or an in-law.
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12:10 - 12:15Or with some of the biggest problems
of exploitation and oppression, -
12:15 - 12:18like factory farming,
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12:18 - 12:22or misogyny or racism or climate change.
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12:23 - 12:27The world's smallest and biggest problems,
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12:27 - 12:30they won't be solved
by beating down our enemies -
12:30 - 12:34but by finding these
win-win pathways together. -
12:35 - 12:37It does require us
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12:37 - 12:42to let go of that idea of us versus them
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12:43 - 12:46and realize there's only one us,
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12:46 - 12:48all of us,
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12:48 - 12:50against an unjust system.
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12:51 - 12:53And it is difficult,
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12:53 - 12:55and messy, and uncomfortable.
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12:56 - 12:58But it is critical.
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12:58 - 13:02And maybe the only way
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13:02 - 13:04to build that compassionate food system
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13:04 - 13:08that we all, from the chicken
to the chicken farmer -
13:08 - 13:12to the mega meat company, to all of us,
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13:12 - 13:13deserve.
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13:14 - 13:15Thank you.
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13:16 - 13:21(Applause)
- Title:
- A lesson in turning adversaries into allies
- Speaker:
- Leah Garcés
- Description:
-
When you're on opposite sides of an issue, how do you broker peace with your adversaries and work together to solve a problem? Follow along as animal rights activist Leah Garcés recounts three lessons she learned in hatching an ambitious plan to end chicken factory farming with the last person she expected: a chicken farmer.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:33
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for A lesson in turning adversaries into allies |