0:00:00.000,0:00:04.800
As animal activists, we do not have [br]to fear presenting the bare facts.

0:00:04.800,0:00:12.330
We don't have to try to sensationalize [br]or exaggerate: the truth is bad enough.

0:00:21.247,0:00:26.720
Hope Bohanec (conference organizer): [br]So happy to have Emily Moran Barwick. She is an animal-liberation activist, educator,

0:00:26.720,0:00:31.520
writer, artist, and international speaker. [br]And after completing her Masters of Fine Arts,

0:00:31.520,0:00:36.080
Emily founded Bite Size Vegan. [br]Emily, it's all you. Thank you.

0:00:36.080,0:00:39.920
Thank you so much for having me. It is such [br]an honor to be a part of this conference.

0:00:39.920,0:00:43.120
Today I wanted to talk about the importance of language in

0:00:43.120,0:00:48.320
activism; specifically covering some of the potential pitfalls, distractions, diversions,

0:00:48.320,0:00:52.240
and counterproductive “traps" that we can fall into as activists.

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The most dangerous of these are often wrapped in [br]the guise of making veganism more approachable.

0:00:58.720,0:01:02.720
In our effort to increase the accessibility of veganism,

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we may inadvertently compromise our convictions [br]and soften our ethics—offering gradations of

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change, or incremental reductions in animal [br]product consumption, or "humane" alternatives.

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Now, this is often born from the belief that we must take either a firm—even

0:01:21.600,0:01:28.720
militant and polarizing—or a soft, conciliatory approach to our outreach.

0:01:28.720,0:01:33.600
But, this is a this false dichotomy. The real challenge is walking the line

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of staying firm in our convictions and uncompromising in our message while still

0:01:39.360,0:01:45.120
helping people lower their guard enough to listen, hear, and make the connection.

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So, within the vegan movement, a major approach [br]activists take is the social normalization of veganism.

0:01:50.640,0:01:57.440
What I mean by this is making a vegan lifestyle accessible, affordable,

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easy—even mainstream. And this is a very logical [br]tactic, especially when considering that one of

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the strongest deterrents to going vegan is social [br]ostracism and rejection from friends and family.

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I am the last person to decry increasing the [br]accessibility of veganism—it is something about

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which I am intensely passionate, and is one of [br]the foundational aspects of Bite Size Vegan.

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However, in attempting to “bridge the gap” [br]and meet the general public where they’re at,

0:02:29.680,0:02:38.320
there exists the risk of reducing the ethical [br]imperative of veganism to a socially acceptable

0:02:38.320,0:02:43.840
lifestyle choice. This is why it’s so vital that we be mindful of our language

0:02:43.840,0:02:50.960
choices as activist, lest we end up advocating [br]the very things we are fighting against.

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So, a very common approach activists take [br]to provide an "entry point" to veganism

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is encouraging people to reduce their intake of animal products,

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like "Meat-Free Mondays." Such an incremental [br]option is obviously more palatable to non-vegans;

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it allows them to make a minor change while still providing the emotional

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benefit of doing something good. But it's equally alluring for us activists.

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Perhaps we're afraid of coming across as extreme and want to provide a less

0:03:22.720,0:03:29.120
intimidating suggestion. Perhaps we ourselves [br]are intimidated to ask for something "so big"

0:03:29.120,0:03:35.680
as going fully vegan. Perhaps we believe that [br]any change is better than no change at all.

0:03:36.240,0:03:41.120
And while it's understandable for [br]such fears and beliefs to arise,

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we must take a step back and recognize their [br]implications. Believing that going fully vegan

0:03:48.080,0:03:56.160
is too much to ask simply reinforces that very [br]misconception. Offering gradations of change,

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in essence, endorses the idea that there are "acceptable" levels of cruelty.

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When I spoke in Dublin, I met Sandra Higgins, [br]the founder of Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary

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in Ireland, who is also a psychologist. [br]I remember her making the rather apt analogy,

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saying something along the lines of that if [br]she had a patient who was beating his wife or children,

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she would never advise him to try to reduce the frequency of his violence

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or stop beating his wife and children on Fridays.

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The message has to be that violence is [br]always unacceptable and has to be eradicated.

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When we take this approach of "reductionism," [br]we're not only doing a disservice to the animals,

0:04:43.600,0:04:50.960
but also to the non-vegans. We're deciding for [br]them that they can't handle the full truth.

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We're deciding for them that they can't [br]or won't make the decision to go vegan.

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This is similar to the way in which the American [br]Heart Association approached its official dietary

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recommendations: the DASH diet, which stands [br]for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension."

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While decades of research have demonstrated that [br]consuming animal products is "highly significantly associated"

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with elevated blood pressure, the DASH diet still includes dairy and meat.

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In his book "How Not to Die" Dr. Michael Greger [br]explains why this is the case, stating:

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"“The reason that the DASH diet was modeled [br]explicitly after vegetarian diets but was not

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meat-free itself might surprise you. [br]The primary design goal of the DASH diet was to explicitly

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create eating patterns “that would have the blood [br]pressure lowering benefits of a vegetarian diet

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yet contain enough animal products to [br]make them palatable to nonvegetarians.…”

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[The doctor who chaired the DASH diet [br]committee] had even shown that the more

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dairy vegetarians consumed, the higher their blood [br]pressure appeared to rise. But he figured there

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was no point in calling for a diet he believed [br]few would follow. This is a recurring theme

0:06:05.120,0:06:10.480
in official dietary recommendations. Instead [br]of simply telling you what the science shows

0:06:10.480,0:06:15.520
and then letting you make up your own [br]mind, experts patronize the population

0:06:15.520,0:06:20.880
by advocating what they think is practical rather [br]than ideal. By making the decision for you,

0:06:20.880,0:06:25.600
they undermine those willing to make [br]even greater changes for optimal health.”

0:06:25.600,0:06:31.680
In the same way, when we preemptively offer [br]non-vegans gradations of change rather than

0:06:31.680,0:06:37.680
the entirety of the truth, we are depriving them of the opportunity—and I believe,

0:06:37.680,0:06:42.480
the right—to have all of the facts and make a decision for themselves.

0:06:42.480,0:06:47.280
The same holds true for what I believe to be the most insidious pitfall for

0:06:47.280,0:06:52.640
activists and non-vegans alike: humane [br]labels and animal welfare regulations.

0:06:52.640,0:06:59.200
Humane language and concepts have easily gained [br]a stronghold by appealing to all sides

0:06:59.200,0:07:06.560
—for the vegan afraid as coming across as militant, [br]they provide an approachable suggestion to offer;

0:07:06.560,0:07:12.480
for activists fighting for animal liberation, [br]they give the possibility of better conditions,

0:07:12.480,0:07:17.760
progress towards the ultimate goal; [br]and certainly for the non-vegan, who

0:07:17.760,0:07:22.480
now has a way to keep doing what they want to do, but feel good about it.

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I've been told it can sound odd coming from an animal rights activist,

0:07:26.080,0:07:32.240
but I find that humane labels and animal [br]welfare regulations are often detrimental

0:07:32.240,0:07:39.920
to animals. In fact, the entire concept of [br]animal welfare is antithetical to animal rights.

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Welfare regulations are designed to spare [br]animals any “unnecessary” suffering—the unspoken

0:07:47.120,0:07:52.960
implication being that some suffering is necessary when it benefits humans.

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Still, even if animal liberation is the ultimate goal, isn't there value in

0:07:58.080,0:08:03.600
improving the conditions for those currently [br]in our systems of exploitation?

0:08:03.600,0:08:10.160
While this thought process is understandable, we must again [br]take an honest look at what welfare regulations

0:08:10.160,0:08:14.480
actually mean for the beings they are designed to protect.

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A striking example of the true impotence of welfare regulations[br]is the battery cage ban within the European Union.

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So, in 1999, The Council of the European Union

0:08:25.280,0:08:31.200
set a directive that banned all “barren battery cages” by 2012. And while media

0:08:31.200,0:08:36.400
coverage at the time focused on the end of [br]battery cages in the EU, what the directive

0:08:36.400,0:08:43.600
actually did was replace barren battery cages [br]with “enriched" battery cages—meaning "furnished."

0:08:43.600,0:08:48.400
So yes, hens would now be provided [br]more space and given furnishings like

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perches and laying nests—certainly an [br]improvement over barren cages. However,

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while media reports extolled that hens [br]would now each be afforded 750cm²,

0:08:59.600,0:09:05.600
they neglected to clarify that—due to the [br]new furnishings—only 600cm² would be usable.

0:09:05.600,0:09:11.280
Now I know it's a lot of numbers, and it's [br]hard to visualize what that means. So,

0:09:11.280,0:09:15.760
in the end, that this revolutionary step forward for the rights of

0:09:15.760,0:09:21.840
laying hens granted them less than a single playing card of additional space.

0:09:22.640,0:09:27.680
Even more maddening: in 2012, over twelve years

0:09:27.680,0:09:35.040
after the directive, thirteen Member States [br]had still failed to comply with the ban.

0:09:35.040,0:09:44.165
But as the media celebrated the victory for animal welfare, [br]the public ate even more eggs —reassured by their higher standards

0:09:44.400,0:09:52.000
—and the individuals this entire charade was [br]supposed to be for remained just as exploited.

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The execution of the barren battery cage ban [br]is far from a single failing. In 2001, the EU

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outlawed gestation crates. If you're unfamiliar, [br]these are single-sow enclosures constructed of

0:10:04.720,0:10:09.760
metal bars and hard flooring, in which mother [br]pigs are confined during their pregnancies.

0:10:09.760,0:10:16.720
As always, the ban came with ample fine-print [br]exceptions, and over a decade for implementation.

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Twelve years later, nine member states [br]had still failed to comply with the ban.

0:10:22.480,0:10:24.720
The most amazing thing about all of this is that

0:10:24.720,0:10:31.040
several of the Member States that failed to [br]implement the battery cage and/or the gestation

0:10:31.040,0:10:37.680
crate bans are rated amongst the best [br]countries in the world for animal welfare.

0:10:37.680,0:10:42.560
So, as alluring as the idea of better conditions for animals may be,

0:10:42.560,0:10:49.600
animal welfare legislation is based upon the [br]presumption that we have a right to use non-human

0:10:49.600,0:10:55.280
animals for our own purposes. Rather than [br]condemn the breeding, enslavement, mutilation,

0:10:55.280,0:11:02.800
and slaughter of sentient beings, welfare [br]legislation simply codifies precisely how

0:11:02.800,0:11:06.571
we may breed, enslave, mutilate, and slaughter them.

0:11:06.800,0:11:10.560
In 2007, the European Union historically declared

0:11:10.560,0:11:17.280
non-human animals legally sentient—deserving [br]freedom from hunger, thirst, discomfort, pain,

0:11:17.280,0:11:20.560
injury, disease, fear, distress and mental suffering.

0:11:20.560,0:11:26.880
Having recognized their capacity to feel [br]the same emotions and sensations as we do,

0:11:26.880,0:11:32.240
the EU proceeded to draft landmark [br]legislation for their humane treatment.

0:11:32.240,0:11:37.440
The resulting Council Regulation was—and [br]is—viewed as a victory for animals.

0:11:37.440,0:11:40.720
Now, for those of us in countries without regulations,

0:11:40.720,0:11:46.480
it's natural to think that the systematic [br]abuse of farmed animals results—at least

0:11:46.480,0:11:49.840
in large part—from the total lack of oversight.

0:11:49.840,0:11:55.440
In the United States, for example, there are no [br]federal laws governing the treatment of animals in

0:11:55.440,0:12:02.240
our food industry. We do have the Animal Welfare [br]Act of 1966, but, like so many welfare acts around

0:12:02.240,0:12:09.120
the world, it excludes animals raised for food—as [br]do the majority of state anti-cruelty regulations.

0:12:09.120,0:12:15.920
Many US activists and organizations stress the [br]need for regulations to end such atrocities as

0:12:15.920,0:12:22.045
routine mutilations without anesthetic, the aceration (meaning the grinding up)

0:12:22.045,0:12:25.040
of male chicks in the egg industry, and the blunt-force "euthanasia" of piglets

0:12:25.040,0:12:30.640
—often pointing to the European Union as a shining example.

0:12:30.640,0:12:35.120
However, within the EU legislation and supplemental documents, those

0:12:35.120,0:12:44.000
very same atrocities are not decried, but [br]codified. So, instead of male baby chicks being

0:12:44.000,0:12:49.600
ground up alive because there are no regulations [br]to stop it, they are ground up alive because

0:12:49.600,0:12:55.920
regulations declare it as the preferred method [br]for male chick disposal. There are even detailed

0:12:55.920,0:13:01.840
specifications for blade speed and sharpness [br]to avoid "gumming up" the works of the machine.

0:13:01.840,0:13:07.600
We'd like to think that humane regulations [br]are driven by what's best for the animals.

0:13:07.600,0:13:13.360
But the animal products industries are—after [br]all—industries; they are profit-driven.

0:13:13.360,0:13:19.760
A preliminary report for the European Union's [br]legislation found that while gassing the estimated

0:13:19.760,0:13:28.080
"335 million day old male chicks" killed in the [br]EU annually would cost 1.6/1.7 million Euros,

0:13:28.080,0:13:35.373
the cost of using "rotating or whirling knives which [br]are mincing the chicks in a split second

0:13:35.373,0:13:37.938
...can be considered not to be substantial."

0:13:37.938,0:13:40.400
So, the decision had nothing

0:13:40.400,0:13:46.000
to do with what was most humane—it was [br]simply a matter of what was cheapest.

0:13:46.000,0:13:50.880
The maceration of baby chicks has been [br]exposed time and again in undercover footage,

0:13:50.880,0:13:54.240
which brings me to another pitfall I wanted to address:

0:13:54.240,0:14:02.160
the presentation of undercover exposes. [br]While I do believe that undercover footage is of vital

0:14:02.160,0:14:08.880
importance in the fight for animal liberation, we [br]must be mindful of the framing and presentation.

0:14:08.880,0:14:15.200
When it comes to undercover exposes, it’s [br]often what’s not said that’s the most damaging.

0:14:15.200,0:14:20.640
Every time undercover footage has captured [br]workers—from one country or another—tossing

0:14:20.640,0:14:26.960
live baby chicks into a grinder, news outlets [br]dramatically recount the unbelievable cruelty.

0:14:26.960,0:14:30.560
And every time, the public is appalled, outraged,

0:14:30.560,0:14:36.960
and disgusted. And every time, they assume that [br]it's an isolated incident of extreme cruelty;

0:14:36.960,0:14:42.480
and they continue to eat eggs, confident [br]they're not supporting such brutality.

0:14:42.480,0:14:48.000
The most important message of [br]all is left unsaid: that this is

0:14:48.000,0:14:55.440
not a barbaric practice isolated to corrupt, [br]abusive facilities or industrialized farms;

0:14:56.160,0:15:05.680
that grinding up live babies is a welfare [br]regulation; a worldwide "standard practice."

0:15:05.680,0:15:10.800
The fact that the lines between overt [br]abuse and standard industry practice are

0:15:10.800,0:15:15.040
so indistinguishable highlights the absurdity

0:15:15.040,0:15:20.000
of animal welfarism and human concepts. [br]In my essay "The Harm of Humane" from the

0:15:20.000,0:15:26.080
book Vegan Voices, I opened with a specific [br]example of this from my home state in Iowa.

0:15:26.080,0:15:31.600
In September 2008, an undercover video [br]documenting routine abuse at an Iowa pig

0:15:31.600,0:15:37.200
breeding facility made international news. The [br]footage and investigators' notes captured workers

0:15:37.200,0:15:42.160
kicking and beating pregnant pigs with metal [br]objects, sexually violating them with rods;

0:15:42.160,0:15:46.000
and they were also shown cutting off [br]the tails and tearing out the testicles

0:15:46.000,0:15:51.280
of piglets without anesthetic, and slamming [br]sick or deformed piglets against the ground,

0:15:51.280,0:15:55.280
leaving them to die slowly, piled [br]on top of one another in giant bins.

0:15:55.280,0:16:01.040
Now, while these acts of cruelty were [br]exposed by vegan activists, the egregiousness

0:16:01.040,0:16:06.160
of the abuse rightfully sparked outrage from [br]meat-eating consumers. And the food company

0:16:06.160,0:16:12.000
supplied by the farm, Hormel, received over [br]10,000 calls in two days. In the wire report

0:16:12.000,0:16:17.440
issued by the Associated Press, they quoted [br]a Hormel spokesperson who called the abuses

0:16:17.440,0:16:21.040
"completely unacceptable"; and they also quoted the farmer,

0:16:21.040,0:16:26.240
who emphasized "We condemn these types of [br]acts," and called them "completely intolerable,

0:16:26.240,0:16:31.360
reprehensible" vowing to "investigate and [br]initiate corrective action immediately."

0:16:31.360,0:16:36.800
So, anyone reading the report would be left with [br]the impression that this was an isolated incident

0:16:36.800,0:16:44.320
of overt cruelty, or—at the very worst—a regular [br]occurrence isolated to large "factory farms."

0:16:44.320,0:16:50.640
But amidst the catalogued horrors in this article, [br]the troubling implication of a single sentence

0:16:50.640,0:16:54.000
was easily overlooked. So, of course, that's what I focused on.

0:16:54.000,0:16:58.320
Following the description of the workers' [br]treatment of piglets, the report stated:

0:16:58.320,0:17:05.448
"Temple Grandin, a leading animal welfare expert [br]who serves as a consultant to the livestock industry,

0:17:05.448,0:17:09.280
said that while those are standard industry practices, the treatment of

0:17:09.280,0:17:14.960
the sows on the video was far from it. 'This is atrocious animal abuse,' [br]Grandin said..." (The Associated Press 2008; emphasis added)

0:17:14.960,0:17:22.145
To be clear, the treatment of the mother pigs was [br]what Grandin deemed "atrocious animal abuse";

0:17:22.145,0:17:30.320
the acts she waved away as "standard industry practices" were the [br]unanaesthetized mutilation of newborn piglets,

0:17:30.320,0:17:36.480
and the brutal—and ineffective—slamming of [br]"defective" piglets against the concrete floor.

0:17:36.480,0:17:41.760
She was not wrong; not only are these practices [br]legal, they are government-sanctioned methods

0:17:41.760,0:17:46.320
within—but not limited to—the United [br]States, Canada, and the European Union.

0:17:46.320,0:17:53.806
Within my essay, I implore the reader to ask themself: [br]were you to have watched that video,

0:17:54.051,0:17:59.760
heard the piercing screams of the [br]mother pigs and their babies, would you have

0:17:59.760,0:18:06.560
spotted the difference between the "atrocious [br]animal abuse" and "standard industry practices"?"

0:18:07.520,0:18:11.680
When we fail to explain and emphasize that the horrors depicted

0:18:11.680,0:18:19.360
in these videos are not only legal, but actually [br]government-sanctioned, humane-legislation-dictated

0:18:19.360,0:18:23.600
practices, we leave the public with the [br]impression that this was the result of

0:18:23.600,0:18:30.640
a few malicious, sociopathic workers or poorly [br]regulated facilities. Just a few "bad apples. "

0:18:30.640,0:18:35.600
Far from considering veganism, the public is left thinking that

0:18:35.600,0:18:40.800
“well, luckily, the perpetrators were exposed and will surely [br]be punished. Thank goodness the eggs, meat,

0:18:40.800,0:18:45.840
or dairy that we eat isn't contributing to that kind of abusive behavior.”

0:18:45.840,0:18:51.120
Invariably, when horrific acts are exposed [br]to the public, there is a call for stronger

0:18:51.120,0:18:56.560
regulations and higher welfare standards. [br]As activists, we can become caught in this

0:18:56.560,0:19:02.400
self-perpetuating cycle—believing we're fighting [br]for progress when we're simply running in place.

0:19:03.120,0:19:09.029
An example of this cycle is the rise of cage-free [br]eggs. I recently published an article, video and

0:19:09.029,0:19:15.360
eCourse on cage-free eggs, which you can find [br]at BiteSizeVegan.org/CageFree.

0:19:15.360,0:19:21.840
As always happens when I dive into researching a topic—even one [br]I've previously covered—I find so much new information.

0:19:21.840,0:19:26.400
I've stated in several videos and speeches [br]that cage-free hens have been shown to have

0:19:26.400,0:19:31.920
twice the mortality rate of battery caged [br]hens. This is a seemingly damning inditement

0:19:31.920,0:19:36.880
of the idea that such humane labels as [br]"cage-free" are improvements for animals.

0:19:36.880,0:19:42.240
When I began re-researching this statistic, [br]I found that it's far more complicated. After

0:19:42.240,0:19:47.120
coming across a meta-analysis that seemed [br]to indicate mortality rates have been on the

0:19:47.120,0:19:54.240
decline worldwide in cage-free systems, such that [br]the difference between caged and non-caged hens

0:19:54.240,0:20:01.200
is nearly non-existent, I worried that this worked [br]against the point I'd been making in the past.

0:20:01.200,0:20:07.680
Something I find so incredibly important [br]in my activism, though, is never

0:20:07.680,0:20:13.360
shying away from new information. [br]Even it if seems like it may go against what I’m aiming to say,

0:20:13.360,0:20:20.080
it's so important to evaluate and present [br]what's true. And invariably, once I go deeper

0:20:20.080,0:20:24.640
into research I find that what may initially seem to be a contradiction,

0:20:24.640,0:20:28.400
or even something in support of an agricultural practice

0:20:29.280,0:20:38.080
—the underlying reality of anything within the animal [br]products industry cannot help but be problematic.

0:20:39.040,0:20:42.880
So, I'd like to take you through my own journey with researching the question

0:20:42.880,0:20:46.880
of hen mortality rates in different housing systems—at least in brief.

0:20:47.520,0:20:52.480
Laying hens were originally moved into [br]battery cages for a number of reasons,

0:20:52.480,0:20:57.760
including profit and management-oriented [br]benefits such as: reduced labor requirements,

0:20:57.760,0:21:02.240
greater efficiency of space (meaning more birds housed in the same area),

0:21:02.240,0:21:07.760
and lower feed requirements. However, there [br]were also perceived benefits to the hens

0:21:07.760,0:21:14.160
themselves, including: a reduction in disease [br]transference, injurious pecking, and cannibalism.

0:21:14.160,0:21:22.720
As demand rose for cage-free systems, multiple [br]studies found that the mortality rate in non-cage

0:21:22.720,0:21:27.360
systems was higher than in battery cage systems due to those very issues.

0:21:27.360,0:21:32.400
Meaning there was an increase in injurious [br]pecking, cannibalism and disease transference.

0:21:32.400,0:21:36.080
One of the more comprehensive studies [br]that I'd quoted in the past found that

0:21:36.080,0:21:42.400
cage-free hens had 2.5 times higher [br]mortality rates than battery-caged hens.

0:21:42.400,0:21:48.080
But, to be clear, that finding was not [br]isolated to that study or even one country.

0:21:48.080,0:21:53.680
So, it would seem that cage-free eggs actually [br]result in more deaths than conventional battery cages.

0:21:53.680,0:21:59.200
However, in more recent years, [br]researches have pointed out that the reason

0:21:59.200,0:22:04.640
for higher mortality rates may not have [br]anything to do with the housing system per se.

0:22:04.640,0:22:10.960
Instead, the rates appear more reliably tied to [br]the genetic strain of hens within the facilities,

0:22:10.960,0:22:16.528
the experience level of managing [br]staff, and whether flocks are debeaked.

0:22:16.720,0:22:23.040
Researchers argue that as producers have become [br]more familiar with managing non-cage systems,

0:22:23.040,0:22:28.240
and have started using more "appropriate" breeds, [br]the mortality rates have been on the decline;

0:22:28.240,0:22:30.800
and they believe this decline will continue.

0:22:30.800,0:22:35.520
Now, at first glance, I was worried [br]I'd been conveying faulty data.

0:22:35.520,0:22:42.160
That perhaps decline in mortality rates in [br]non-cage systems was a promising trend in

0:22:42.160,0:22:48.240
support of such humane labels as "cage-free." [br]But the more I read, the more I found that,

0:22:48.240,0:22:54.400
rather than pointing to reasons for hope, the [br]causes of mortality decline actually highlighted

0:22:54.400,0:23:02.400
the reality that within the animal products [br]industries, the solutions are the problems.

0:23:03.200,0:23:08.400
What I mean by this is that every time [br]our breeding, confinement, mutilation and

0:23:08.400,0:23:15.840
slaughter of non-human animals invariably cause [br]ethical, environmental and health problems,

0:23:15.840,0:23:23.360
we strive to solve them with different variations of [br]breeding, confinement, mutilation and slaughter.

0:23:23.360,0:23:28.320
We continue this cycle over and over again—addressing

0:23:28.320,0:23:36.640
problems of our own creation with solutions that [br]will eventually become our next problem—rather

0:23:37.360,0:23:43.680
than stepping back and questioning [br]our use of animals in the first place.

0:23:44.480,0:23:51.360
When hens injure and kill one another due to [br]their breeding and living conditions—both of which

0:23:51.360,0:23:59.440
have been imposed upon them—the solution is to cut [br]off their beaks and further alter their breeding.

0:23:59.440,0:24:06.443
This has happened before in the reverse. [br]In Denmark, laying hens were not moved into cages until 1980.

0:24:06.443,0:24:12.047
At the time, the dominant breed of hens was adapted [br]specifically for non-cage systems.

0:24:12.047,0:24:15.840
When moved into cages, their mortality rate increased

0:24:15.840,0:24:24.655
five times over—the same trend observed when [br]moving hens bred for battery cages into non-cage environments.

0:24:24.655,0:24:28.720
The problem isn't really the housing, the label, the stocking density,

0:24:28.720,0:24:35.680
or whatever we want to point to: the problem is [br]us and the way in which we relate to these beings.

0:24:36.320,0:24:40.480
I also want to note that in all the [br]research I came across about mortality

0:24:40.480,0:24:46.160
rates not being down to the housing system, [br]the importance of debeaking hens to reduce

0:24:46.160,0:24:50.255
injurious and cannibalistic behavior was strongly emphasized.

0:24:50.255,0:24:56.960
Even if using the "appropriate" breed of hen and having more [br]experienced management, whether a flock

0:24:56.960,0:25:04.160
was debeaked or not was often the deciding factor [br]in mortality rates. Of course, debeaking is a

0:25:04.160,0:25:10.640
painful mutilation in which a portion of a [br]bird's sensitive beaks is cut or burned off.

0:25:10.640,0:25:15.920
I found a statement from Ian J.H. Duncan, [br]Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Chair in

0:25:15.920,0:25:20.880
Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, Canada, [br]that illustrates this predicament.

0:25:20.880,0:25:25.120
He said: "If [producers] do not trim beaks, then feather pecking

0:25:25.120,0:25:30.960
and cannibalism may cause enormous suffering. [br]If they do trim beaks by conventional methods,

0:25:30.960,0:25:35.680
the birds will suffer from acute and chronic pain...

0:25:35.680,0:25:42.080
Chopping off parts of young animals in order to prevent [br]future welfare problems is a very crude solution."

0:25:42.080,0:25:47.040
And he proposed instead that "likely...the [br]long-term solution to this problem will

0:25:47.040,0:25:54.000
be a genetic one..." And while certainly less [br]objectionable than debeaking on a visceral level,

0:25:54.000,0:26:01.760
genetic manipulation of sentient beings to [br]serve our purposes is not only extremely

0:26:01.760,0:26:09.120
ethically problematic, but—once again—what [br]got us into this position in the first place.

0:26:09.120,0:26:15.712
When we as activists push for welfare reform, [br]higher standards, better regulations

0:26:15.712,0:26:24.160
—we are participating in this cycle. We are participating [br]in a system built upon a faulty and unethical

0:26:24.160,0:26:31.680
premise: that animals are ours to use. [br]That there is a right and acceptable way to use them.

0:26:31.680,0:26:38.640
That the solution to their suffering is to [br]further control and manipulate their very beings.

0:26:39.440,0:26:43.920
So, after covering examples of what not to say in our activism,

0:26:43.920,0:26:48.640
I wanted to touch on some approaches of [br]what to say—and how to say it as well as

0:26:48.640,0:26:52.800
ways to remove common barriers that [br]arise when speaking with non-vegans.

0:26:52.800,0:26:58.720
As activists, we must stay focused on the [br]universal truth underlying any use of sentient

0:26:58.720,0:27:05.040
beings: that even if we imagine an idealized [br]small farm, where animals are given ample space

0:27:05.040,0:27:10.960
outdoors, their every need cared for—there will [br]still come a time when their life is cut short.

0:27:10.960,0:27:17.399
Their entire existence is still based upon [br]an owner-product framework;

0:27:17.399,0:27:23.040
their value not viewed as inherent, but rather [br]calculated down to the dollar.

0:27:23.680,0:27:28.480
One way of effectively cutting to this core [br]truth for non-vegans is to place it within

0:27:28.480,0:27:36.800
a familiar emotional framework. We may have them [br]envision this idealized small farm, but, imagine,

0:27:36.800,0:27:41.797
in place of the happy farmed animals, a beloved family pet.

0:27:41.797,0:27:44.994
Would it be acceptable to end their pets life?

0:27:44.994,0:27:50.000
What if it was guaranteed they wouldn't [br]feel a thing; that it would be quick and humane?

0:27:50.960,0:27:56.528
Instantly the unacceptability is clear at a visceral level.

0:27:56.715,0:28:03.040
From that connection, we can explore with them [br]what the difference is between a pet and the

0:28:03.040,0:28:08.000
sentient beings in the food industry? [br]Do they not also feel pain and fear?

0:28:08.560,0:28:14.160
We can even give a specific example: when a [br]mother cow in the dairy industry cries out for

0:28:14.160,0:28:21.360
her calf—taken from her so she will produce more [br]milk for humans—is that not a mother grieving?

0:28:21.360,0:28:26.720
When she is sexually violated yet again [br]to induce yet another pregnancy and give

0:28:26.720,0:28:35.353
birth to yet another child who will yet again be taken[br]—how can that not take an emotional and physical toll?

0:28:35.353,0:28:39.120
There's a reason dairy cows' bodies generally give out around age four to five,

0:28:39.120,0:28:44.240
despite a natural life span of twenty years or more.

0:28:44.240,0:28:50.290
Applying such emotionality to non-human animals [br]is often criticized as anthropomorphic

0:28:50.290,0:28:55.760
—an objection that illustrates the contradiction of humane concepts.

0:28:55.760,0:29:02.640
Humane regulations are an inherent admission [br]of animals’ ability to suffer and feel pain.

0:29:03.200,0:29:08.800
How can we claim that our animals are [br]healthy and happy—then deny they possess

0:29:08.800,0:29:14.480
these capacities when asked to see from their perspective? [br]We cannot have it both ways.

0:29:14.480,0:29:19.200
This is how profoundly illogical our [br]thinking is when it comes to animals.

0:29:19.200,0:29:26.320
Knowing better but doing wrong anyway is worse [br]than having no knowledge. Yet we have the audacity

0:29:26.320,0:29:33.440
to hold the legislative recognition of non-human [br]sentience on high as a giant step forward

0:29:33.440,0:29:38.480
for the rights of animals, as if [br]systematically exploiting individuals with

0:29:38.480,0:29:45.680
fully admitted knowledge and comprehension of [br]their capacity to suffer is something to commend.

0:29:46.560,0:29:50.720
Highlighting this faulty logic and [br]focusing on the fundamental truth

0:29:50.720,0:29:56.959
we’ve all known since childhood—that it's not okay [br]to hurt others—

0:29:56.959,0:30:04.800
cuts through all the convoluted justifications and diversions, [br]allowing people to re-connect with their own values.

0:30:04.800,0:30:06.720
As I stated in the opening of this speech,

0:30:06.720,0:30:10.800
activists often fall into the trap of offering gradations of change

0:30:10.800,0:30:16.480
or "humane" alternatives when seeking a more [br]approachable "entry point" to offer non-vegans.

0:30:16.480,0:30:20.320
I’ve long believed that one of the main reasons people don’t go vegan

0:30:20.320,0:30:25.680
is the immense pain and guilt of [br]accepting our part in horrific atrocities.

0:30:25.680,0:30:32.640
Confronting the true impact of our choices is [br]incredibly daunting, so instead we shut down,

0:30:32.640,0:30:38.408
attack, or throw out any number of the standard objections [br]you’ve no doubt heard countless times:

0:30:38.408,0:30:41.520
lions, desert islands, what about protein.

0:30:41.643,0:30:47.600
It’s human nature to raise our guards when we’re [br]on the defensive—we close off and shut down.

0:30:47.600,0:30:54.524
And it would seem logical as activists to avoid upsetting our[br]audience in order to keep their receptivity open

0:30:54.524,0:30:58.480
—however, this is a perfect illustrative example of walking the line.

0:30:58.480,0:31:01.920
It’s not about making sure not to upset anyone

0:31:01.920,0:31:09.520
—if they’re grasping the truth, they should be upset! [br]It’s making sure that the push-back to the truths

0:31:09.520,0:31:16.400
we reveal are aimed at their rightful sources, [br]leading to constructive, well-deserved outrage.

0:31:16.400,0:31:22.000
When we present them with solid factual [br]information about the industries in an educational setting,

0:31:22.000,0:31:29.280
we supply a “buffer” of sorts—providing [br]a target for their outrage other than themselves,

0:31:29.280,0:31:34.459
thus sidestepping shut-down and channelling their outrage to action.

0:31:34.459,0:31:40.160
I do want to note that this is not an [br]attempt to excuse participation in exploitation.

0:31:40.160,0:31:45.920
When I speak to a non-vegan audience, I always [br]tell them that they deserve to know the truth

0:31:45.920,0:31:49.760
about what they're putting in their body—about [br]what they're feeding their children.

0:31:49.760,0:31:56.320
They deserve to know how what they eat impacts their [br]planet. And that they certainly deserve to know

0:31:56.320,0:32:01.070
what they are paying others to do to animals in their name.

0:32:01.200,0:32:08.403
Approaching vegan outreach from this perspective [br]helps defuse the "charge" of defensiveness and resistance.

0:32:08.403,0:32:13.200
There is no need to pander, sugarcoat, or offer more palatable options.

0:32:13.200,0:32:18.720
I simply present them with factual evidence, allowing them to evaluate

0:32:18.720,0:32:23.520
whether they want to continue supporting actions out of line with their values.

0:32:24.160,0:32:29.520
Another barrier I strive to eliminate in my activism is the issue of trust.

0:32:29.520,0:32:35.520
There are many reasons non-vegans may dismiss the vegan [br]message, not the least of which is the messenger.

0:32:35.520,0:32:40.880
This is why, when I speak with non-vegans, [br]I am sure to present information put forth by

0:32:40.880,0:32:46.720
their own agricultural industries and governmental [br]bodies. This not only helps defuse the potential

0:32:46.720,0:32:52.880
defensive charge of some random vegan telling [br]them how bad things are, but it also allows me

0:32:52.880,0:33:00.960
to show that even the proposed ideal[br]—which is of course never met—is absolutely horrifying.

0:33:00.960,0:33:08.771
This is of particular importance when speaking to [br]audiences in other countries and cross-culturally.

0:33:08.771,0:33:10.560
When I spoke in Dubin, Ireland,

0:33:10.560,0:33:15.280
I dove deep into the humane legislation [br]of both Ireland and the European Union.

0:33:15.280,0:33:19.280
Now, Ireland is a powerful case [br]study—it’s essentially the humane

0:33:19.280,0:33:24.880
concept embodied in country form. [br]Cows graze outside in picturesque fields,

0:33:24.880,0:33:31.251
lending support to the common refrain that “it’s not like that here.” [br]And by all appearances and accounts, it’s not.

0:33:31.251,0:33:34.880
Even after some digging, I only found a single undercover video of abuse.

0:33:35.440,0:33:41.360
However, I didn't want to focus on abuse. [br]I wanted to focus on the ideal standards.

0:33:41.360,0:33:46.025
I told the audience, “the facts I’ll present [br]today are not of my creation

0:33:46.025,0:33:51.280
—I’ve sourced them from primarily Irish governmental and [br]industry documents, the European Union,"

0:33:51.280,0:33:56.160
and stated that they didn’t even have to [br]believe me, as I’d be providing a link to a full

0:33:56.160,0:34:02.160
transcript of the talk with citations for every [br]fact, a bibliography and additional resources.

0:34:02.160,0:34:05.520
This not only provides opportunity for further learning,

0:34:05.520,0:34:09.520
but also removes the significant potential barrier

0:34:09.520,0:34:16.240
of requiring someone to trust in me personally [br]on issues about which they’re already guarded.

0:34:16.240,0:34:21.575
As animal activists, we do not have to fear presenting the bare facts.

0:34:21.575,0:34:25.040
We don't have to try to sensationalise or exaggerate:

0:34:25.600,0:34:33.840
The truth is bad enough. [br]The ideal—the very best we have to offer—is bad enough.

0:34:34.640,0:34:38.457
And more importantly, we do not need to—and should not—

0:34:38.457,0:34:44.237
compromise the integrity of our ethics in an effort to [br]make veganism more approachable.

0:34:44.390,0:34:49.440
When we do so, we're supporting the very things we are fighting against.

0:34:50.000,0:34:57.222
We do not have to fear sharing the truth with [br]others—it's not only vital for the sentient beings

0:34:57.222,0:35:01.862
we are defending, but it's also the most respectful approach

0:35:01.862,0:35:06.880
for the non-vegan with whom we're speaking. [br]They deserve to know.

0:35:06.880,0:35:11.470
And they deserve to make a choice [br]with all the facts at their disposal.

0:35:11.600,0:35:15.840
I hope that this has been a helpful exploration [br]of the importance of language in activism.

0:35:16.800,0:35:18.668
Thank you so much for having me.

0:35:18.800,0:35:23.598
I hope you enjoyed hearing my speech from [br]the Humane Hoax Online Conference.

0:35:23.598,0:35:25.760
To stay in the loop about new Bite Size Vegan content and updates,

0:35:25.760,0:35:31.054
remember to subscribe to the newsletter or [br]follow the Telegram channel for the most reliable notifications.

0:35:31.208,0:35:33.632
Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.