WEBVTT

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I'm confident that the Earth
revolves around the Sun

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and not the other way around.

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Who else in this room thinks the same way?
Let's show a raise of hands.

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OK, that's pretty much all of you.

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I am equally confident

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that keeping the human diet
practically void of animals

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is the right thing to do.

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It was not always so, though.

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Just as there was a time

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when people tried to undermine
the Sun-centered view of the solar system,

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there was a time when I
didn't quite like vegetarians.

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At best, I thought
vegetarians were tolerable,

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and at worst, they were
just plain annoying.

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And it is strange that this
was my impression of vegetarians

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since until recently,

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I have only known one person 
who was a vegetarian,

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one person who decided not to eat animals.

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And she was fun and not annoying at all.

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So I wondered why she was a vegetarian,

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and it turned out that in the country
where she is from,

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animals raised for food have to endure
horrid conditions and suffering.

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So, I kind of understood
why she was a vegetarian,

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but it felt strangely comforting

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that I did not have to resort
to any such measures

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since where I come from,
animals are treated nicely.

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Also, I had heard one time on the radio

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that domesticated animals
could not survive without us,

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just as we could not survive without them.

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From that perspective,

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the human-animal relationship
was a win-win situation.

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However, since about five years ago,

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I have reduced my amount
of animal intake to such an extent

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that today, it is practically zero.

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Now, why would I do that?

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Well, inspection shows that, frequently,

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animals raised for food have to endure 
horrid conditions and suffering,

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not just in my friends country,
but in every country across the globe.

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And there is more.

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Raising animals for food
is destructive to the environment,

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and the leading cause of human death

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are diseases which are associated
with a poor diet, rich in animal products.

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So the human-animal relationship
is not a win-win situation,

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it is a lose-lose-lose situation.

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We are losing,

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the animals are losing,

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and the environment is losing.

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These are the three pillars
advocating the shift

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from an animal-based diet
towards a plant-based diet.

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The first pillar: human health.

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Current research strongly suggests

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that if humans would shift 
towards a plant-based diet,

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they would live longer,

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and healthcare systems
across the globe could be streamlined.

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This is related to reduction in deadly,
difficult and expensive diseases,

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such as heart disease, diabetes
and certain forms of cancer.

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Given the likelihood of a better health 
on a plant-based diet,

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it is an option that people should be
encouraged to exercise more often.

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Compared to eating animals,

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eating plants is not only
more likely to be more healthy,

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it also has a much stronger
ethical standpoint.

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Which brings us to
the center pillar: the animals.

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The vast majority 
of animals raised for food

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reside on factory farms.

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And every single year,
we kill over 60 billion land animals.

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Out of these 60 billion
land animals, 1.3 billion are pigs.

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So, to sustain the demand
for pig-eating humans,

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these killings need to be maintained.

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And to maintain these killings,

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the first line of business
is to make sure that the pigs

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are giving birth to all the piglets
that we kill every year.

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So, through the centuries, 
female pigs, or sows,

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have been bred and selected

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to be able to give birth
to as many offspring possible.

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And today, each sow gives birth
to 10-12 piglets, two times a year.

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The days prior to giving birth
and during lactation,

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the sow is kept in a metal enclosure,
called a gestation crate.

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While in the gestation crate,
the sow cannot move about,

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not even turn around,

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let alone make any meaningful
contact with her piglets.

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Soon after birth, the testicles
of male piglets are removed,

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allegedly to make their meat
smell better when it is cooked.

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And to avoid biting and being bitten,

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some piglets have their tail
and selected teeth removed as well.

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With certainty, regardless
of the conditions until then,

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when the piglets are
around three weeks old,

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they are removed from the presence
of their mother, forever.

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During the rest of their short lives,
they are kept in crowded places

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to be fed and to grow
with thousands of their kin

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who are all destined
for the same senseless fate.

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Meanwhile, their mother is being prepared 
for her next pregnancy session.

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To keep the sows constantly pregnant,

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they are impregnated through artificial 
insemination, performed by humans.

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The pig semen is also collected
by human professional masturbators.

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You can lookup "Pig semen collection,"
on YouTube, if you are interested.

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So, even though pigs give birth 
to offspring all the time,

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they never have sex.

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And I guess most of us appreciate
that pigs are sentient beings,

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that can feel pleasure and pain,
often in similar ways that we humans do.

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Thus it seems inconsistent
that losing an offspring,

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which is arguably the most painful
experience that humans have to endure,

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is an experience that we carelessly
inflict upon pigs, all the time.

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Most pigs never breathe fresh air
or walk under the bare blue sky,

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and the only time they
might see a glimpse of the sun

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is when they are in a back of a truck
being transported for slaughter.

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What I have said here about pigs
can without much difficulty

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be adapted to fit the lives
of other domesticated animals,

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such as chicken or cows.

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The third pillar: the environment.

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The staggering amount
of animals we raise for food

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is having some dire consequences 
for the environment.

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Consequences that were perhaps 
unforeseen at the time,

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but have become so blatantly
obvious at the present.

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To put things in context, let's go
twelve thousand years back in time.

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Twelve thousand years ago,
there were no domesticated animals,

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and the combined weight 
of all large land animals

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was around 300 million tons,
out of which humans represented 1%.

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Today, the total combined weight
of all large land animals

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is almost 1500 million tons,

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five times the amount
it was twelve thousand years ago.

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Out of these 1500 million tons,
more than 1100 are domesticated animals.

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More than 300 are humans,

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and wild animals represent
only around 30 million tons.

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So, we used to be 1% out of 300 million,

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but today, along with our domesticated 
animals, we are 98% out of 1500 million.

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That is a huge difference
in a very short time.

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So, with this picture in mind,
three things emerge.

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Number one: our domesticated
animals eat a lot of food.

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How come we are able to feed
1100 million tons of animals,

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but we cannot prevent 10 million people 
from dying from malnutrition every year?

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How come there are more people
who die from eating too much,

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then there are people
who die from eating too little?

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Number two: Our domesticated
animals take up a lot of space.

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To make space for our animals
and the food we grow for them,

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we cut down rain forest.

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And when we cut down rain forest,

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we are not only destroying the planet's
defenses against carbon dioxide,

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but we are also destroying the habitats
of wild species and driving them extinct.

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The main driver for species extinction
is rain forest destruction,

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and the main driver for rain forest 
destruction is animal agriculture -

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mainly, cattle production.

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Number three: Our domesticated
animals release a lot of waste.

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All of these animals
shit, piss, fart, and burp.

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And while all is bad for the environment,

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it is the burp that is having
the most damaging effect.

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When ruminant animals,
like cattle and sheep, burp,

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they release methane,
and apparently, they burp a lot.

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And methane is a greenhouse gas

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that is much more potent
at heating the atmosphere

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than even carbon dioxide.

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Mainly because of ruminant animals,

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the global release of greenhouse gases
from animal agriculture is so enormous

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that it is greater than from the whole
transportation sector combined.

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Now, reflecting upon these pillars
may leave some of you with the idea

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that there is something wrong 
with the human species.

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That of all the species,
it is the absolute worst.

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And given the terms we set
for the survival of billions animals,

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it is not that hard
to lose faith in humanity.

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And it is not just how we treat
non-human animals

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that can deter us from a glimpse of hope.

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We are also dealing with wars, 
refugee crises, climate change,

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terrorists, nuclear threat, world hunger,
and various forms of discrimination.

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There are parts on earth

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where women have little or no control
over their lives or their bodies,

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and there are parts on earth
where people are being prosecuted

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because they do not love
or have sex in an orthodox way,

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and every single year,

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six million children die
before they reach the age of five.

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So, with this grim picture in mind,
it seems reasonable to ask:

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Will the human species ever make an effort

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to change from an animal-based diet
towards a plant-based diet?

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Do we even have what it takes
to make such a shift?

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Well, I believe the answer 
is a resounding "yes,"

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and let me tell you why.

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It is mainly because of two things.

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First, despite all our faults,

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human beings have 
a great capacity for compassion,

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and our compassion has been increasing,
and it continues to increase.

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Also, we have made some meaningful impact
in the defense of animals.

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So, many of the bad things humans do
is blown out of proportion.

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Human history clearly shows

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that we are much more peaceful
and less violent than we used to be.

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There used to be a time

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when encounters between two human tribes
burst out in violent conflict.

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We have come a long way since.

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Today, we are over 7 billion human beings
living in relative harmony.

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Never before has there been so few wars,

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and despite the media hype,

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the terrorist threat
is relatively minuscule.

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Torture used to be at display
for people's entertainment,

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the death penalty has been 
abolished in many countries,

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slavery has been outlawed,

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and slowly but surely, since then,

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discrimination based on race
is no longer considered defensible.

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The rights and empowerment of women

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has seen a very positive and dramatic
effect over the last century or two.

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And the rights of
homosexuals is improving,

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notably, homosexuality was decriminalised 
in the United Kingdom, only in 1982.

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A further testament
to our altruistic behaviour

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can be seen in how we donate money to
help people who live in extreme poverty -

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people we do not know and will never know.

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Such altruistic behaviour
seems impossible in other species.

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And while it is true

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that six million children die, every year,
before they reach the age of five,

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it was only 30 years ago
when this number was 12 million.

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Improvement in other
poverty-related areas is evident as well.

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So, it seems irrefutable

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that human beings have
a great capacity for compassion

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and that our compassion is increasing.

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And that gives us
a good reason to be optimistic

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that we can make the shift

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from an animal-based diet
towards a plant-based diet.

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Also we have made some meaningful
impact in the defense of animals.

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Many countries now have laws
that govern animals

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where there used to be none.

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Using these laws,

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conditions for animals have improved,

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perhaps most notably
in the European Union.

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But also, big American food companies have
improved the conditions for their animals,

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not because they were told
to do so by the government,

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but rather due to popular demand
from their consumers.

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Arguably, these efforts are not enough,

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but they do show that
when it comes to animal suffering,


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that people are aware
and that they do care.

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Another impact in the defense
of animals is the fact

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that more and more people
are deciding, for whatever reason,

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to forgo animal products 
in their daily lives.

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With an increase in demand
for [plant] based products,

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restaurants, supermarkets, entrepreneurs

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are responding with an increase
in supply and variety,

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which in turn makes it even easier

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for people to accept and choose
a plant-based option.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Despite these positive things,
the fact remains that factory farming

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is one of the greatest problems
facing the human race,

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a problem of such proportions

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that it affects the entire
biosphere of the planet.

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That is why it is genuinely important
that as many people as possible

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participate in the shift 
towards a plant-based diet.

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If you take a look at the atrocities

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that we have successfully
and often proudly

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eradicated from our civilized societies,

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such as torture, slavery,
death penalty, and discrimination,

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and then look at what is happening
with the animals we eat,

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it does not take too much effort
of our imagination to appreciate

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that it is with the animals we eat

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where torture takes place,
where slavery prevails -

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at it's very essence,
it is discrimination.

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Fellow human beings, it is high time

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that we embrace non-human animals
within our expanding moral circle.

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It will bring unprecedented benefits
to humans and other animals alike,

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for generations to come.

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(Applause)