Environmental Challenge to Reduce Animal Cruelty: Becoming Vegan for Five Days

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Before starting the challenge

1. Reporting the environmental issues:

Throughout the last few decades, the world’s demand for animal related products has highly increased. As a result of this growing demand, the food industry had to reply by increasing the efficiency of its meat, dairy, etc. production. However, this rapid change in the production chain has amplified the problem of animal cruelty. Overall, this environmental problem is a consequence of anthropocentrism. In other words, the idea that humans are the center of all has entitled many to believe that animals are simply there to feed us. Indeed, since the appearance of large industrial farms, around the 1940s, there has been a decrease in concern for the welfare of poultry and livestock. More and more, these animals are seen as an opportunity to make profit. The competition factor in the farming industry has further encouraged animal mistreatment as more importance is given to productivity than to animal protection (J. Haas 8).

Currently, animal cruelty is mostly present in corporate industrial farms. The intensive production of farm animals is very present in developed nations such as Canada, the United States, Australia as well as many countries in Eastern Europe.

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Animal mistreatment can have many consequences on humans. First of all, animals raised in factory farms (in unsanitary conditions) are more prone to diseases and viruses such as E-coli, etc. As such, these diseases can later on be transmitted to us and can cause serious health problems. In addition, growth hormones and antibiotics that are given to animals are also a threat to humans. As they find their way into our food chain, they can have dangerous effects on our genetics and on our immune systems (J. Haas 8). From the animals’ point of view, this cruelty causes great suffering. Indeed, animals raised in factory farms with such poor quality of lives are destined to be mistreated, with the final blow of being sacrificed for human consumption. In short, this vicious process strips them of all their dignity. On a broader scope, animal cruelty is a form of inhumanity towards living beings that could eventually spill over onto humans, desensitising them in their relations to other humans. Furthermore, children’s exposure to animal abuse is also a concern as it gives them some sort of a permission to copy this unethical behaviour.

In sum, humans should care about this issue as it affects us directly. In fact, many consequences of this issue can have negative impacts on our heath. Unsurprisingly, we are the one that created this problem which is why we are the ones who should act. Reducing our meat consumption would be one step in the right direction as it would show our disapproval towards animal cruelty. On the other hand, if we choose not to care about this issue and continue to consume large quantities of animal derived products, this would only show our support towards animal mistreatment and encourage corporate companies in their immoral doings.

2. Personal reflection:

Personally, my action to turn to veganism for five days will, I hope, help influence people around me, raising their awareness about animal cruelty. Also, by avoiding any animal related products, I will be underlying my disapproval regarding factory farming and animal mistreatment, thus boycotting the large-scale farming compagnies.

Presently, I consume animal related products at least once a day. However, for the next few days, I will deprive myself of these types of commodities. For instance, I will not drink any milk with my coffee in the morning, I will not add any cold cuts to my sandwiches at lunchtime, nor will I eat any chicken-, beef- or fish-based soups. To ensure that my nutrient intake is balanced, I will rely on some vegan subsidies such has soy milk or almond milk, vegan cheeses, nuts, dates, tofu, etc.

My current lifestyle is not consistent with my values as I do not pay much attention to the consequences related to the products I consume. Even though I cherish values such as respect, altruism, conservation, environmentalism, ethics, etc. I have never really taken a stand to re-enforce these beliefs. For example, I very much disapprove of animal cruelty, but I never before would have taken measures to reduce my meat or dairy consumption, let alone, turn to veganism. In addition, I believe that the environment and the health of our planet is of paramount importance. However, other than recycling and composting, I do not feel like I am living up to this giant challenge as much as I could be.

As a result of this exercise, I hope to learn that reducing my consumption of animal related products is not that hard. Moreover, I wish that this exercise will show me that even small individual actions can be useful and can help pass a certain message. In other words, I wish that it further develops my open-mindedness and brings me of be more of an activist.

During the challenge

3. Journal entries

Thursday February 7, 2019:

Today, I started my five-day veganism challenge. I have a few friends that are vegan or vegetarian, so I asked them for a few tips as well as for recipes and snacks. I managed my way through the day and while everything went well, I later noticed that my coat was stuffed with feathers (therefore it cannot be considered as vegan). That evening, I was forced to cook my own supper as my mother had only prepared a beef stew. I decided to prepare myself some curry tofu, a recipe from the Ricardo recipe book that my friends had suggested. In the end, this first day ended up being quite difficult and it quickly came to my attention that I relied a lot on animal-based products. Nonetheless, having the animal cruelty issue at heart, I was determined to continue my challenge.

Saturday February 9, 2019:

After three days, I was still meeting the objectives of my challenge. To make sure that I was maintaining a balanced diet, it did some research on the Internet about what nutrients I might be forgetting. As I went over the things that I had eaten recently, I realised that my diet was still quite complete. Surely, the fact that I adored vegetables was helping me maintain this balance. That evening, my friend, Antoine, who happens to be vegetarian, invited me to eat at his place. Since he knew about my challenge as well as of my love for meat, he decided to prepare us vegan lentil burgers. I very much enjoyed this recipe, but I cannot say that the lentil patty was better tasting than actual meat. Overall, my challenge was going well, yet I was starting to realise the extent of the difficulty of this exercise.

Monday February 11, 2019:

Five days into my challenge, I was still having a hard time getting used to a vegan diet. I felt as if my choices of food were limited and not a good as what I was used to eat. Additionally, it required a lot of effort and time to prepare my own meals. More than anything, I was really starting to miss eating meat. Unfortunately, at lunch, I ate some cheese, forgetting for a moment that I had to restrain myself from all animal-related products. This last day was the hardest for me, because I really felt like going back to my normal diet, yet I was still very committed to my challenge. Fortunately, I was able to hold back until the next morning when I was glad to finally eat a giant breakfast, with eggs and bacon! In the end, I was happy to have undertaken this exercise and consider having relatively successfully completed this challenge despite some minor setbacks.

After the challenge

4. Reflection on my accomplishments:

Overall, this challenge was more difficult that I had expected. I had not planned on cooking all of my meals on my own and I did not know that a vegan diet was that limited. Obviously, I did not get the chance to experiment this type of lifestyle for a long time, but I am convinced that it is not the right fit for me. Indeed, I am much to dependent on animal products and I am not ready to make a complete change to my current lifestyle. On the other hand, having friends that live accordingly to this lifestyle made it easier for me to motivate myself and to push through the five days of this challenge. In general, I am glad to have undertaken this challenge as it has made me more aware of the consequences that are related with what we consume. In other words, through this challenge, I grew more aware of the mistreatment of animals in the food industry. Furthermore, I realized that some of the consequences of animal cruelty can also have negative impacts on our health.

For the future, I will definitely try to reduce my dairy and meat consumption. As mentioned previously, I do not intend on maintaining a vegan diet, but I hope to gradually migrate towards a more vegetarian lifestyle. Finally, I would also like to show my support towards animal raised in a respectful environment by limiting myself to organic and sustainable foods and goods.

Works Cited

  1. Haas, and Samantha J. “How We Mistreat the Animals We Eat.” DASH Home, SAGE Publications, 1 Jan. 2019, dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/8889477. Accessed Feb. 12, 2019.

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