Here I think about how some of our choices to protect animals can lead to scarcity-based thinking, which in turn makes it tough to accomplish big things for animals. (3 Minutes.)
Is something you’re spending lots of time doing making you sad? Then you need to step through your fear and stop doing it. You will find something better, that accomplishes more and brings you joy. (5 minutes.)
Thanksgiving inflicts all sorts of emotional distresses on vegans. This video talks about how to channel your sadness and disgust in a way that will help as many animals as possible.
11 minutes. Mentioned in this video:
- Vegan Outreach’s Adopt A College Program.
- Change of Heart
- The Ultimate Vegan Guide
Six minutes. Mentioned in the video:
Imagine if you decide that eliminating animal agribusiness is the most important thing in the world to you. What then?
Recommended in this video:
- Ethics Into Action
, Peter Singer
- Change of Heart
, Nick Cooney
Mentioned in this video:
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
- Ruled Index Cards, 3×5 Inches
- Reminders (App bundled with all new Macs.)
Here’s a four minute video I tossed off this morning. Maybe I should do more short videos? Anyway, if you’re so inspired, you can pick up one of the 146 last remaining copies
If you could share this video I would be grateful.
The biggest animal story of the month regards this week’s Compassion Over Killing investigation of an In-N-Out Burger supplier. Shocking footage displaying all manner of cruelties was shown last night on ABC News.
Unfortunately In-N-Out’s response so far has been both inadequate and inept. The company’s Chief Operating Officer wrote in this public statement:
In-N-Out Burger would never condone the inhumane treatment of animals and all of our suppliers must agree to abide by our strict standards for the humane treatment of cattle.
If In-N-Out Burger’s standards for animal welfare are indeed “strict,” then what accounts for the horrifying scenes shown on the video? It’s clear the company isn’t yet taking the matter seriously, and it has yet to enact measures to ensure comparable cruelties aren’t happening right now at its other suppliers. Here’s the response I would write, describing the actions I would initiate, if I was put in charge of leading the company’s response:
In-N-Out burger has always aspired to be the best burger chain in the United States. We don’t just lead the way on taste, we lead the way in both working conditions for our employees and living conditions for the animals we source. This past week, we discovered that we’ve failed as a company to live up to our obligations to animals.
While we had an employee in charge of checking up on Central Valley Meat, he somehow didn’t detect the apparently rampant cruelty happening at the facility. We sincerely apologize for this failure, and will do whatever it takes to ensure it will never happen again. Therefore, starting this autumn, we are going to require video cameras to be installed at every slaughterhouse that supplies us. And these video cameras will not just be for our use—they’ll be for yours as well. Beginning in December of 2012, all our cameras will go live on the web.
For people who love hamburgers and fries, we want In-N-Out burger to not just be the place for the best burgers, but also the place you can always feel good about patronizing. And we hope our response to this week’s tragic disclosure convinces you that we deserve your business more than ever.
You might read this and respond that In-N-Out Burger would never agree to go this far, but the truth is they can’t afford not to. Video streaming is the only method by which In-N-Out can offer adequate proof that their welfare standards are consistently being met. And the money required to install webcams at their suppliers is so tiny as to be trivial.
If In-N-Out Burger refuses to lead its industry by installing video cams, I bet they’ll find themselves at the center of another investigation in 2013—and what could the company possibly say then?
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It occurs to me that quitting a blog may be like suicide: some people require more than one attempt. In any case, I know I can accomplish a lot more for animals if I stop spending several hours each morning thinking and writing about stuff that distresses me.
I hope you’ll stay subscribed to this feed or join my special announcements email list. I’ve got a couple big projects underway and I’ll announce them here and on my email list the moment they’re released.
We were nearing the time for my semiannual donation drive. Obviously your donations won’t be funding my future blogging, but if you want to throw some money my way, you can do that knowing that nearly all my productive hours are being spent working on behalf of farmed animals. I took in barely more than $10,000 in reader donations last year, and this cash gave me a lot of freedom to take on a variety of work that I don’t see anyone else in the movement doing. I think I may be the best deal in town for people who want their dollars to accomplish as much for farmed animals as possible.
The work I do will continue and, with the cessation of my daily blogging, accelerate. The main project I’m working on right now is the most exciting and important thing I’ve ever done. It’ll fill a gigantic hole in the farmed animal protection movement’s offerings.
To be clear, I absolutely don’t want your donations if you’ve got credit card debt or other obligations that would make giving difficult.
If there’s one thing my past six months of blogging has made unarguable, it’s that we’re nearing a tipping point in the struggle against factory farming. I hope you’ll continue to follow my work. For the immediate future, any interesting stuff I want to share will be through Twitter. Factory farming’s days are numbered, and I hope we can work together to bring about its end.
I love you guys. The attention you’ve given my work means the world to me.
California State Senator Ted Lieu wrote a letter asking the USDA to investigate the use of meat glue in the beef and restaurant industry. The American Meat Institute’s Janet Riley says her organization called Lieu’s office to ask him to stop using the term “meat glue.”
Memo to Janet Riley: the only way to stop a shady meat industry practice from getting a name you don’t like is to not allow the practice to become widespread in the first place. Because once that practice gets exposed there will invariably be a name tacked onto it that you don’t like—and all the pestering phone calls in the world will never make that name go away. Link.
