Vegan for Life - Jack Norris [94]
The only safe way to protect your interests is to give equal consideration to the interests of all. In this situation, you would clearly feel a strong imperative toward making things as fair as possible for everyone. Right away, we can dismiss the needs of rocks, since rocks have no needs. Plants are similar to rocks; they don’t have brains or the capacity to feel pain. They can’t avoid mutilation, so it would serve no purpose for them to fear it or suffer from it. (Does anyone really believe that mowing a lawn causes plants a similar agony to that of cutting off the limbs of animals or humans?)
While we don’t understand everything about the needs of animals, we know that they can experience pain and fear. Is that reason enough to consider their interests? If you put yourself in the original position, knowing that you may end up as a cow or a pig, it’s very likely that you would consider the interests of these animals to be important.
WHAT ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO MUST KILL ANIMALS TO SURVIVE?
If someone has to kill to stay alive, can you blame them for doing so? Perhaps not, but staying alive should be the only legitimate excuse for taking the lives of others. Tradition is not a good argument, as anyone who opposes human sacrifice should agree. And doing what is natural is also not a good argument given how hard it is to define or know what is natural, and how few people actually seek to live in a state of nature.
These philosophies raise legitimate and powerful questions about whether we can claim any right to use animals when we don’t need to and, as our book shows, a vegan diet offers such an easy, healthy and enjoyable alternative.
VEGAN RESOURCES
AUTHORS’ BLOGS
www.JackNorrisRD.com
www.TheVeganRD.com
RECOMMENDED SOURCES OF NUTRITION INFORMATION
www.veganhealth.org: This is Jack’s comprehensive overview of vegan nutrition studies.
www.vrg.org: The Vegetarian Resource Group provides extensive information about vegan nutrition for families.
Latest in Clinical Nutrition DVDs, compiled by Michael Greger, MD: Each DVD addresses highlights of nutrition research for the year.
The Dietitian’s Guide to Vegetarian Diets, 3rd ed., by Reed Mangels, Virginia Messina, and Mark Messina (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2010).
Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals, 4th ed., by Debra Wasserman and Reed Mangels (Baltimore, MD: The Vegetarian Resource Group, 2006).
VEGAN STARTER GUIDES
You can download or order free booklets on vegan nutrition and cooking from these websites:
www.veganoutreach.org/guide/
www.tryveg.com/request/
www.mercyforanimals.org/vegan-starter-kit.aspx
www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/gve.pdf
ONLINE VEGAN STORES
www.cosmosveganshoppe.com/
www.healthy-eating.com
www.veganessentials.com
www.veganstore.com
www.thevegetariansite.com
VEGAN NEWS AND VIEWS
www.vegan.com
www.diggingthroughthedirt.blogspot.com
www.whyveganoutreach.blogspot.com/
www.vegnews.com
VEGAN EDUCATION, ACTIVISM, AND LIFESTYLE
The Animal Activist’s Handbook by Matt Ball and Bruce Friedrich (New York: Lantern Books, 2009).
Strategic Action for Animals: A Handbook on Strategic Movement Building, Organizing, and Activism for Animal Liberation by Melanie Joy (New York: Lantern Books, 2008).
Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism by Mark Hawthorne (Winchester, UK: O Books, 2007).
Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals by Karen Dawn (New York: HarperCollins, 2008).
The Ultimate Vegan Guide by Erik Marcus (Santa Cruz, CA: Vegan.com, 2009). Free download available at www.vegan.com/ultimate-vegan-guide/.
FACTORY FARMING
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2009).
Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money by Erik Marcus (Ithaca, NY: Brio Press, 2005).
www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/animals.html
www.peta.org/issues/Animals-Used-For-Food/default.aspx