All too often we underestimate how our choices and decisions impact those around us. We have the power to impact others in both positive and negative ways through our decisions and actions. One of the actions we have always been taught can make a change is just a simple smile... and it's true, a simple smile in the direction of another can totally change their day. The same goes for negative implications and larger decisions and actions as well. All of our decisions impact someone or something somewhere on this planet. We are a global unit interconnected by land, water, life, and sky. We are social beings who live with a social purpose. We define much of who we are by our relationships and our interactions with others and we have a responsibility to defend, protect, care for, and respect the lives of all beings on this planet. Most people would agree with the statements above, yet there is still world poverty, still hunger, still violence, still greed...etc. So where is the disconnect?
Here it is: superiority, inequality, lack or awareness, and the mere idea that's been planted in our heads that we cannot change the cycle of hunger and poverty. It is a pattern of mankind that we see ourselves as superior or inferior to another. It started first with animals. We saw ourselves as superior to God's creation of animals and felt that "dominion" over them meant, "right to mistreat, misuse, and eat them". Being superior to animals gives us the right to use them as we will for whatever our purpose might be. There is a vast inequality between humans and animals. This disconnect has lead to a relationship of possession, greed, and superiority between mankind and animals. So how does this connect to people? Our culture, within itself, has the same disconnect between the haves and the have not's. Those living in developed countries and those living in undeveloped countries. And while most of us would claim to care about the needs of our people, the disconnect and separation caused by water, land, countries. states, etc....... separates us from those individuals and creates a divide among us as humans. Those who are the "haves" are inherently superior to those who are the "have nots". Its at this point that many people become upset and defensive about their actions and what they are doing to help the global poor and world hunger. I am not here to point fingers at anyone for not doing enough, or for devaluing another being... because I don't know you, i don't know your heart, and I don't know what you are doing to make a change. I am here to tell you about the ways our choices impact the cycle of poverty and hunger. As I am vegan, my main focus is on how our animal consumption is impacting the cycle of poverty and hunger... but keep in mind there are many other influences that feed the fire of poverty and hunger as well.
So, how does our animal consumption impact the cycles of poverty and hunger? Of the 1 billion people in the world that suffer from hunger, 2/3 are from rural and undeveloped countries. Many of these underdeveloped countries were once prosperous and rich in resources but have been depleted of their resources as the need for their commodities rose. The major factor that increased the need for resources was animal farming on a commercial level. The high global demand for meat and dairy products drives resource depletion in underdeveloped countries because these countries produce a large percentage of grain grown for livestock feed. 82% of the worlds starving live in countries where crops are grown and fed to animals. In essence, crops are being grown in these countries that are then being shipped to cattle farms, fed to cattle, and then the cattle are being fed to people living in developed countries. So although these underdeveloped countries have high levels of poverty and hunger, they are continually being asked to grow grain to feed the cattle that feed the wealthy..... instead of growing crops to sustain themselves and feed their hungry people. In the midst of poverty and hunger, 1/4 of all grain produced by 3rd world countries is now given to livestock. LIVESTOCK. Maybe you don't see the disconnect.... We are NOT helping the people in these countries by providing jobs, because we are depleting their natural resources and hiring them to feed the wealthy when they cannot feed themselves. Our selfish desire and want for meat and dairy is directly feeding the cycle of hunger.
Consider if we stopped eating meat and dairy and we were able to get rid of all factory farms. Animals would eat what they are supposed to eat, grass and greens from the earth... and people in 3rd world countries would be able to plant edible crops/grain and feed their poor. Globally, we are producing enough grain to feed two times as many people as there are in the world. <---- So why is there hunger? Why is there starvation? Because of the 2.5 billion tons of grain produced, HALF OF IT IS FED TO ANIMALS IN THE MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRY.
Raising cattle is not a sustainable industry because it only produces a fraction of the food that could be produced if crops were grown. We are so disconnected from the path our food has to go through before it gets to our plates... if only we could wrap our heads around how this seemingly tiny decision impacts the entire world. Think of the money, time, resources, and energy that must go into every waking ounce of steak or chicken that ends up on your plate. Currently, our pattern is this: Crops--> animals---> plate. But why don't we just skip the middle ground and live a life of compassion towards both the animals and those living in the cycle of hunger and poverty. We actually have the ability to change the cycle of world hunger if we were only able to see how our decisions impact those around us. If we realize that Haitian people, African people, starving people throughout the world are laboring at the expense of our dinner... and then returning home at night unable to feed their families..... we can change our behaviors and choose differently. It was put very well in a speech I listened to recently which defined veganism as the key to social change. The speaker stated that, "Veganism is the mentality of radical inclusion." I completely agree with this statement. In being vegan, it is my goal to value each and every creature on this earth as a fellow earthling and to avoid a relationship of superiority and inequality. I can make a vote and a change to end world hunger and poverty simply by what I choose to put on my plate because I desire to radically include all people as part of a global decision making process that is my life. All of our choices are interconnected and greatly influence others whether we see it or not. It might seem radical that I don't eat meat, or that I think I can change the cycle of world hunger and poverty... but to me, it seems radical that we can see people starving and living in poverty and not do anything about it.
