A quick introduction to food ethics

Élise Desaulniers

@edesaulniers

FOOD CHOICES
Are ETHICAL CHOICES

DOING MORE WITH LESS

Norman Borlaug

Vandana Shiva

Tristram Stuart

Jean Ziegler

1 liter
of soy milk
contains
290 l of water

1 liter
of cow's milk 
contains

1050 l of water

the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that livestock production is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases.

1. + more veggies

2. − animal proteins

3. − waste

what about local food ?

Yes to fruits and veggies!
But it's better to be vegan one day a week

than to eat local all the time. 

if you're against gmoS,
YOU'RE AGAINST LIVESTOCK FARMING  

90% of GM soybeans, 80% of GM corn, and 57% of GM canola are grown to feed animals .

FISH IS NOT A SOLUTION

ORGANIC ANIMAL FARMING :
An ineffective solution

• As ineffective as factory farming
• Grass-fed cattle emit more methane than grain-fed
• Each animal requires 2 to 20 acres of pasture. If all US cattle were bred in freedom, they would use half the country.

Esther The Wonder Pig

what about human health?

Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer.

is this a feminist issue?

Ecofeminists agree that the domination of women and the domination of nature are fundamentally connected and that environmental efforts are therefore integral with work to overcome the oppression of women.

If you think about it...

A

• White
• Culture
• Rationality
• Wealth
• Cisgender
• Able
• Heterosexuality
• Men
• Humans

NON-A

• Non-white
• Nature
• Emotions
• Poverty
• Transgender
• Disabled
• Homosexuality
• Women
• Animals

Mechanisms enabling the oppression of minorities also enable the oppression
of non-human animals

All forms of oppression must be fought together

Carol J. Adams, 1990 & 2004

Objectification permits an oppressor to view another being as an object.  The oppressor then violates this being by object-like treatment: e.g., the rape of women that denies women freedom to say no, or the butchering of animals that converts animals from living breathing beings into dead objects.  This process allows fragmentation, or brutal dismemberment, and finally consumption.

Carol J. Adams, The Sexual Politics of Meat, p. 73

“I usually don’t mention that I’m vegan but that has evolved. I think it’s the right moment to talk about it because it is part of a revolutionary perspective – how can we not only discover more compassionate relations with human beings but how can we develop compassionate relations with the other creatures with whom we share this planet and that would mean challenging the whole capitalist industrial form of food production.”

- Angela Davis