Hello, I hope you are well! Here's to let you know, you can now check out episode 6 of the podcast on Spotify!
In this episode I focus on the ethics of food surrounding the welfare of humans and animals, and the exploitation that occurs in many areas of food production.
This episode proved a really difficult one for me when researching.
I am a very empathetic person, and anyone who knows me will know I am very sensitive, so when reading into things that are happening to other people and animals, even the things I was already aware of, I still find it very emotional, especially when realising I am contributing to an unethical practice.
It makes me want to do everything I can to avoid any suffering to any living being.
Ethical eating involves being consciously aware of the environmental concerns, economic issues and industrial influences that would have resulted from the foods you consume.
Ethical concerns can include the wages of local farmers, sustainable agriculture methods, food wastage, the carbon footprint of food production, welfare and much more.
It requires that we don’t simply take a stand on one ethical position – such as veganism, or plastics, or fair trade. It requires that we try to take into account all the different values involved in our food choices, that we consider all the consequences, look at issues more holistically and try to decide what is the better choice to make, all things considered.
This can be a really tricky area, as it can often feel like trying decide which is the lesser of multiple evils. Sadly, There are very few products readily available that are plastic free, , vegan, produced locally, safe working conditions and with fair wages paid to their workers. And within your price range.
Sometimes we aren’t in a situation where we have the luxury of having the better choice to make, as a more ethical option is just not available. E.g palm oil free, plastic free, local.
I started to feel like whatever choice I made was a bad one, rather than seeing that I am becoming much more aware of the choices I’m making, and am trying to do what I can to make better choices, where I can.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Arthur Ashe
It comes back to focusing on what you can do rather than what you can’t and recognise small changes add up to make a big positive difference. I really want to emphasise this, especially when looking into some shocking research and statistics that are very hard hitting.
I’m not talking about them because I want us to feel bad, or guilty, but because as hard as it can be to hear sometimes, we need the information to motivate actions in line with our morals.
And remembering we don’t live in a perfect world by any means, but there are things we can do to improve things.
Chain companies
Farm workers and chain restaurant employees in some cases are among some of the most exploited people on the planet.
The main driver of fast food is the idea of fast, cheap products. And with this ‘convenience’ comes a lot of ethical concerns – disposable materials like plastic, unfair pay – when products are so cheap it’s usually due to workers not being paid anywhere near an adequate wage, exploitation of resources e.g. deforestation for land, extensive water uses, transportation, and when animal products are involved, incredibly intensive farming practices.
The sad reality is that larger chain companies often end up caring more about profit and keeping up with their competitors than they care about the welfare of their workers, the animals and the planet.
But reminder, this puts us as consumers in a position of power, when we avoid purchasing from unethical companies, and educate and encourage others to do the same, their loss of income will motivate them to make the changes we want to see, whilst also we are supporting more ethical companies!
Deforestation in chain companies:
So much demand and the excessive amount of product needed leads to exploiting resources, and extensive clearing of land.
Cargill is a giant food trader that has been heavily criticised for buying from deforested areas. Among other things, it is a major trader of soy-based animal feed. There is evidence that it is buying soya from other areas that have been recently deforested, including parts of Bolivia and Brazil’s Cerrado forest.
In an interview with the independent, Glenn Hurowitz, chief executive of Mighty Earth, stated:
“Despite the positive past steps McDonald’s has taken, everything we know about their suppliers suggests they’re still chock full of deforestation.”
Deforestation problems:
“Nor is it only the biodiversity of plants, animals and insects that is decimated by the obliteration of the rain forests. More than 6 million indigenous people once lived in the amazon forests. There are now, because of the loss of the forests, less than a quarter of a million.” (The Sustainability Secret)
“A large percentage of cancer treatment medications are derived from the rain forest – but less than 1% of tropical rainforest trees have been evaluated for their medical benefits. This means that every single second, as the rain forest is deforested, we potentially lose the cure for any number of currently incurable diseases.” (The Sustainability Secret)
Water Usage
"The food industry is to blame for a lack of access to safe drinking water and the death of more than 1 million children a year." (One Green Planet)
An unbelievable 780 million people lack safe drinking water along with billions more that lack access to basic water sanitation causing water-borne diseases and death.
The food production industry accounts for a huge 70% of the world’s water usage. As a result, communities are left with an insufficient supply of water and many indigenous tribes have been forced to relocate.
Pesticides and other pollutants used by the industry also compromise water quality. In attempt to battle these challenges, many companies are creating policies that reduce water usage.
One green planet website:
“Livestock in the US consume 7 times as much grain as is consumed by the entire US human population and the grains fed to livestock could feed 840 million humans who consumed a plant based diet” Kip Anderson
Farming practices are not just an animal rights issue but a humanitarian issue.
Human exploitation different food production industries:
“Many workers in the cashew industry earn as little as £1.70 to £2.15 per day and suffer with debilitating burns on their hands as they aren’t provided with gloves to protect them from the harmful liquid that comes out of cashews”. (Madeleine Olivia)
Avocados – much of the fruit produced in Mexico is controlled by drug cartels, where farmers are forced to give up a percentage of their income, risking their lives if they don’t.
CHOCOLATE
In recent years, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labour, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa.
The farms of Western Africa supply cocoa to international giants such as Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé—revealing the industry’s direct connection to the worst forms of child labor, human trafficking, and slavery. (The Food Empowerment Project)
On average, cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below the poverty line. As a result, they often resort to the use of child labour to keep their prices competitive.
Most of the children working on cocoa farms are between the ages of 12 and 16, but reporters have found children as young as 5. They are also required to use unsafe equipment like machetes and chainsaws and are exposed to agricultural chemicals.
We as Consumers play an essential role in diminishing the food industry’s injustices. Child slavery on cocoa farms is a difficult issue to fully address because the problems are in practice all across the world.
Advice – buy Fairtrade if you can, and check list on food empowerment website for chocolate list.
COFFEE
Coffee farmers typically earn only 7–10% of the retail price of coffee while in Brazil, workers earn less than 2% of the retail price.
To earn enough to survive, many parents pull their children from school to work on the coffee plantations.
Child labour is widespread in coffee cultivation.
Check out the food empowerment project website! Info on bananas, commercial fishing, factory farms, environmental racism, fast food, GMO’s, veganism and so much more.
Slaughterhouse worker conditions
Many workers suffer from PTSD, incredibly poor, unsanitary and dangerous working conditions.
Accident reports filed by the occupational safety and health administration from meat packing plants include:
Employee hospitalised for neck laceration from flying blade, employee killed when arm caught in meat grinder, employee decapitated by chain of hide puller machine, employee killed when head crushed in hide fleshing machine…. List goes on.
They are incredibly dangerous, horrific conditions these workers are exposed to.
ANIMAL AGRICULTURE
“Roughly 60 billion land animals and over a trillion marine animals are used and killed as commodities per year” Madeleine Olivia
“The life of an animal on a factory farm is characterised by acute deprivation, stress and disease” Humane farming association.
Many of us are enjoying “the results of animal suffering and death, but we don’t enjoy the actual process of suffering and death” Gary L Francione and Anna Charlton
“the fact we pay others to impose the suffering and death on animals does not get us off the moral hook” Gary L Francione and Anna Charlton
“Criminal law is clear in that it does not matter whether you pull the trigger or whether you hire someone to pull the trigger, its murder in both cases” “we treat them the same legally because from a moral point of view, they are the same” Gary L Francione and Anna Charlton
It can be so easy to become disconnected, when you’re shopping and not being encouraged to think about the process behind that product sitting in front of you.
Observing the reality that surrounds the production and consumption of food and clothing that is very well disguised is very shocking and upsetting to see, but avoiding it does not make it go away.
QUOTE THAT RESONATES WITH ME SO MUCH!!!!!
“I don’t want to eat cruelty… I don’t want to support an industry responsible for the decimation of our rain forests, the spreading of dead zones in the ocean, the draining of our finite freshwater supply, and the depletion of our land. I do not want to support an industry that imprisons and kills living beings. I finally had to face up to the fact that all my life, I had been living in a way that did not reflect my own deeply held values regarding compassion, violence, injustice, and life itself. The way I had been living my life was a betrayal of my own core beliefs. It was time to change that” (Kip Anderson)
If you think your choices don’t matter, remember our consumption of products asks the producers to continue to create, harm, and exploit, whether this is humans or animals.
By consuming animal products, or products made through exploitative practices of humans and or animals, we are creating a demand for these practices to continue. This is why it’s so crucial we unearth these things so we can make choices that align with our values.
If going vegan is something you have considered, or are now beginning to consider, what’s holding you back from giving it a try?
Can we be healthy on a vegan diet?
So much evidence supporting we can live healthily on a vegan diet, many health benefits when you eat a nutritionally adequate vegan diet.
Dr Michael Gregor plant- based doctor/nutritionist. Nutrition facts.org useful website.
If you want any advice/support have any questions drop me an email or message on Instagram @alittlebitoflagom, I’m more than happy to chat with you and offer any advice.
Talking about these things brings up a lot of extremes and overwhelm, but what we need to be doing is focusing on the ways we can try to bring about more balance and sustainability.
You may argue its extreme to be trying to avoid things/remove them from your life, but actually when what you are avoiding are the extreme practices that have become normalised by society, you are actually moving towards a more balanced, sustainable and mindful way of living.
It's easy to fall into buying what’s convenient and cheaper, and not think about the other aspects. We aren’t all in a position where we can afford to always buy local, or more sustainable, ethical produce, but there are ways we all can, and it just goes back to considering what you really need, and if it’s a luxury, is it worth buying at the expense of another living being’s suffering and exploitation.
Food power.org has really useful advice and info on what we can do.
I hope some of this information and tips have been useful, and remember you don’t have to do everything all at once, it’s about making it a sustainable practice in your life, and doing what you can to help the planet.
If you have any questions, any thoughts or information you’d like to share, you can email me at alittlebitoflagom@gmail.com, I’d love to hear from you.
If there are things that have resonated with you, please share with family and friends, and if you are in a position where you can support the podcast, please check out my Ko-fi page.
This podcast is unfunded, and unfortunately will not be possible to sustain without your support. If you are able to contribute, any contribution will be incredibly appreciated and I would be so humbled.
To find out more check out my Ko-fi page:
Useful website for nutrition:
dr Michael gregor plant based doctor/nutritionist
Additional Resources/Articles
Institute of food science and technology https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fsat.3304_12.x
Resources with information on avocados:
Advice for ethical consumption:
I really hope this information and the resources can be useful, and I know looking into these things can be incredibly overwhelming, but without starting to open our eyes to these unethical practices we can't learn how to make more conscious, compassionate choices.
The epsiode can be found on Spotify, and via the podcast section of this website.
I hope you are well wherever you are!