Enough on our plate.

Dr Sailesh Rao is the Founder of Climate Healers and Executive Producer of Cowspiracy(2014).

We are already living in the sixth mass extinction, losing animals at a rate of 1,000 - 10,000 times the natural rate yet nothing about our farming culture is ‘natural’ and the thousands of hectares of land being used to grow crops to feed livestock is forcing other species from their natural habitat and adding to this already frightening statistic. When you consider that the average meal lasts ten minutes and we exist in a mostly fast paced, fast food society, is it worth the environmental and ethical damage for nothing other than our tastebuds?

“I propose that we all scream from the rooftops to raise awareness on the life-threatening implications of this culture of normalized violence. In a stark choice between mass extinction including our own and the evolution of our species to a ‘Caretaker’ role instead of ‘Top Predator’ role, I think that the vast majority of human beings will actually choose the latter” Dr Rao said.

Dr Richard Oppenlander is an activist, lecturer and author. His first book Comfortably Unaware explores the impact food choice has on the environment and the cruelty inherent in all types of animal agriculture. He warns that we will be extinct one day if we do not change our diets.

There are also many major health concerns surrounding the consumption of meat, red meat in particular. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorised processed meat as a Carcinogenic which is basically a cause of cancer in the same band as tobacco.

Dr Justine Butler, Author of Vivas Envirocidal campaign said: “in terms of health, meat does not contain any nutrients that you can’t find in healthier plant foods. Obviously less meat is better than no change but cutting meat out altogether is the best option for our health and our planet.”

She continued. “Farmed animals are not allowed to reproduce naturally so as demand for meat drops, fewer and fewer animals will be bred. So, we will not be overrun with millions of farm animals as some people seem to imagine. In a vegan world animals would not be kept for profit and greed, but would be allowed to exist in their natural state and live out their lives in freedom”

As it stands now, the animals raised for meat are far from free. The meat and dairy industries are cruel by any standards but are given a marketing makeover, so the consumer does not have to picture what goes on behind closed pens...

Pigs raised for pork spend their whole lives in gestation crates unable to move, having litter after litter until they become spent and are sent to slaughter, Pigs have been proven to be smarter than chimpanzees and have the cognitive ability of three-year-old children which makes them highly aware through this whole process.

Female cows are forcibly impregnated repeatedly and after carrying their babies for nine months have them taken away so that humans can drink the milk meant for their young, the male calves are sent to slaughter for veal meat. Cows are social animals and mourn for their children for long periods of time after they are taken away.

Chickens are usually given steroids to grow at an abnormal rate and forced to lay 250-300 eggs a year (as opposed to 10-15 naturally). All male chicks are ground up or buried alive because they serve no purpose.

Not to mention Fish – who are the most abused out of all living creatures. We kill 1-3 trillion fish and sea-life each year.

“Contrary to some people’s opinions, recent research shows that fish do feel pain, have good memories, live in complex social communities, can recognise themselves and others and show signs of cooperation and reconciliation” said Dr Butler.

It is the stuff of horror movies and yet this is only a fraction of the truth. Why are we so determined to turn a blind eye to the suffering?