Here is a longer review by Giselle

“James McWilliams began his talk, titled “Veganism for Omnivores: Counter Narratives,” by giving statistics about the huge detrimental effects that factory “farms” have on the environment and on the animals forced into these deplorable conditions, facts that many people know at this point.

He then went on to explain why the sustainable food movement (buying local, “humane,” “free-range” animal products), the new trend popularized by people like Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, is not ethically consistent with society’s supposed values.

Moreover, these terms describing animal products often mean nothing. Small-scale farms raise, kill, and commodify animals just like factory “farms” do. And although many people make choices to support more “humane” farms, showing that they care about the animals’ well-being and believe animals have moral standing, they cannot ethically justify the killing of these animals.

James then went on to describe 5 situations/reasons that non-vegans often give for supporting small-scale farms, and he debunked the claims for all of them.

First, he told us about mobile slaughterhouses, that is, USDA-approved trucks that come to farms and kill the animals right outside on the farm grounds (the slaughter cannot lawfully happen inside the truck, because it would be too dangerous for the person killing the animal). And although many people would claim that this is a much better situation than carrying animals hundreds of miles on a transport truck, without food or water for days, often becoming injured from being crammed together inside the truck, it is very inefficient both economically and ecologically. It would cost too much money to kill all animals in this capacity, and there would be far too much blood to clean up outside (a problem that slaughterhouses do not have, as they have set up highly advanced mechanized ways of getting rid of all the fluids).

Second, James talked about the claim that, with grass-fed beef, there is a much lower risk of E. Coli bacteria spreading. However, studies have shown that there is no difference in safety between factory farmed cows and grass-fed cows. Also, because so many acres of land are needed to raise grass-fed cows, this would not be an ecological solution at all. It would literally be impossible to meet the current demand for beef without factory farms.

Third, he described the new trend of “DIY” slaughter (Do-it-yourself slaughter), where people raise their own chickens, pigs, and goats, and then kill the animals themselves. These people often justify killing and consuming their own animals by saying that they are “showing animals more respect.” However, with DIY slaughter, there is often a lack of knowledge in knowing how to kill animals. This often leads to the animals experiencing slow, painful, and traumatic deaths. James quoted numerous excerpts that people have given about conducting or witnessing DIY slaughter, and they all described very graphic, emotionally upsetting scenes for both the animals and the humans involved.

Fourth, he told us about the plethora of information he found on the raising of pastured chickens and selling their eggs, something that non-vegans often think is ethically sound, but which has many recurring problems. The most common problem that these farmers have is predation. Wildlife, such as raccoons and coyotes, kill the chickens. Thus, the farmers kill these animals in order to protect their chickens and the profit they will make off of them. Also, many farmers experience disease outbreak in the chickens, for which they give numerous antibiotics to the animals. Therefore, the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella is not only a problem on factory “farms.” Furthermore, as James described in the Q&A, pastured chickens come from the same hatcheries factory farmed chickens come from, the same hatcheries which separate male and female chicks at birth and either grind up or suffocate the male chicks, as they are of no use to the egg industry.

Lastly, James talked about free-range pigs and all the problems which go along with farming them. On these small-scale farms, there is still breeding and castration (done without painkillers) forced upon the animals. There is also often mutilation of the animals, where nose rings are forced into their snouts to prevent the pigs from eating all the grass on the pasture. This is a painful process for the animals and continues to be painful whenever they eat or root, both of which are natural activities for pigs. Also, with small-scale pig farming, there are higher rates of Salmonella and Toxoplasma gondii.

Inherent in all of these narratives and counter narratives was the fact that it is morally unjustifiable to kill animals, especially when the age at which they are slaughtered is at 1/10th of their natural lifespan, regardless of whether they come from a small-scale farm or a factory “farm.”

Review by Giselle