“Survival at Stake: How Our Treatment of Animals Is Key to Human Existence” by Poorva Joshipura (vegan), Part 2 of 2

“What struck me the most is that a lot of people still believe that other animal-people do not feel as much as we feel, that they are not as intelligent as we are. In reality, there are so many things that animals do that we cannot do. The only fact that should matter at all is that they’re capable of suffering, they’re capable of feeling pain, and we don’t need to cause that.” “If we thought COVID was bad, H5N1 bird flu has a 60% mortality rate in human beings. We are putting ourselves in very, very dangerous situations because of the way that we treat animals.”

“By the simple act of going vegan, each person can save the lives of up to 200 animals a year. We can reduce our carbon footprint from food by 73%, and we save tigers and rhinos in the process because huge swaths of land are currently being cleared to raise animals for food or the crops to feed them. In fact, meat production is considered the top cause of species extinction now because of the huge amounts of forest land being cleared for food, for leather.”

Ms. Joshipura describes how compassion shapes a safer future for both animal-people and humans. “If the world went vegan, we would see an improvement in everything regarding our planet, whether it’s the availability or the cleanliness of water, fresh air. My book, ‘Survival at Stake,’ talks about animals used for food, animals used for clothing, for experimentation, for entertainment, because all of those different ways that we use animals, and that we interact with animals, has an effect on us. We simply don’t have to eat animals, same way we don’t have to wear animals or use animal-tested products.”