Jun Goto

⁣Nowadays, we like to use the word “local” and buy products that are locally made. However, that is mainly because of the rising awareness (in businesses/brands and consumers) about the negative impact of large amounts of shipping/transporting on the environment in the era of internet shopping, the purpose of supporting local businesses & communities, etc., not because doing so can ensure that the products that we buy are made ethically - it does not enable us to spot or detect unethical business practices. ⠀
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Most livestock animals today are raised in a closed environment for most of their lives, and we cannot see what is being done to them. Even when we can see animals comfortably wandering around in a farm, we know that they will end up in a slaughterhouse and have their lives taken away for unnecessary reasons - all livestock animals end up in a slaughterhouse. ⠀
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“I only buy my meat from a local farm.” This is one of the most common statements that are made by non-vegans attempting to justify buying products that involves cruelty, suffering and deaths of innocent beings. ⠀
This fails to do so as something being local to them does not make it ethical. And if this statement worked, we could possibly justify every single farm that exists on this planet.⠀
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⁣Humanity has been eating animals and their secretions for survival for thousands of years. However, it’s only been decades since we started doing so the way we do today. ⠀
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Modern industrial factory farming or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) has caused the most pandemics in the past century. It creates the risk of emergence of highly deadly influenza strains such as H5N1 and H7N9 by creating a perfect storm environment for pathogens to jump to new hosts and make billions of mutations in the population of animals kept under highly stressful, crowded and unsanitary conditions inside those farms.⠀
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CDC has estimated that 3 out of 4 or 75% of emerging viruses today come from non-human animals, and this is due to the intensification of factory farms around the world, fueled by the global demands for cheap animal products.⠀
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A pandemic caused by one of those viruses with a high human to human transmission capability and high infection fatality has a potential to cause one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. ⠀
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⁣Since 2016, wide-spread forced labor in the fishing/seafood industry has been reported in 47 countries including the United States, New Zealand, Ireland and Taiwan (Science Advances). This trend has been largely fueled by the depletion of the global fish stock. ⠀
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To meet the global demand for cheap seafood, fishing vessels and fishermen are being sent further out to sea for extended periods of time. With standard practices such as "trans-shipment", this makes the seafood supply chains more remote, complex and opaque, which then leaves the workers more vulnerable to violations of humans and labor rights including human trafficking and slavery at sea.⠀
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Sustainalytics explains that as the alarming depletion of fish stocks combined with the global demand for seafood accelerates, the risk of illegal labor practices increases. ⠀
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In 2019, many of the world's leading human rights organizations co-signed a statement criticizing the MSC's certification for NOT identifying, preventing or protecting seafood workers from labor rights violations. ⠀
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High and unnecessary amount of seafood consumption in the high-income developed countries is also depleting the fish stock that indigenous people and sustenance fishers in low-income coastal regions around the world rely on for their survival. ⠀
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The most effective solution for consumers to stop the global environmental, marine biodiversity crisis and systematic human rights issue is to switch to plant-based protein, and leave the ocean alone. ⠀
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⁣Since 2016, wide-spread forced labor in the fishing/seafood industry has been reported in 47 countries including the United States, New Zealand, Ireland and Taiwan (Science Advances). This trend has been largely fueled by the depletion of the global fish stock. ⠀
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To meet the global demand for cheap seafood, fishing vessels and fishermen are being sent further out to sea for extended periods of time. With standard practices such as "trans-shipment", this makes the seafood supply chains more remote, complex and opaque, which then leaves the workers more vulnerable to violations of humans and labor rights including human trafficking and slavery at sea.⠀
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Sustainalytics explains that as the alarming depletion of fish stocks combined with the global demand for seafood accelerates, the risk of illegal labor practices increases. ⠀
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In 2019, many of the world's leading human rights organizations co-signed a statement criticizing the MSC's certification for NOT identifying, preventing or protecting seafood workers from labor rights violations. ⠀
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The most effective solution for consumers to stop the global environmental, marine biodiversity crisis and systematic human rights issue is to switch to plant-based protein, and leave the ocean alone. ⠀
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⁣We hear a lot about by-catch, bottom trawling and all the other environmental destructions that the global fishing industry causes. However, it hides darker secrets in the middle of the ocean; human trafficking, forced labor & modern day slavery is endemic in the fishing industry, where the supply chains are remote, complex and opaque. In 2019, many of the world's leading human rights organizations co-signed a statement criticizing the MSC's certification for NOT identifying, preventing or protecting seafood workers from labor rights violations. ⠀
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Although the Thai fishing industry and prawn industry are globally notorious for being some of the most abusive and destructive economic sectors in the world, this is a global systematic human rights issue as it is fueled by the global demand for cheap seafood, despite the serious depletion of the world’d fish, which pushes the fishing vessels for extended periods of time, further out to sea.⠀
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⁣No one has to be a naturalist or biologist to acknowledge this fact; children know this. Most of us apply this to certain species of animals and refer to them as “man’s best friend” or welcome them as part of our families despite the difference between us and them in terms of intelligence, ability and means of communication, etc. In fact, many of us use this information and give special care for those who are vulnerable - less intelligent or less protected. Yet most of us choose to avoid this information when it comes to certain other species of animals, and instead, use the difference to justify our behaviors that result from the exploitation of those animals for our own benefits. It is time to devolve our perception of life. ⠀
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⁣Swipe to see the difference.⠀
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⁣A new study published on Nature has revealed a shocking fact: the Amazon rainforest now emits more CO2 than it absorbs. The rainforest that had been previously called the Earth’s lungs or a carbon sink. We relied on the rainforests to sequester carbon emitted by the fossil fuel and transportation sectors, but we are faced with the fact that we have lost it. ⠀
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Every minute, a football pitch of Amazon rainforest is destroyed. The massive amount of deforestation has been accelerated by fires that are deliberately set to clear land for beef and soy production - cattle ranching and feed for livestock animals that are consumed all over the world including in western developed countries and japan, etc. ⠀
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According to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, over 96% of all soybeans produced in the Amazon region are fed to livestock animals, leaving only 4% of them for human consumption after the horrific destruction. This problem of land use and deforestation for land clearing isn’t unique to Amazon. Around 85% of the world’s soybeans are processed into soybean cake or cooking oil, of which approximately 97% of the soymeal is further processed into animal feed. ⠀
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Deforestation not only disables carbon sequestration, but also is the leading cause of habitat destruction, species extinction and encroachment on many people’s land, etc. ⠀
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Referred study:⠀
“Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change”, published on Nature.⠀
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⁣Why is it that in this society full of animal lovers, there’s such a moral distinction between different animal species? Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, or Yulin Dog Meat Festival, is an annual festival held in Yulin, Guangxi, China, where ten of thousands of dogs and cats are tortured, slaughtered and killed for food in a course of 10 days. ⠀
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So many people and communities around the world have been arguing that the festival is immoral and cruel, and asking for the END of the festival, not a reduction or for a better treatment of the dogs and cats by putting them in larger cages. We say that the festival should be abolished. Because we know that it is unnecessary. And we know that when an unnecessary action involves a victim, the action cannot be morally justified. And more importantly, the fact that the cruel action is unnecessary shows that the only reason it is done is for sensory pleasure, which is never a valid justification for doing whatever we want to others. ⠀
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Just like we do not need to eat dogs and cats for protein or any other nutrient, we do not need to eat the animals we consume in the west to get protein or for survival. It is time for us to recognize the unnecessary pain, suffering and deaths that we inflict to other sentient beings just for our sensory pleasure. And it is time for us to extend and apply our moral consideration for other humans to all other sentient beings including non-human animals.⠀
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Does something being cultural or traditional make it right and moral? And does something being remote make it right and moral? ⠀
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⁣Many of the environmental and public health concerns that are considered some of the biggest threats to humanity according to many of the world’s leading authorities, and some human rights issues are caused or fueled by or related to our diet. Some diet is highly costly, and it’s not worth it. The current global food system needs to be transformed to a mostly plant-based system or we all are going to be in serious trouble very soon in the future. It is now time to act.⠀
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