Human children, nonhuman animals, and a plant-based vegan future
Date
2023
Authors
Deckha, Maneesha
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Publisher
Koninklijke Brill NV
Abstract
Conservative estimates indicate that humans eat approximately 65 billion land-based animals annually (FAO 2020a), and that wild-caught fishing and aquaculture entail the death of nearly a trillion (and quite possibly more) fish per year. The enormity of this scale of animal consumption is unprecedented in human society. Yet, most people are unaware of the scale of animal farming, trawling, and slaughter or the brutalities it involves as these activities take place away from public view, typically in windowless concentrated animal feeding operations or in gigantic trawler nets in the middle of the ocean (Bisgould 2011, 162–163). Media coverage discussing the phenomena, even in affluent countries with the highest levels of animal consumption per capita, is sparse with national governments also remaining silent on farmed animal suffering (Arcari 2017, 77–82). In fact, meat, dairy, and animal-based food lobbies enjoy elevated levels of political influence (Kemmerer 2006), and legislation may also exist in certain jurisdictions to illegalise whistleblowing or undercover investigations in these spaces. All of these forces combine to minimise public awareness of the scale of these industries and the torturous conditions in which animals are raised, slaughtered, and otherwise processed.
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Citation
Deckha, M. (2023). Human children, nonhuman animals, and a plant-based vegan future. In K. Aavik, K. Irni, & M.-M. Joki (Eds.), Feminist Animal and Multispecies Studies: Critical Perspectives on Food and Eating (pp. 175–204). https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004679375_008