A Time for Change

1915:

There could be many reasons for eating meat, caging animals and experimenting on them. An exploitative approach to animals is certainly advantageous to humans – it’s cheaper and easier all round when you’re part of the dominant species, and especially attractive to the urban consumer who knows very little about animals. Only in the past fifty years (a mere pinprick of time) have we city dwellers come to know about the cruelty involving ‘food’ animals. But there’s always been some sort of ‘knowing’. It’s a bit like pollution and starvation - these problems are as old as the hills. And so is our guilt about them.

         

Humans have dominated their environment, including the animals, for two million years. Now there’s an urgent need, and a chance, to change all this. The transition may take time, as much time as it takes to realise how much damage we’ve done to the planet and its inhabitants. It may take time for us to realise how many deadly illnesses have a strong association with the eating of animals.

           

But eventually we’ll say: “This has gone far enough!!” and we’ll all become seriously herbivorous and non-exploitative.

         

However, for the present, omnivores aren’t ill enough or guilt-ridden enough to change. Our collective consciousness is still too rigid to allow change, and most people don’t really believe they will feel safe enough to explore new possibilities on their own. Vegans have explored, and feel safe. And we want others to come with us. But how do we convince people to give up what they’re used to for what, as yet, they don’t know exists?