Vegan Activism

The Save Movement

Mercy for Animals

PeTA

Rise for Animals

Fur Free Alliance

Animal Activism Mentorship

The Earthlings Experience

The Humane League

Direct Action Everywhere

Sea Shepard

Vegan Outreach

Animal Liberation Front

You can be motivated through activism, wanting to better your health, or both, but it has to start with you and the will to want to change! Going vegan is not only good for you but it is good for the planet, especially the animals. This list is from Animal Equality and details in a very summarized list the cruelties that animals face for our consumption and the harm it does to our planet:

1. Space The animal agriculture industry aims to maximize the ‘production’ of farmed animals to maximize profit. To save space and keep costs to a minimum, 99% of animals farmed in the US are crammed by the thousands into overcrowded sheds–many confined in tiny cages where they can barely turn around. But while the animal agriculture industry tries to save space in some of its operations, it has no problem stealing it. It takes over vast amounts of land to raise cows for meat and to farm crops like soy to be used as feed for the animals trapped on factory farms. Today, animal agriculture is responsible for more than 80% of the deforestation in Brazil. It poses a major threat to our planet.

2. The hidden supply chain Feeding animals to be raised for human consumption requires a lot of resources. For example, it takes 5 pounds of feed every single day to feed a single pig. When you consider that 120 million pigs are raised and slaughtered in the US each year, the amount of feed needed becomes unfathomable. To maximize production and profit, the feed given to the animals is a high protein feed, designed to induce fast growth. The protein part of the feed generally consists of soy.It’s impossible to grow all the soy needed to feed the hundreds of millions of animals that live on factory farms every year in the US because there is not enough space. So, where do we get the soy? The answer is simple: we buy soy from other countries, especially from South America. To create the space to grow it, entire forests are destroyed and converted into farmland.

3. Pollution Animal agriculture is responsible for at least 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it is also the direct and indirect cause of one of the greatest environmental catastrophes facing our society: the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. More than 5 million acres were deforested in 2020–a 12% increase from the previous year– and the trend is for deforestation to keep increasing. Because of meat production, the rainforests are being burned down to the point that the Amazon's emissions now far exceed its absorption capacity.

4. Unlicensed slaughterhouses Animals raised in deforested areas are often sent to unlicensed slaughterhouses where not even basic minimum animal welfare standards are respected. Because of this careless system–where it is impossible to trace the entire supply chain–animal cruelty is unknown and undocumented.

5. A waste of resources Farming animals for human consumption is extremely inefficient. When we use resources to raise farmed animals and produce animal products, we are adding an extra step in the food production process. As we feed animals water, soy, and other grains, we are taking those finite resources away from humans who could use them directly. For example, did you know that nearly 1/3 of the world’s fresh water is used for animal farming? Or that producing just one pound of beef uses around 1,800 gallons of water? That means the water used to produce a quarter pound hamburger is equivalent to approximately three months of showering! At a time when water security is becoming an increasingly urgent issue in many parts of the world, this is a significant waste that needs to be addressed.