Just in case you can't read it, I posted it here.
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Why AOC should go vegan: It would be a simple and powerful way to advance her climate goals
By MACKEN MURPHY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 23, 2020 | 5:00 AM
Something for AOC to chew on. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made
headlines recently for noting how “impossible” it is to find a good bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich in Washington. Given her political commitments, it’s strange that she would search for such a meal. Animal products such as meat, eggs and dairy are environmentally devastating, and a driving force of exploitation and oppression worldwide. The continued existence of animal agriculture directly conflicts with AOC’s fundamental missions as a politician.
Yet she continues to directly support the industry via her food choices. AOC has repeatedly spoken out against animal agriculture. Now, it’s time for her to put her food where her mouth is.
The congresswoman is familiar with the impacts of animal agriculture, and has been for years. Her original Green New Deal FAQ blamed “
farting cows” for obstructing the legislation’s goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions.
She was mocked for this line, but it’s essentially correct: By conservative estimates, animal agriculture annually accounts for
14.5% of global emissions. According to experts, going vegan is
one of the best ways individuals can reduce their impacts on the planet.
Going vegan is more effective than buying a Prius, upgrading to LED light bulbs, washing clothes with cold water, or taking shorter showers.
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AOC knows this. She says that while she has
no plans to “force everybody to go vegan,” she believes that “we shouldn’t be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” She has even told students that they should “
skip meat/dairy for a meal” if they want to fight climate change.
Though the congresswoman deserves praise for her criticisms of animal agriculture, such criticisms would carry far more weight if she modified her own food choices accordingly. AOC should take a page out of vegan climate activist
Greta Thunberg’s book and lead by example.
Climate change is the most obvious reason that AOC should go vegan, but it’s not the only one. The animal agriculture industry stands in opposition to her on many of her key issues.
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Ocasio-Cortez champions the rights of
indigenous people, yet their homes are
burning down in the Amazon for pastureland and animal feed crops. AOC is famous for standing up for working people, yet slaughterhouse workers are viciously exploited — these laborers commonly experience
PTSD from the horrific violence of the work, and are typically compensated with
poverty-level wages.
AOC has
spoken out about the water crisis in Flint. However, pig farms — of the sort likely to produce the first ingredient in her bacon-egg-and-cheese — are creating comparable
ecologicaland health crises throughout the country. Her buying a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich is akin to
Beto O’Rourke purchasing an AR-15.
Ocasio-Cortez is an
animal lover — but if she treated her new dog the same way that she pays others to treat farmed animals, then she would be in jail.
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Bacon comes from pigs that are
castrated,
mutilated,
confined and slaughtered in
gas chambers. Eggs come from farms where all the male chicks are killed on their first day of life, ground up alive in
massive steel blenders. Cheese comes from cows that are
branded,
dehorned,
forcibly impregnated and
separated from their babies.
AOC is right: It is “impossible” to find a
good bacon-egg-and-cheese, as all these sandwiches are the products of torture and misery.
Before I’m accused of doing the equivalent of mocking Al Gore because he flies on carbon-spewing jets, we should understand the difference between manageable and unmanageable sacrifices.
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AOC could easily go vegan tomorrow. She makes enough money and has tons of plant-based options near her work and home.
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Given her influence, going vegan would be immensely impactful. She already makes the news for merely wanting a sandwich; a transition to veganism would generate tremendous media coverage. The credibility of AOC’s goal to change our country for the better is, unfortunately, hamstrung by her failure to change her diet.
Washington may lack bodegas, but the vegan options are “good” — excellent — in both taste and values.
Murphy is a writer, activist and the host of Species podcast.