Here's Why You Should Eat Less Meat: A Visual Argument

I made this collage to encourage people to think about how their values relate to their actions, especially in the intersection of animal rights and food choices.

Grocery stores are made of overwhelming textures and colors and choices. It's an exhausting place for moral consideration, especially when you don't know what your choices are made of. Other people's hands packing other animals organs into plastic to be shipped and loaded or thawed and eaten or thrown in the trash? As you view this, I'd like you to keep in mind your own choices and what they are made of. Here's a visual reminder of how issues of environmental, human, and animal rights are inextricably connected and why you should eat less meat if you care about social issues.

Most people are guilty of compartmentalizing different aspects of their identity/lives in order to be more efficient, but this process can compromise morality and lead to a gap between values and actions. Historically, inconsistent values/actions and a lack of imagination regarding the future have led to cruelty and exploitation of many different names but the same shared shape.

Industrial farming is an example of a cruelty that results from this kind of compartmentalization and prioritization of efficiency. Leo Tolstoy famously said "As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be war." Similarly, the way we treat animals reflects the way we relate to other people and the world, and is connected to many other relevant social issues.

Overall, because people are so removed from agricultural processes, it can be difficult to feel what's 'right' while making food choices. If you care about social issues and having consistent values/actions, you should consider cutting down on your meat consumption and buying ethically farmed livestock if you can afford it. Small lifestyle changes like these, while they don't sacrifice much, can lead to big changes and a more ethical, consistent and sustainable world.