Karl Lagerfeld Had a Point: If You Are Not Vegan, Why Do You Protest Fur?
I am an advocate for animal rights. I have been a vegan for 36 years. I do not eat, wear, or otherwise use animals. Karl Lagerfeld, who died on February 19, 2019, was, perhaps, the most famous fashion designer in the world. He used fur and other animal skin in his designs. That was, without […]
Morality in the Age of Reality TV: Bribing the Pope to Adopt a Vegan Diet for Lent
Pope Francis chose his name to reflect St. Francis of Assisi, author of the Canticle of the Sun, a prayer in which St. Francis praises God for creation, talking of “Brother Sun and “Sister Water,” and referring to the earth as our “Sister” and “Mother.” In 2015, Pope Francis published his second papal encyclical, Laudato si’. An encyclical […]
If You Are Not a Vegan, I Have a Simple Question for You: Why Not?
You may think that it is peculiar that some people are vegans — that is, they don’t eat, wear, or use animals. You may even regard veganism as extreme. But, if truth be told, what is peculiar and extreme is that, given what most of us believe about our moral obligations to animals, more of […]
Guest Essay from Macrobiotic Pioneer, Marlene Watson-Tara: “Go Vegan – It’s Easy”
We are very happy to present a guest essay–Go Vegan – It’s Easy, from Marlene Watson-Tara, International Author and Teacher of Macrobiotics & Human Ecology. Marlene, and her partner, Bill Tara, are pioneers of the Macrobiotic movement. They have developed a vegan macrobiotic approach called MACROVegan. ********** GO VEGAN – IT’S EASY Our Vegan Advocacy […]
Aspiring to Act Justly and Fairly Is Not “Sh*t”
Someone sent me this as one of the many examples of opportunistic so-called “animal advocates” who fall over themselves in a mad dash to say that animal exploitation is really okay while they hold their hands out for donations: Imagine someone saying: “Most of the time, I am not a bigot. But I’m not perfect […]
Should Animal Rights Advocates Promote “In-Vitro” or “Cultured” Meat?
That’s an easy question. The answer is: Absolutely not. The reason is simple: cultured meat involves taking cells from living animals; it also involves growing those cells in an animal medium, such as fetal serum from calves or horses. So animals are killed in the process of producing cultured meat. If you believe that animals […]
Abolitionist Approach Podcast: An Easy Way to Start a Conversation About Veganism
Dear Friends: Here is a podcast that Anna Charlton and I did on an easy way to start a conversation about veganism. ********** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()
Subscribe: RSS
Abolitionist Approach Podcast: On the Misuse of “Abolition”
Dear Friends: Here is a podcast that Anna and I did on the misuse of “Abolition”. ********** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence to yourself. If animals matter morally, […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:27 — 2.7MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Abolitionist Approach Podcast: On Anthony Bourdain, Veganism, and Bad Behavior by Some “Animal People”
Dear Friends: Here is a podcast that Anna and I did on Anthony Bourdain. I was sitting too far away from the device. The dogs were walking around the room. We will do better! ********** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()
Subscribe: RSS
A Short Essay on the Meaning of “New Welfarism”
Many of those who are new to thinking about animal ethics get very upset when I say that a group or individual is “new welfarist.” Part of the problem is that these people do not know the history of the animal movement or understand the various ideologies involved. Indeed, many of them reject out of […]
The Death of Activism and the Rise of Branding Spectacle in Animal Advocacy
The traditional animal welfare groups never bothered much with activism. These were charities that just wanted donations. Then, in the 1980s, the “animal rights” movement arrived in the U.S. Although the movement started off with a focus on grassroots activism, the movement morphed into the new welfarist movement–a conglomeration of corporate charities that talked about […]
Animal Rights and “Pets”
Oxford University Press published a collection of essays by philosophers, Pets and People: The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals. I reviewed the book for the Journal of Value Inquiry. You can find my review here. ********** If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about […]
Tom Regan and the Animal Rights Movement That Once Was
Between the Species, an online journal for the study of philosophy and animals, did an In Memoriam issue focused Tom Regan, who passed away February 20917. Here is the lead essay, Reflections of Tom Regan and the Animal Rights Movement That Once Was, which I was invited to contribute. ********** If you are not vegan, […]
Adventures in Confused Thinking About Sexism
Someone sent this PETA poster and PETA’s reply to the claim that this sort of thing commodifies women. According to PETA, it is “misogynist” to claim that this poster commodifies women because it fails to respect the decision that women make to participate in making a poster like this. To call that confused reasoning on […]
Guest Essay on Ecorazzi.com: Veganism as a Matter of Justice: A Short Reply to the Welfarists
Here is a Guest Essay I did for vegan site, Ecorazzi.com: Veganism as a Matter of Justice: A Short Reply to the Welfarists When I promote the position that veganism is a moral imperative (veganism is something we are morally obligated to do) and that justice requires that we be vegan, some welfarists respond: “But […]
Two New Essays on Open Democracy
We have two new essays on the progressive and highly-respected Open Democracy site: Why We Must Respect the Rights of All Sentient Animals It’s Time to Reconsider the Meaning of ‘Animal Welfare’ These essays appear on the Transformation page of the Open Democracy site. We hope that you enjoy these essays and that you will […]
NEW BOOK: ADVOCATE FOR ANIMALS! AN ABOLITIONIST VEGAN HANDBOOK
Just out! Available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com: This book is a call to action. Since the beginning of time, there have been—in total—about 110 billion humans who have lived and died. We kill more nonhuman animals than that every single year. Think about that for a second. Our exploitation of nonhumans represents violence […]
Veganism: History, Contemporary Views, and Common Objections
This brief essay, translated into Spanish, will be included in the new edition of the Diccionario de Filosophía (J. Ferrater Mora): VEGANISM. Veganism, as a matter of diet that may reflect broader ethical concerns, refers to the practice of not consuming meat, fish, dairy, eggs, and other foods, such as honey. Veganism as a general […]
Some Thoughts in Anticipation of the Podcast Discussion to Which Sivarama Swami Has Agreed
NOTE: I AM PREPARED TO DO THE PODCAST AT ANYTIME. SIVARAMA SWAMI HAS YET TO AGREE TO A DATE. On September 1, 2017, a Hare Krishna adherent named Sivarama Swami posted a video on Facebook entitled, Can Vegans Consume Milk?. I watched the video and I was disturbed by it. I posted this on the […]
Aeon.com Essay on the Interest Animals Have in Living
Here is our second essay in Aeon.com. The title of the essay is: A ‘humanely’ killed animal is still killed – and that’s wrong. We hope that you enjoy it and that it stimulates your thinking about the issue of the interest that animals have in continuing to live–apart from their interest in not suffering. […]