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  • 101 reasons to go vegan James Wildman

  • Good evening and thank you for coming.

  • My name is James, and I am the humane educator

  • for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

  • Now, I am typically giving this presentation to a high school classroom,

  • so my audience is a little different. And I...

  • (Same, same level.) Same level. We will find out. We will find out.

  • So I pretty much know my audience.

  • And I can pretty much can guarantee that 99% of the kids in the class

  • are eating meat, dairy and eggs.

  • And there might be one or two kids who are vegetarian.

  • But it’s a very rare occasion where youll get a kid who is vegan.

  • When I speak to adults it’s a little different, you know,

  • I don’t quite know my audience as well.

  • So I want to get to know you. So here is what I want everybody to do.

  • I want everybody to please stand up.

  • Alright, now, if you are vegan, meaning

  • you choose not to eat any meat of the animal,

  • no flesh of the animals, no cows, no chickens, no pigs,

  • no turkey, and no fish, right surprise, surprise: fish is not a vegetable.

  • No dairy, no cow's milk, no cow cheese,

  • no cow butter, no cow ice cream and no eggs,

  • please have a seat.

  • So if you are a vegan, please have a seat.

  • OK. Now for the rest of you,

  • youll have to remain standing for the rest of the presentation.

  • Alright, everybody have a seat.

  • There is another benefit of talking to high school kids.

  • And that’s they are not afraid to participate in the presentation.

  • They will say whatever is on their mind. Whether I like it or not.

  • But with adults it's a little bit harder, it’s like pulling teeth.

  • Now this presentation is designed to be interactive,

  • meaning I want you to actually participate. I want you to engage.

  • When you think about the presentation, it’s like a Rorschach test.

  • I'll show you a picture...

  • and you... tell me what you see.

  • Alright. So the maturity level is the same as high school students’.

  • It is a mushroom, people. Alright.

  • How many of you have ever seen the movieThe Matrix”?

  • Alright, so more than half.

  • For those who have not seen the movieThe Matrix

  • There's a scene in the very beginning of the film,

  • where the main character is presented with two pills.

  • One blue . And one red

  • And he has to make a choice

  • If he chooses the blue pill, hell fall asleep

  • and when he wakes up, everything will be exactly the way it has always been.

  • If he chooses the red pill,

  • he will finally learn the truth.

  • And I'm here today to give you that red pill.

  • But let me make this very clear to you:

  • I'm not here to tell you what to do,

  • I'm not here to tell you how to think, how to feel

  • And I'm certainly not here to tell you what to eat.

  • I am simply here to provide you with information

  • What you do with that information is solely up to you.

  • So what does the Matrix look like?

  • Let me show you.

  • Now, despite what you might be thinking these two circles are not equal.

  • I repeat, these two circles are not equal.

  • One is in fact larger than the other.

  • What I need you to do, is to determine which one that is.

  • So please raise your hand if you believe the blue circle is larger than the red.

  • Alright.

  • Please raise your hand if you believe the red circle is larger than the blue.

  • Alright, very good.

  • Now, before I said anything about these two circles,

  • what was your first instinct?

  • Equal, right?

  • Because they look equal. The reason they look equal,

  • is because they are in fact equal. These two circles are identical.

  • You know, I just got almost everyone of you to raise your hand

  • and say that they are not. So what do we learn?

  • That you can be manipulated like that [clicks]

  • to believe in something that goes against your natural instincts.

  • Just imagine, just imagine as a child

  • you are taught that the blue circle is larger than the red.

  • If you say it enough times, you convince yourself that's the truth.

  • If youre told the lie enough times, it becomes part of your reality.

  • And if enough people were taught that lie,

  • that the blue circle is larger than the red,

  • then now it becomes part of the culture.

  • And if that culture then passes that misinformation

  • along to the next generation, now it becomes tradition.

  • And what we have to remember is that just because we have a tradition,

  • it does not mean it is morally acceptable.

  • Tradition and morality are not always the same.

  • I mean can you think of any traditions

  • that we once had in the United States of America that we no longer have?

  • That today we think back and that was immoral?

  • Slavery, right? Less than two hundred years ago.

  • And that was a tradition.

  • So the traditions we have today

  • does not necessarily mean that they are morally acceptable.

  • And as we evolve as a culture, so do our traditions.

  • Now, The Matrix is a story. It’s a story

  • when told enough times to enough people

  • it becomes a part of that culture. It becomes the tradition.

  • And this story is being told over and over. Everyday.

  • In fact, if you believe the image on the cartoon

  • is where you are getting your milk from, you are deceiving yourself.

  • This is a fantasy. It only exists in your head.

  • It’s a blue pill fed to you by the industry

  • to get you to buy their product.

  • This is the Matrix

  • the lie we tell ourselves about where our food is coming from.

  • The reality is far more disturbing.

  • 90 to 95% of the milk,

  • the meat,

  • and eggs that we consume in the United States are coming from these conditions.

  • This is called factory farming.

  • This is where you take thousands of hens,

  • Pigs,

  • and cows and confine them into warehouses.

  • In fact, every year in the U.S. 10 billion...

  • Yes, 10 billion cows,

  • Pigs,

  • and chickens are being slaughtered for food.

  • So what that works out to be is that every second in the U.S.

  • 300 animals are killed. Just like that.

  • So 300 600

  • 900 1200

  • By the time I am done talking today

  • therell be over a million animals that have been slaughtered.

  • And most of us do not even blink an eye

  • and I mean how is it possible that in the United States of America,

  • we can kill,

  • we can slaughter 300 animals, every second,

  • and not question that.

  • Because of the story we have been told. The story justifies the action.

  • If you say it enough times, you actually convince yourself that’s the truth.

  • And how many of you were told as a child you need to eat meat to get protein?

  • I know I was.

  • How many of you were taught you need to drink cow’s milk

  • to get strong bones?

  • Not dog milk,

  • not chimpanzee milk,

  • not elephant milk, not rhino milk,

  • not hippo milk, not tiger milk,

  • not lion milk, not giraffe milk,

  • not elephant milk, did I say that already,

  • I think you get the point.

  • Not even our own mother's milk,

  • we need to drink cow's milk to get strong bones.

  • The absurdity of drinking the milk from any other species,

  • and any other being beside our own mother,

  • when it said enough times, loses its absurdness.

  • So all were gonna do today

  • is to find out if the Matrix is telling the truth.

  • Now, the first we have been taught is that our diet is natural.

  • We eat meat, dairy and eggs, so therefore it must be natural.

  • So let's find out.

  • You have two images on the wall.

  • Alright, again. Remember the Rorschach test.

  • You have two images on the wall.

  • I want you to tell me all the thoughts that come to mind,

  • when you see the image on the left.

  • Do not be afraid to scream out. Nobody is going to get sent to the Principal.

  • What do you see?

  • Fresh, yum, sweet, alright?

  • If I came into the room with a basket of strawberries

  • that looked just like that, organic.

  • And I put it on a chair right here, now, what would be your thoughts?

  • OK, same thoughts.

  • What would you think if one of us got up and started chewing on the strawberries?

  • Maybe you want to join in.

  • If I come into the room with a basket of strawberries

  • how many of your mouths would start to salivate? You mouth starts to water?

  • If I take a strawberry and put it under your nose, what do you smell?

  • If I take a knife and slice that strawberry in half

  • and put that under your nose,

  • now what do you smell? Strawberries -

  • Note that all the sensations remain the same.

  • You see a strawberry and it looks like strawberry.

  • You smell strawberry, and it smells like a strawberry.

  • And you take a bite out of a strawberry

  • and surprise, surprise, it tastes like a strawberry.

  • Exactly, it’s a strawberry.

  • But, what thoughts come to mind when you see the image on the right?

  • Cute,

  • it’s kind of a rigged audience... you are in a vegan restaurant.

  • But you know, when I go to a classroom,

  • half the response, you get half of the kids, “Oh, cute, animal,

  • pig, Wilbur, Babe."

  • So half the class will see an animal and the other half of the class will see

  • bacon, sausage, ham, pigs, rib, pork and hot dog.

  • Those see a food. It’s one or the other.

  • Either youre seeing an animal, or youre seeing food.

  • Now, what would happen if I took one of the pigs living,

  • brought it into the room right here and put him right in front of you?

  • Does that change it? Now what do we see?

  • I mean, what would we think if one of us got up and start chewing on the pig?

  • Not very normal.

  • If I come into the room with a pig under my arm,

  • how many of your mouth starts to salivate? Alright!

  • If I take a pig and put it under your nose, what do you smell? Smell pig.

  • Just like if I take a dog and put it under your nose, you smell dog.

  • A cat, you smell a cat.

  • If I took a knife, and I sliced that pig in half. And put that under your nose,

  • Now what do you smell? (Blood.)

  • You smell rotting corpse, bacteria, decomposing flesh.

  • You see there is a process involved, and I am here today,

  • to show you that process of how you convert this animal, into this product.

  • Why should it be kept a secret?

  • Why should we not know what we are participating in?

  • And what we are putting in our body?

  • Now let’s make the situation slightly more realistic.

  • If I were to put a pig on this side of the room living,

  • and a butchers knife on the side of that room, how many people would be willing

  • to pick up the knife and take the life of that animal?

  • It’s very rare right?

  • And if somebody did that, that’s alright,

  • but how many people would try to stop that person from doing it.

  • Right. Would we try that?

  • of course, that’s compassion.

  • That is the greatest quality of the human race.

  • There is no other species on this planet

  • that has that level of compassion to extend to all living beings.

  • But, if you would stop somebody from killing a pig in front of you

  • and then go home and have this for breakfast

  • that’s called hypocrisy.

  • Just because it comes in a nice neat package all dressed up in the supermarket,

  • just because you didn’t take the knife and shove it through their jugular

  • just because you didn’t get blood on your clothes

  • and just because you didn’t hear their screams,

  • it does not mean that you did not participate in the killing.

  • Every time we buy this product, we are supporting somebody else doing

  • what we ourselves would not want to do,

  • what we ourselves would not want to see,

  • and what we ourselves would not want to hear.

  • Now, if you still see bacon, sausage and ham when I bring a pig into the room,

  • what happens when I change it to

  • What’s that

  • it supposed to

  • Here we go. Alright.

  • [Ooh.] Alright. Ohh, right? That’s the common response.

  • Now I never heard anybody sayyumm

  • nobody ever sees dog, food, hot dog.

  • So, why not?

  • Why don’t we see a food?

  • What? We have been accustomed to view this animal as our pet.

  • I mean, how many of you have a dog, or a cat, right?

  • How many of you have a pig?

  • Not so much. Alright. So...

  • But there are other cultures, there are other cultures

  • and again, the cultural story for us is, “this is your pet”.

  • In another culture, in certain parts of the world, they eat cats and dogs.

  • That’s their culture, that’s their story they have been told.

  • How do you feel about that?

  • A lot of people think it is disgusting, right?

  • I imagine every one of you probably thinks it is disgusting to eat a dog.

  • Why would it be disgusting to eat this animal,

  • and not disgusting to eat this animal?

  • Why would it be wrong to eat this animal,

  • and right to eat this animal?

  • And most importantly, why would it be wrong to kill this animal,

  • and right to kill this animal? (Culture.)

  • It’s culture, it’s the story, it’s the Matrix that we have been told.

  • One culture sees this as a pet, this as a food.

  • Another culture might see this as a pet, and this as a food.

  • Another culture might see both as food.

  • In certain parts of India the cow is sacred.

  • They would never think about eating a cow in certain parts of India.

  • Is that wrong? Is that unnatural?

  • That's just the story they have been told.

  • But culture is just a story . That's all it is.

  • It’s just make-believe.

  • What I’m concerned with is what is natural to the human species.

  • Because every culture has a different story.

  • But if you take someone from Asia, Africa,

  • South America, North America, Europe,

  • and we are all the same species. We are all human beings.

  • So, let’s take a three-year-old from any country in the world

  • and you put that 3 year old in the room

  • and you line up 5 animals in front of that 3 years old,

  • a pig, a dog, a cow, a cat and a chicken.

  • Do you think the 3 year old will going to know

  • which one to eat and which one to pet?

  • What’s the 3 years old most likely going to do?

  • Or try to do? Play with them all.

  • He is going to try to play with them all.

  • The 3 years old has to be taught, “no, no, no, no,

  • don’t play with him, eat him, play with him, pet him.”

  • That’s what we were taught. We didn’t choose our diet.

  • Our diet is a learned behavior.

  • We were raised to perceive this animal as your pet

  • and this animal as your food.

  • But that’s not the natural perception.

  • The natural perception is that they are all of our companions.

  • So our parents chose our diet, based upon the cultural story.

  • And if you have children you base their diet on the cultural story being told.

  • Which is the same story.

  • Now, let me give you another example.

  • If you take a baby and you put the baby in a crib

  • and you put on the right side a baby chick and on the left side an apple,

  • which one do you think the baby is gonna try to play with,

  • and which one do you think the baby is gonna try to eat?

  • Most likely it will put the inanimate object, in this case the apple

  • in his or her mouth.

  • And if the baby most likely will be peaked by the interest of the thing moving,

  • in this case the thing being actually a living being, a chick.

  • Now, if the baby tries to eat the chick, what’s the chick gonna do?

  • Run away, or peck at him.

  • Now if you walked into a room with a baby in a crib

  • playing with an apple and chewing on the head of a live chick,

  • what would you think of that baby?

  • It’s like demon baby?

  • Would you allow that demon baby to play with your baby instead of a playmate?

  • Probably not.

  • So if it's not alright for a baby to cause harm to an animal,

  • even when they don’t know any better,

  • why does it become more acceptable as we become older?

  • When we do know the difference between an apple and a baby chick.

  • The question is do we find it acceptable to cause harm to an animal?

  • Let's find out.

  • If you would walk outside right now

  • and you saw somebody taking a baseball bat to a dog’s head,

  • what would you do?

  • You would take action.

  • At the very least you'd call the police, because you recognize it

  • as a violation of this animal’s right to be free from harm.

  • We are all given that right at birth. Every animal on this planet,

  • whether it’s a mammal, whether it’s an amphibian,

  • whether it’s a bird, a reptile, a fish, an insect,

  • we are all earthlings.

  • Human beings as well, we are all earthlings.

  • And what do all earthlings have in common? Two things.

  • We all want to live. We all desire to live.

  • That is what creates the equality in all of us. We all want to live.

  • And the second thing is, we all avoid pain.

  • Those two things make us equal.

  • From the largest land animal on Earth, the elephant,

  • to the smallest, the insect, the ant,

  • and everything in between

  • from the dog, the pig to the human being,

  • we all desire to live. And we all avoid pain.

  • Now, if you were to walk out right now

  • and saw somebody taking that baseball bat to a pig’s head,

  • would your emotional response not be the exact same thing?

  • Of course!

  • Because the question for you is, what is the difference,

  • what is the difference between the two? Right?

  • Is there a difference? You might think one is cuter than the other,

  • but that says more about you, than anything about these two animals.

  • And a lot of kids would say, “Well, the nose looks different".

  • I said, “But they both got a nose to smell”.

  • Some kids will say, “these he's hooves, and he's got paws.”

  • I said,

  • they both got feet, to walk and run.”

  • Some kids say, “Now, his ears are going up and his ears are flappy.”

  • They both got two ears to hear.

  • They both got two eyes to see.

  • They both got a heart to beat,

  • and a mind to think.

  • And the reason why we would take action for both of them,

  • is because we recognize the equality between them and not the difference.

  • Any difference is insignificant. The similarities, though, are striking.

  • We know they are equal.

  • Yet every time we sit down for a meal, we create that separation,

  • we create that inequality

  • It’s just like we knew the two circles were equal, red and blue.

  • But all it takes is somebody to tell you a story.

  • Now, what we most importantly recognize is that all animals have feelings.

  • How do we know?

  • How do we really know?

  • How do we even know that humans have feelings?

  • Now, out of these feelings, what is most important to you?

  • Happiness, right?

  • How do you know if somebody is happy?

  • If I said to you right now ""It’s the happiest moment of my life"

  • would you believe me? Hopefully not, no offense.

  • So, how you gonna tell somebody if somebody is happy?

  • They are smiling, they are laughing,

  • I can take somebody in this room, who does not speak your language,

  • but you can tell how they are feeling by their expressions, the sounds,

  • it does not have to do with the language, though.

  • What about other animals?

  • They wag their tails, they bark, they jump up and down,

  • they play with each other. They lick.

  • So all these are sings, of how they feel.

  • What about pain though? If I said to you right now

  • my right hand is killing me, would you believe me?

  • I haven’t given you any signs. It might, though, it might be killing me.

  • There is only one person in this room, who knows that it’s actually killing me.

  • That’s me, of course.

  • If I trip over my feet here though, and nail my head against the side of this table,

  • start bleeding profusely out of my head and screaming on the ground,

  • would you believe I am in pain? Of course, I am showing the signs.

  • Here is the test. You take your hand, you put it over the flame, what happens?

  • Burns, right, what is your reaction?

  • Pull back and scream.

  • You take a dog’s paw, put it over a flame,

  • what is his reaction? Same thing, pull back and scream.

  • You take a pig’s leg, put it over the flame.

  • Same reaction.

  • You take a dog, a pig, a cow, a chicken , a goat, a duck, a horse, a rat, a mouse,

  • any animal that is living, put a body part over the flame,

  • they all have the same reaction.

  • You take a fish out of water, what is their reaction?

  • Flopping around. Why?

  • Can’t breathe.

  • Do you wanna know what it feels like, being a fish out of water?

  • Have your loved one put your head under water and not let go.

  • It really would not be your loved one though if they are doing that.

  • That's how it feels like.

  • Of course fish have feelings. They are, they are not vegetables.

  • If you take a vegetable, you take a plant,

  • you take a strawberry, you put it over the flame, what happens?

  • Melts.

  • Does not have feet to run away, does not have a mouth to scream, a nose to smell,

  • eyes to see, ears to hear. A heart to beat and a mind to think.

  • A lot of kids would like to give this one

  • before you, say, “plants have feelings”. They do not have a nervous system.

  • Do not have a nervous system.

  • Without a nervous system, they can not feel pain and happiness

  • the way that animals and humans can.

  • So the question is, when did we learn this?

  • When did we learn that animals have feelings?

  • Hopefully this is not the first day that you learn this, right?

  • When you were younger, right? How did you learn it?

  • Maybe you had a dog or cat.

  • Or you have to do is go outside and you just

  • experience any of the animals outside.

  • If they run away from you, it means they are scared, if they come up to you,

  • probably you have food or something, and they want it.

  • So we understand this through the experiences we have.

  • In fact, think about the books that were read to you as a child,

  • songs you listened to, and how about the movies.

  • Think about the movies we show to our kids.

  • What do all these movies have in common?

  • What are they about? (Animals)

  • What kind of animals?

  • Farmed animals. Even fish are being farmed.

  • You have pigs, chickens, cows and fish.

  • These are all the animals we eat. What is the common theme in these movies?

  • They are running, they are being saved

  • No animal wants to die.

  • No animal wants to be dinner on your plate.

  • We root for these animals.

  • You take even the biggest pork eater in the world, he is running for Wilbur.

  • Nobody wants to see Wilbur made into bacon at the end of that film.

  • Chicken Run Now we root for the chickens.

  • Now I guarantee there are thousands of people

  • watching "Chicken Run" thoughtGo, chickens, go!”

  • While eating a KFC bucket of chicken wings.

  • Because they are not making that connection.

  • Babe

  • How many kids watched the movieBabefall in love with Babe

  • and then they go home and are fed Babe unknowingly by their parents.

  • So we are teaching kids to love these animals, but to eat them, too.

  • And this is the closest thing youll come to see

  • their reality in the Matrix. And the story we have told ourselves.

  • And most of the time, unfortunately

  • the closest thing we will come to, is in cartoon form.

  • Whether it is by Pixar and Disney, nonetheless.

  • But today we step outside the Matrix.

  • And generally speaking, when I go into a high school classrom, I showMeet your meat”.

  • If you have not seen this video,

  • and if you are still eating meat, dairy, eggs, fish,

  • take a look at meat.org, MEAT.org

  • and you can see the conditions that these animals live in.

  • Now I am not gonna show you that,

  • every time I show it to adults, they just leave, and don’t come back.

  • So I'm going to show you, a 3-minute video

  • again by the same people that put on

  • the first video, “Farm Sanctuary”.

  • It's 3 minutes.

  • If you do not want to watch it, you do not have to,

  • but this is where 90-95% of the meat, dairy and eggs

  • we are consuming in the US are coming from.

  • And if you really have a problem watching it, but you have no problem eating it,

  • you know, why the disconnect there?

  • But this isn’t just about animal rights.

  • This is also a health issue and that’s the second part of the presentation

  • that we will talk about after the video.

  • The question is: do these animals look healthy?

  • Do the conditions they are living in look healthy?

  • Because if the animals do not look healthy to you,

  • why would you want to put a sick animal into your body?

  • One last thing before I show the video

  • a lot of people said, “What about, you know, milk?

  • Does not seem to be any harm in raising cows for milk.”

  • Notice the first scene in this video of the dairy cows,

  • and you can actually see a cow giving birth,

  • and notice what happens to her calf, and notice her response.

  • It does not have to be this way.

  • If I could talk to animals

  • that are being confined and abused now in factory farms

  • I would say, “I'm sorry for what we are doing to you

  • I wish it wasn’t this way

  • and I'm doing everything I know to stop it

  • and hopefully we will be able to stop it.”

  • There is not really a whole lot of good you can say.

  • I mean, you just got to hope that it can stop,

  • and the hope that people will recognize the harm we are causing,

  • and will choose a different way.

  • Meat, milk and eggs come from real animals.

  • They don’t just come from the grocery store.

  • And these animals desire to live,

  • and they want to be free of pain and suffering and fear.

  • And on today's farms

  • these animals only know fear and pain at human hands

  • they never know human kindness, they never know mercy.

  • And when people buy these products,

  • they are unwittingly supporting

  • that type of cruelty and that type of callousness.

  • The workers, they have to lose part of their heart, you know, they have to lose,

  • they have to shut their eyes to certain aspects of what they are doing.

  • Can you imagine what it would be like to

  • cut the throats of animals for 8 hours a day?

  • It’s a bloody, violent job, and nobody should have to do it.

  • I do not know what that means

  • that you know, we can participate in such cruelty,

  • without paying attention to it,

  • without caring about it,

  • without wanting to do different.

  • Citizens want to assume that animals will be treated humanely

  • that there are laws on the books to prevent cruelty.

  • And people are usually surprised to learn that there aren’t.

  • If people looked at what was happening, they would be appalled.

  • Most people would not support the type of abuse

  • that has become common on factory farms.

  • Alright, you know, the common response isWhy is this happening?”

  • And there is a very simple explanation for why it does happen.

  • If you were to walk outside right now,

  • if you walk down US1, walk further down,

  • let’s say you come to a restaurant that just opened up, right?

  • They are serving cats and dogs.

  • That was the main item on the menu.

  • How many of you would be out there right now, protesting?

  • I guarantee, before the day would be over,

  • you would have that place shut down, right?

  • Walk down the street a few blocks down, you come to a steakhouse,

  • I do not see anybody protesting. I do not see that place being shut down.

  • Why?

  • Because we have been taught to perceive this animal

  • to be different than this animal.

  • And veganism is simply changing your perception.

  • That’s it. That’s all it is. You just change your perception.

  • We don’t have to participate in this. This is not necessary.

  • A lot of people will say to me,

  • "What about, you know, if we just create better conditions."

  • What I am saying to you it is not necessary killing an animal.

  • We do not have to kill animals. We don’t have to drink their milk,

  • we do not have to eat their eggs. It's just not necessary.

  • I mean, people talk about humane slaughter.

  • How do you slaughter something humanely?

  • It’s that like when you rub their belly,

  • you give them some milk and cookies, and chop their head off?

  • If I did that to one of you, would everybody be likeWell at least he died humanely.”

  • You can’t do anything violent, humanely.

  • I mean, if I were to kind of humanely rob you?

  • Humanely rape you? What does humane theft look like?

  • Is that when I come up to you and say,

  • “I need you to do me a favor? I need you to come up here

  • and take your wallet, and put it on the table right here.

  • Take all the credit cards, cash, everything put it on the table right there.

  • Pretty please with a cherry on top." Would that be humane theft?

  • I mean, would everybody be like that,

  • "Hey, if I am going to be robbed, I want him to do it. He is pretty nice about it."

  • Of course not. Nobody wants to be robbed.

  • Nobody wants to be killed. Nobody wants to be raped.

  • It is not necessary.

  • Think about it this way.

  • How many of you do not, do not own a fur coat?

  • Raise your hand, if you do not own a fur coat.

  • Yes, that’s what I thought.

  • Why? Why don’t you own a fur coat. Because it’s cruel and unnecessary.

  • Because it’s cruel and unnecessary.

  • What about if I said to you, “You know what, we are going to take some minks,

  • raise them for furcoat, we are going to raise them,

  • But you know, give them a lot of room, they are gonna be cage free, free range,

  • organic food, they are going to live like kings and queens.

  • Until we kill them, of course.

  • You know, after a few weeks, a few months.

  • They will not live to their natural age.

  • But we are going to create humane fur.

  • Would that be acceptable?

  • Would you go out and buy a fur coat?

  • No. Because it is not necessary.

  • A fur coat is not necessary.

  • Especially here in Florida. But it is not necessary anywhere.

  • You do not need a fur coat to survive.

  • You do not need to eat animals to survive.

  • It is not necessary.

  • It is just sugarcoating something. "Humane slaughter"

  • So, let’s take a look at what we are participating in.

  • This is a battery cage. Alright?

  • It’s literally the size of a milk crate.

  • Just like this.

  • You take 4-6 hens, you put them in a crate this size.

  • And you burn their beaks off. Why?

  • Because in these conditions they become aggressive.

  • Yeah it'd be like, if I take everybody in the first and second row,

  • put you in that corner and sealed it off

  • kept you there for you know, 48 hours straight,

  • I guarantee you not going to remain friends for that long.

  • You want more space.

  • So they are denied the ability to do what’s natural to them,

  • spread their wings, forage.

  • So how does the industry solve this problem?

  • Cage free, free range, I mean that sounds pretty good.

  • Who in this room does not want to live free, right?

  • This is a cage free farm in Virginia

  • It's just a label.

  • It's just a label.

  • It makes us feel better about what we are participating in

  • but it means absolutely nothing to the animal.

  • Cage free simply means you can take 500 hens

  • and put them in this room.

  • According to the industry that is cage free.

  • Question is, what is your definition of freedom? Does this apply?

  • Now even on the old McDonalds farm that we all have stuck in our head,

  • even if you find that magical farm, and good luck finding it,

  • doesn’t matter.

  • Because all male chicks born in the egg industry

  • are thrown out. Literally.

  • Why? It seems kind of wasteful.

  • Why throw out the male chicks?

  • They do not fit into the equation.

  • They do not serve any purpose to the industry.

  • So we cage them,

  • we debeak them,

  • we still cage them,

  • call it freedom though,

  • we can still debeak them under these conditions,

  • and we throw out all the male chicks,

  • whether it’s cage free, free range, or organic,

  • all so we can have this.

  • Well, might as well get to know what it is.

  • What is an egg?

  • A lot of people think it’s a baby chick. It’s not a baby chick.

  • Other people think it’s a fetus. It’s not a fetus.

  • Not an embryo. Which is good, I don’t know anyone

  • who would want to eat a fetus or an embryo in the first place.

  • So what is it? Well, it’s an unfertilized egg.

  • It does not sound that bad at all. Alright.

  • Once a month, every woman in this room

  • Well, maybe not every woman in this room.

  • Sheds, or at some point sheds an unfertilized egg.

  • What's it called? (Period)

  • Congratulations!

  • You are eating a hen period. It's the menstruation cycle discharge of a hen.

  • I am not going to eat a womens period, why should I eat a hens period.

  • There's no need to eat any period from any living being.

  • It's disgusting,

  • and you know, we should call it what it is.

  • I mean, when we were young, when we were kids, and our parents say,

  • Hey, do you want a scrambled hen’s period for breakfast?”

  • Uhm, uhm, I’ll pass.

  • It's like honey.

  • What is honey?

  • Yeah, it’s vomit.

  • It’s regurgitated throw-up. They throw up for themselves.

  • They take the nectar, they digest it, and they throw up.

  • And it's for their own selves. They are not producing it for us.

  • We call it honey, because who in their right mind would

  • want to buy a product calledbee vomit”?

  • You know, you can vomit next to any product in the supermarket,

  • I guarantee, it is not going to sell.

  • It does not take a business expert to realize that.

  • Alright, what about milk?

  • Even your "happy cows" in California are hooked up to machines.

  • This is the way it is. Alright?

  • Now, when does a cow start producing milk?

  • During pregnancy,

  • she starts lactating during pregnancy,

  • right?

  • I’ve been to a lot of schools, and I'll get even high school teachers will say

  • "Uhu! I did not know that."

  • I just thought it was this magical cow that produced milk.

  • OK?

  • All mammals produce milk when they are pregnant.

  • And how did she become pregnant?

  • You know.

  • We'd like to think they get to have sex, right?

  • At the very least they get the pleasure of sex.

  • But there is no sex in the farm.

  • The farmer is not gonna wait for the cow and bull to get it on.

  • He’s not gonna set the mood, light some candles, put on Barry White.

  • It’s a business. He is running a business.

  • And the business is not in the welfare of the animals,

  • it’s on producing a profit.

  • So how do you get a cow pregnant? Without a bull?

  • Artificially inseminate them.

  • You know, artificially inseminate a woman without her consent,

  • what would it be called? (Rape.)

  • I'm not saying a woman is a cow

  • but I am saying rape is rape. Just look up the definition of rape.

  • Exerting your power over another sexually.

  • So what’s your definition of another?

  • Does that only apply to women?

  • How about men?

  • How about other beings?

  • Well, now she is pregnant.

  • She gives birth.

  • What happens to her baby? (Taken away from her.)

  • All male calves born in the dairy industry,

  • like if you were here in the beginning, theSaving Billy”,

  • all male calves born in the dairy industry

  • are immediately taken away from their mother,

  • chained by the neck to a crate,

  • deprived of their mother’s milk,

  • fed an inefficient diet,

  • so that the body become anemic, so lack of iron.

  • They will never be able to turn around,

  • they will never see the light of day,

  • every glass of milk supports this industry.

  • Some people say,

  • Well, veal is the cruelest industry

  • or foie gras, where they shove a pipe down a duck’s throat.

  • Cruelest industry?

  • How do you put pain in some kind of like, “OK, we'll it's pretty bad right here,

  • but it’s not so bad here."

  • Pain is pain. Suffering is suffering. Don’t categorize it.

  • This is all suffering for these animals.

  • Why do they do that to the male calves?

  • Just like the male chicks. They do not fit into the equation.

  • They don’t produce the milk.

  • If you are drinking cow's milk,

  • the only reason is because a calf chained to a box isn’t.

  • Now, what about the female calves?

  • They too, will be taken away from their mother. Why?

  • Why would the female calf, that would grow up to be like her mother

  • which is in a constant cycle of impregnation, birth and milking,

  • why would she be taken away from her mother?

  • Right. We want the milk.

  • How do you think it makes the cow feel

  • to have her baby to towed away from her.

  • Anybody is a parent,

  • how would you feel if you had your baby to towed away from you.

  • All milk,

  • whether it is organic,

  • meaning they do not put in hormones and pesticides,

  • it does not matter.

  • All milk is stress milk.

  • It is not something you pasteurize out of the milk.

  • It’s part of it.

  • Like it’s part of the meat. Part of the cheese.

  • It’s part of what youre drinking. It’s stress.

  • Now, biologically speaking,

  • who is the cow producing milk for?

  • Biologically speaking. Her baby -

  • For her baby . Not for us. Just like, when your mom was pregnant with you,

  • who was she producing the milk for? For you.

  • It was not your daddy, it wasn’t the neighbor, it wasn’t your dog, or your cat.

  • It was for you.

  • All mammals produce milk for their young.

  • Where do all these animals get their milk from?

  • (Their mother.)

  • And when do they stop consuming milk?

  • We are the only species on this planet to take the milk from another animal,

  • and we are the only species on this planet to continue drinking milk after infancy.

  • If you really do not think it is that weird...

  • Like people used to say to me "What, you do not eat cheese?"

  • Cheese is just spoiled milk.

  • You do not eat cheese! You do not drink cow's milk!

  • That’s extreme! That’s crazy!”

  • Is it really that extreme? To not take the milk from another animal?

  • I mean, and if you don’t think it’s that extreme,

  • if I brought a pregnant woman into the room right now,

  • how many of you would want to drink her milk?

  • Youre not. Youre not. Youre not a baby.

  • It is extreme.

  • Now, if cow's milk is meant for a calf,

  • if cow's milk is biologically meant for a calf,

  • why would it be necessary for humans to drink it?

  • It is not.

  • Cow's milk is no more necessary than drinking dog milk, chimp milk,

  • pig milk, or elephant milk.

  • The only milk you need was from your mother, when you were a baby.

  • You're not a baby anymore. You're not a cow. You are not a calf.

  • What if I said to you,

  • you walk into Publix, Whole Foods, Wing Dixie, maybe Wing Dixie more likely,

  • and you come across not cow milk,

  • but chimpanzee milk. That’s why I said Wing Dixie.

  • No offense. I just, I can’t picture them out. I don’t know, maybe Whole Foods.

  • But, alright. So chimpanzee milk, right?

  • How many of you would buy it?

  • Probably not, right, it's disgusting.

  • Why would it be disgusting to take the milk from one animal,

  • but not disgusting to take the milk from another animal?

  • In fact, if youre drinking cow's milk and you find chimpanzee milk,

  • I say, make the switch. It makes more sense.

  • Why wouldn’t it make more sense to take the milk of a chimpanzee?

  • Look, if you gonna take the milk form any animal

  • wouldn’t you want to take the milk from an animal

  • that shares 98% of our DNA, 99%?

  • I mean, doesn’t that seem to be the logical conclusion?

  • I choose you. That would seem the logical conclusion.

  • What about your dog, if your dog was pregnant right now,

  • and I said, “I pasteurize your dog’s milk

  • would you want to drink it? “It's disgusting and absurd.”

  • It is disgusting and absurd.

  • No more disgusting and absurd, than drinking cow's milk, though.

  • In fact, if you have a dog,

  • it actually makes more sense to drink

  • dog milk than cow milk.

  • Why is that? Well, how many of you have a large dog?

  • Okay, how much does your dog weigh? (110 pounds).

  • 110. Wow, what kind of dog?

  • What kind of dog? (American Bulldog)

  • There we go. 110 pounds. That’s pretty close to the human weight,

  • right? 110 pounds. That seems to make sense.

  • This animal weighs 2000 pounds.

  • Why put a product meant for a 2000 pound animal

  • into this?

  • And the baby even does not know why.

  • Alright. A baby on average weighs 7 pounds at birth.

  • I don’t know where I am supposed to be pointing this... It's like a magical wand.

  • Here we go.

  • A calf weighs 90 pounds at birth. At birth, 90 pounds.

  • Baby, 7 pounds. Calf 90 pounds.

  • The calf will grow to 500 pounds in under a year, in nine months.

  • 410 pounds in under a year.

  • What makes them grow so large, so fast?

  • The milk.

  • But of course, if it is not getting the milk, and if it not organic,

  • what are they getting? Hormones. They are getting steroids.

  • Again it's not something you pasteurize out of the milk.

  • And how do you keep animals healthy in these conditions?

  • Pump them up with antibiotics.

  • 70% of antibiotics produced in the U.S. are fed to farm animals.

  • That’s not good.

  • That is not good.

  • You know, do you wonder why so many people are dying in the hospitals?

  • They get some infection

  • and they take these antibiotics and they do not work anymore.

  • So how do we justify,

  • how do we actually justify putting a product meant for a 2000 pounds animal,

  • they grow to 2000 pounds in two years,

  • into this?

  • Well, the story. Once again the story justifies the action.

  • Say it enough times, you convince yourself it’s the truth.

  • Every story has an author.

  • Who is the author of this story? (Dairy industry)

  • Right. And what is the ultimate goal of the dairy industry?

  • Why would the dairy industry be some holier than thou company.

  • I mean, if I said to youCigarettes, it does the body good!"

  • You'd probably say I work for the cigarette company, right?

  • None of us would believed that. Why believe this?

  • And if you believe that milk does the body good,

  • why would 75% of the human population be lactose intolerant?

  • Do you know that means, that 3 out of every 4 people on this planet,

  • when they drink milk, they suffer from one of these symptoms:

  • diarrhea, stomach ache, gassiness, bloating, ear infection, excess mucus.

  • And that’s normal.

  • If you suffer from any of these symptoms, stop drinking cow's milk.

  • Your body is trying to talk to you, your body is saying:

  • Look! I can’t do it anymore. Stop!”

  • Listen to your body. Your body knows best.

  • Of course, the dairy industry will come up with a new product called what, lactate?

  • They just put the enzyme.

  • You see, the reason most people are lactose intolerant

  • is because all mammals, and human beings are mammals

  • have an enzyme known as lactase. Put an ‘a’ right there.

  • That enzyme breaks down the sugar known as lactose.

  • As we mature, we lose that enzyme, so it's normal to be lactose intolerant.

  • But of course, the dairy industry starts injecting the enzyme into it.

  • That is not normal. That is not natural.

  • And again, you are going against what your body is telling you.

  • The dairy industry says, “Listen to us,

  • we know better than your body.”

  • They don’t. Your body knows best.

  • You are your best doctor.

  • But, it must be good for kids, though, right?

  • Because to every school I’ve been into, elementary, middle and high school,

  • there is all one product being served.

  • What product is that? (Milk.)

  • What is the #1 cause of food allergies among infants and children?

  • Anybody wants to take a wild guess? (Cow’s milk.)

  • No, shit. Alright.

  • Alright. So if most people on this planet can’t consume milk

  • and most people, most children and infants, if they have an allergy,

  • it’s from milk, cow’s milk, not peanuts, but cow's milk.

  • Why again are we drinking this?

  • What have we been told? “Drink milk, get strong bones.”

  • Does the body good What does the body good?

  • Calcium does the body good.

  • The question isIs this the best source of calcium?”

  • Let's find out.

  • Countries that consume the most milk.

  • What countries drink the most milk? (USA)

  • I go into classrooms, and you get kids saying likeFlorida”.

  • Alright.

  • Norway would be on this list as well.

  • What is osteoporosis?

  • It’s a loss of bone density, it’s literally weak bones.

  • Remember what have we been taught? “Drink cow's milk, get strong bones"

  • Which countries have the highest rate of osteoporosis?

  • (USA, UK, Sweden, Finland and Norway.)

  • Alright, well,

  • either it’s random coincidence, or there is more to it.

  • The more to it is this:

  • Any product that comes from an animal has animal protein.

  • That makes sense, animal products - animal protein.

  • Well, that animal protein,

  • the protein is the amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

  • Those amino acids, which are good,

  • unfortunately though, they are high in sulfur.

  • So you want amino acids, but the problem with animal protein is

  • that those amino acids are high in sulfur.

  • When you put that in your body, your body becomes acidic.

  • Youre making your body acidic,

  • and your body is not meant to be acidic. It is meant to be alkaline, right?

  • The pH balance is going lower than what it should be.

  • So how does your body compensate?

  • Well, they have to neutralize the acidity. So what do they do?

  • They start releasing calcium from the bones.

  • So the more cow's milk you drink, according to these statistics,

  • the weaker your bones can actually become.

  • The more animal protein you eat, the weaker your bones can actually become.

  • In fact, if you look at countries in Africa and Asia,

  • they don’t suffer from very high rates of osteoporosis.

  • They also do not drink very much cow’s milk, if not at all.

  • And they also do not eat as much animal protein.

  • Now, kids would say, “Yeah, but wait a second,

  • what do I put on my cereal?"

  • Problem solved.

  • (They die before you have a chance to diagnose them, that's the problem.)

  • Right, it’s because this information is not out.

  • I mean, it’s out there, but people aren’t being taught it.

  • And this is basically the alternative perspective.

  • And you can do your own research,

  • and find out if what I am saying is valid or not.

  • But I mean, you can go with these alternative milks.

  • A lot of people say, “Fake meats, and fake milks!”

  • They are not fake, they are real.

  • These are real products, and they come from plants.

  • You have the soy milk, almond milk,

  • rice milk, coconut milk, oat milk.

  • You can do hemp milk, high in protein.

  • So these are all alternatives that you can do.

  • I know you have all heard about a taste test. Let's do a health test.

  • So here we have the milk that comes from an animal.

  • And here we have the milk that comes from a plant, the soybean.

  • There is a 150 milligrams of calcium per half a glass in the cow's milk.

  • How much do you think there is in your soy milk?

  • Same. 150.

  • It’s the exact same in a half glass.

  • So, what’s the difference?

  • Well, this comes from an animal,

  • and once again, animal protein can leach calcium out of the bones,

  • and all animal products, meat, dairy, eggs, fish,

  • is high in cholesterol. It has cholesterol.

  • And your body naturally makes cholesterol.

  • You do not need to put more cholesterol into your body.

  • So this has cholesterol, this doesn’t.

  • All plant products don’t have any cholesterol.

  • And all plant products, everything you see up here,

  • everything you see over there on the table, fruits, vegetables, rice, beans,

  • has fiber, has fiber.

  • So plants have fiber, no cholesterol.

  • Animal products, no fiber, and high in cholesterol.

  • Then again, let's do a health test.

  • High in cholesterol, no fiber.

  • High in fiber, no cholesterol.

  • Which one do you think is the safer choice?

  • I rest my case.

  • But you do not have to do this.

  • Human beings don’t really need to drink anything besides water.

  • That’s really all we would need to be drinking.

  • And you can have your orange juice or apple juice.

  • But we just need water, and again, this is for the cereal.

  • But you can get all your calcium from plants.

  • Just think about, what is the largest and strongest land animal on Earth?

  • An elephant. It weighs 10000 pounds.

  • Do you know what it’s diet consists of? That’s it!

  • I do not know if he eats spinach, but

  • it is plants, it’s plants.

  • Are you going to tell an elephant that, that his bones look a little weak?

  • He needs to be drinking the milk of a cow?

  • You get all your calcium from this.

  • Now a lot of people say to me, “Ah, man, but you know what,

  • I get it, man, I love my cheese,

  • I can not give up cheese."

  • I tell people this:

  • if you gonna give up any product, give up dairy.

  • Dairy is the worst.

  • The greatest trick ever pulled was convincing people they need to drink milk.

  • Dairy is the worst.

  • In terms of the cruelty inflicted upon the animals,

  • they suffer for a longer period of time,

  • and it's just completely unnatural and unhealthy. It's unhealthy.

  • And there is a reason why people love their cheese and their milk:

  • it is meant to be addictive.

  • Just think about it, it might be hard, I can’t remember,

  • but when we were younger,

  • most likely we were nursing from our mother, right? From her milk.

  • It has to be addictive. The child has to want to have more.

  • Why?

  • Because this is the greatest growth spurt in their life.

  • This is the greatest growth spurt that you ever had

  • when you were a baby drinking your mother’s milk.

  • Same for all the animals.

  • And as we get older, our parents, including the animal parents,

  • wean their children off of it.

  • So you are supposed to desire it.

  • You supposed to want it, and then you get weaned off of it.

  • They are selling a product, it is addictive. It’s addictive.

  • It has a chemical called casomorphin.

  • When you digest it, that chemical is released.

  • Casomorphin is morphine. It makes you giddy.

  • It makes you want more. It makes your brain thinkEat more, eat more”,

  • and your body is saying, “I can’t, I can’t digest it properly.”

  • So you're addicted. And the first step to recovery is to acknowledge it.

  • 68% of all diseases in the U.S. are diet related.

  • This is a government statistics. What that means is that

  • especially when I talk to a high school class

  • where my audience is, 99% eating meat, dairy and eggs,

  • if you don’t change your food choices

  • you might become part of the statistics.

  • It is what? 3 out of every 5 people.

  • This is a government statistics.

  • In fact, one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.

  • What are the top three?

  • Cancer, heart disease, stroke. Diabetes is #6.

  • Every 40 seconds somebody suffers a stroke in the U.S.

  • And that’s the American Stroke Association.

  • The American Heart Association says

  • that every 24 seconds somebody suffers a heart attack in the U.S.

  • And the Institute for Cancer Research say that

  • every day 3,400 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer.

  • It’s 3400 people every day. New people.

  • How many people in this room knows somebody

  • or knew somebody who has or had cancer? Raise your hand!

  • Look around you!

  • Don't you find this little disturbing?

  • We might be living longer,

  • but we are living longer with diseases that haven’t been around.

  • That they are more rampant than they ever have been.

  • In fact, I’ve been reading that they say

  • that the children today, the young generation today,

  • will die at a younger age than their parents.

  • Meaning that if your parents live until 75, they might die at 70.

  • And were just going down.

  • How is that possible?

  • In fact, is the 68 percent coming from the image coming from the right or the left?

  • (Right.)

  • Have you ever heard of somebody suffering a heart attack

  • because they ate too much fruit and vegetables? It’s unheard of.

  • A key to a healthy diet is a variety of foods and a variety of colors.

  • How much variety do you really see?

  • In fact, why, why is this causing most of the death and disease?

  • Because despite what we have been told, despite what we have been taught,

  • we look nothing like omnivores, biologically speaking.

  • We do not look anything like carnivores.

  • We look identical, biologically speaking, to our brother from another mother.

  • We look like gorillas. We look like the great apes.

  • We look like the horses, the cows, the giraffes, the elephants, the zebras.

  • How so?

  • Our teeth. Not my teeth, though.

  • Canines.

  • I love when people say, “What about our canines?”

  • Really? You really think they are very sharp?

  • If we had sharp canines, like our cats and dogs,

  • and if you really think you have canine teeth that are sharp,

  • take a look at your cat or dog.

  • Would we be using knifes and forks if we had these, right?

  • We have more teeth. Why?

  • We chew our food!

  • Tonight, when youre feeding your cat or dog, notice what they do.

  • Limited chewing, mostly swallowing.

  • Our jaw goes like this. We grind our food.

  • Their jaw opens up wide. In fact, if you want to know

  • what humane slaughter looks like, here it is.

  • Look at the animal kingdom.

  • The fastest land animal is the cheetah.

  • Goes 70 miles per hour.

  • Now a tiger can go about, I think it’s about 35-40 miles per hour, pretty quick.

  • Then you have the deer, the antelope, the gazelle, not as fast.

  • So you have carnivores, tiger, cheetah, jaguar,

  • and then you have the deer, the antelope, and the gazelle.

  • So herbivores, carnivores.

  • Now, the carnivores are quicker.

  • But what's the difference here?

  • We got on the right side, I guess it is on your left side.

  • The carnivores are all the track and field stars.

  • Quick sprint, out of breath. They don’t have very much endurance.

  • On the left side, or again, the right side for you,

  • this would be the herbivores, which don’t have as much speed,

  • but they have more endurance. They are the cross country runners.

  • So, what we like to assume,

  • or maybe not what we like to assume, but logic would say,

  • that the faster animal will always get his prey.

  • But that's not the case. That's not the case.

  • Because you have track and field versus cross country.

  • So that means that a tiger is only successful in a hunt 20% of the time.

  • That means 8 out of a 10 deer will escape the slaughter.

  • So what kind of deer will the tiger be able to capture?

  • The sick, the weak, the injured, the lost, the old, the young.

  • This animal weeds out the weak.

  • Were not doing anything like that.

  • In fact, if we were meant to be on the top of the food chain,

  • don’t you think we would have some claws to rip through flesh?

  • If I brought a pig into the room,

  • and ask you to kill the pig with your claws,

  • the pig would probably enjoy it more than anything else.

  • And this is perhaps most important. Your intestines,

  • and Simba would be my representative.

  • Small intestines, large intestines, also known as the colon.

  • Small, large.

  • Now your intestines combined, large and small, make up 10 times your body size.

  • Your body being from your mouth to the anus, which is about 3 feet.

  • And multiply that by 10, and you have 30 feet of intestines in your stomach.

  • It’s from that wall through that the door.

  • 30 feet of intestines in your stomach.

  • Carnivores, omnivores, about 3 to 6 times their body length.

  • So let’s say that Simba's it would be about anywhere from 15 to 20 feet.

  • 30 feet, 15 feet.

  • Whose food gets traveled out quicker?

  • Simba’s which is good.

  • Because you can call it bacon as much as you want,

  • but once it is in your body, it is no longer bacon.

  • It’s decomposing flesh. It’s bacteria, and it builds up.

  • And they have, by the way, 10 times the amount of hydrochloric acid

  • to break it down.

  • So we don’t even have the pH balance and the enzymes

  • to break it down properly. So what happens?

  • It leads to clogged arteries.

  • Which leads to heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes,

  • high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.

  • Have you ever heard of a tiger suffering from high blood pressure?

  • High cholesterol? Strokes? Obesity?

  • You know why these animals don’t suffer from these diseases?

  • Because they eat what is natural to their anatomy.

  • When it comes to diet,

  • we are the dumbest species on this planet.

  • What are these two things have in common? (Mercury.)

  • Mercury.

  • In fact, there is a warning label on fish.

  • I do not know you ever seen it. Do you know what it says?

  • Certain people should not consume it. Men or women?

  • Pregnant women, right. Hopefully it’s not a pregnant man.

  • Pregnant, nursing women, or women who may become pregnant

  • young children should not be eating the following fish including tuna,

  • because nearly all fish in the sea contain a certain amount of mercury,

  • chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm.”

  • What else does the government tell women not to consume when they are pregnant?

  • Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

  • So basically the government says, “Hey, look, if you think about becoming pregnant

  • lay off the drugs for a little bit, and stop eating fish.”

  • If it can do that much harm to a woman,

  • why would anybody want to consume it?

  • And do I really need to say at this point,

  • do any one of us want to touch any food that comes from the sea?

  • All you got to do is turn on the news. Open up a newspaper, what do you see?

  • Oil spill.

  • Why, why would you want to put this...?

  • And here is how it works.

  • You take the small fish in the Gulf right now. Very little, small fish.

  • That small fish is, inevitably will swallow some oil.

  • It’s gonna swim further out. They are miles away from the spill.

  • And the will get eaten by a larger fish.

  • And that larger fish is now contaminated, and will swim out even further.

  • And that larger fish will get eaten by an even larger fish.

  • Now that even larger fish is contaminated with oil.

  • And then we catch that even larger fish

  • and we eat it.

  • Cooking the animal is not gonna get rid of

  • the oil becomes part of the meat.

  • So why do we consume it, though?

  • Why do we consume this flesh of an animal?

  • We have we been told,

  • you need to eat meat to get... protein.”

  • Protein, right?

  • How many grams of protein are we supposed to get?

  • Does anybody know?

  • In terms of grams per day?

  • It would be about, World Health Organization says, 40 to 50.

  • About that. 40 would be for the average female adult,

  • 50 would be for the average male adult.

  • But it’s funny, we don’t tell that to kids.

  • I only learned this recently myself, too.

  • Going through my whole life, and never really bothering to find out.

  • And nobody ever bothered to tell me.

  • It’s like saying,

  • Here, have the keys to my car, go pick up some stuff for me,

  • go get my groceries.” But I didn’t teach you how to drive the car.

  • Teaching kids, “You got to eat it”, but not teaching them how, or how much.

  • Now, again, let me show you how easy it is to get protein.

  • Especially here in the United States.

  • Your standard American diet for breakfast, you got your bacon,

  • you got your cow’s milk, and you got your hen periods.

  • How many slices of bacon would you want?

  • I know you might not eat bacon now,

  • but how many slices do you remember as a kid, maybe?

  • Maybe 2, OK?

  • Each slice is 5 grams. Two times five.

  • How many eggs would you want?

  • 2?

  • Each egg has 6 grams.

  • So what are we at? 10 + 12 is 22.

  • How many glass of milk?

  • One glass.

  • Each glass has 8 grams.

  • So you are at what? 30.

  • We are not even done with breakfast, this is not including

  • the toast with cow’s butter you might put on it.

  • So, you are not even done with breakfast, and you are almost at the limit.

  • The average American does not need to worry about getting enough protein,

  • they need to worry about getting too much protein.

  • That's why the U.S. has the highest rates obesity in the entire world.

  • And people always tell me, “Jesus. What? You do not eat meat?

  • Where do you get your protein from?"

  • Like all of a sudden, “Holy shit, it's all of a sudden dawned on me,

  • I have been without protein in the last 8 years.

  • Let 's go to McDonalds and get a Big Mac!”

  • Like, I am about to fall down or something. Or pass out.

  • Have you ever heard of somebody in the U.S.

  • suffering from a lack of protein and going to the hospital?

  • It’s unheard of.

  • It’s funny, even dealing with kids, I have a kid say,

  • “I tried to go vegan for a day,

  • and I got really sick.”

  • What?

  • It's like people they know somebody who is vegan who is sick.

  • Really? I know tons of meat eaters who are sick.

  • Yes, you can be an unhealthy vegan.

  • What I am telling you is it does not matter

  • if you are eating meat milk, dairy and fish or you are eating a plant based diet,

  • you should know what you putting into your body.

  • You should know how many grams of protein you are getting

  • the amount of iron, calcium that you are getting.

  • By the way, people say omega-3 from fish.

  • You can get that from the seeds, the nuts.

  • You can get that from other things. Flax seed is a very good example.

  • Think about this:

  • these are the largest and strongest land animals on Earth.

  • What does their diet consists of? Plants!

  • You're in good company, if youre only eating plants.

  • And what is so ironic about this is

  • that the largest and strongest land animals

  • not only do they just eat a plant based diet,

  • they also live the longest.

  • This animal can live to 70 years.

  • They can live to about 50 to 60 years,

  • the gorilla about 50 years in the wild.

  • And their diet consists of nothing but plants.

  • Are you going to tell any of them they are missing out on protein?

  • This animal has 10 times the upper body strength of the average male adult.

  • And where is he getting all his protein from?

  • From this.

  • His diet consists of roots, shoots, bamboo and banana.

  • He is getting all his calcium, all his iron,

  • all his vitamins, all his minerals,

  • the amino acids from this.

  • You get everything.

  • Everything.

  • Here is the new food pyramid.

  • There are two things.

  • Your body is like a machine. Think of your body as a machine.

  • You have to put the proper fuels in it

  • to get it to work properly.

  • If you don’t put the proper fuels,

  • it aint gonna work.

  • And if you put fuels that aren’t as good quality as others,

  • that will lead to heart disease,

  • cancer, strokes, diabetes, obesity,

  • high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

  • It’s like, if you take a Porsche,

  • and you fill it up with diesel, what happens?

  • You just screwed your car up, right?

  • And I guarantee what are people gonna say to you,

  • when you say, I put diesel in my car today.

  • Do you know what they gonna say to you? I guarantee they are going to say

  • What the fuck is wrong with you?

  • No offense.

  • When somebody puts a hamburger in their mouth, nobody says

  • What the fuck is wrong, stop! Stop!

  • You get everything.

  • I know I said to think your body as a machine

  • now think of your body as a house.

  • I love analogies. Think of your body as a house. To build a house

  • you have to start with the foundation, you can’t start with the roof.

  • Here is the foundation.

  • This is the foundation. This is where all of it starts.

  • The fruits and vegetables.

  • Key to a healthy diet is a variety of foods, a variety of colors.

  • You get everything from this.

  • And then you build your walls with the legumes, the beans.

  • And you got the whole grains,

  • the wheat, the pasta, the spaghetti, the rice, the breads,

  • and on top, your roof, you get your nuts and seeds.

  • You can get everything from this,

  • everything.

  • All your vitamins, A, B, C. Vitamin D from the sun.

  • You get all your calcium , all your iron, your omega-3,

  • all your protein and amino acids.

  • Everything from this, everything.

  • Now I know I am a skinny white dude with glasses telling you to get enough protein,

  • but these guys aren’t skinny. Only one of them is white.

  • So as you can see

  • these guys, their diet consists of no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no fish.

  • There might be some variations. Tony Gonzalez,

  • he might be eating fish. Don't hold me to it.

  • But I know Prince Fielder, who is the 2009 home run derby king,

  • no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no fish.

  • Mac Danzig, who fights in the ultimate fighter,

  • he is a season 1 champion, UFC fighter,

  • no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no fish.

  • So you can still excel at your sports.

  • You can still gain muscle mass on a plant based diet.

  • Again, just remember the gorilla.

  • So what do they eat?

  • Instead of dairy

  • everything a meat eater, a dairy eater an egg eater eats,

  • I eat as well, that just comes in plant form.

  • No cruelty involved, no cholesterol, high in fiber.

  • And these are all the processed food. This is the transition food.

  • This is where you go when you go from eating meat

  • and you make that switch.

  • Instead of poultry.

  • Instead of beef.

  • Garden burger, veggie burger.

  • Right here what you see up here, this is one of the best items on the market.

  • Again, not the healthiest food in the world,

  • but certainly better than your meat.

  • This is called the Riblets. I want you to try it.

  • If you haven’t tried this, go to Publix, Whole Foods,

  • and get all this food at Publix and Whole Foods. It is really amazing.

  • If you try it out on your family, you tell them it’s meat,

  • I’d love to see the response they give. It really is good stuff.

  • And remember, all meat, dairy and egg products go through a process.

  • It doesn’t just magically form.

  • In this case, the process involves killing,

  • cooking, pasteurization, refrigeration, freezing,

  • and we can not forget the all important seasoning.

  • I remember going to McDonald's as a child, and I didn’t just get a slab of meat.

  • A slab of meat had herbs and spices put into it,

  • was put on the grill, cooked,

  • and then it came to me with a bun,

  • lettuce, tomatoes,

  • ketchup, mustard and onions.

  • And a pickle.

  • What all those things are made of?

  • Plants

  • We put condiments, spice and herbs on the meat to make it taste better,

  • in fact, what would meat be without plants?

  • It would just be a dead animal. Would be a carcass on your plate.

  • It would be no different from road kill.

  • So the word of the day isVegan”.

  • A vegan is somebody who chooses not to eat any meat, dairy, eggs or fish.

  • And again, how is this extreme?

  • How is it extreme not to be drinking the milk of any other species?

  • How is it extreme not to be eating hen periods?

  • How is it extreme

  • not to be participating in a system that unnecessarily kills animals?

  • A lot of kids say, even after all this,they are still like

  • What do I eat as vegan”?

  • Now, all these products are vegan.

  • There is no meat, no dairy, no eggs.

  • But this is all crap. This is unhealthy.

  • This is the junk food vegan.

  • Now the kids get all excited and sayAlright, I am going vegan!”

  • And just God knows what they are telling the parents.

  • If your diet consists of nothing but Oreos, Skittles, Airheads, Fritos,

  • Sour Patch Kids, and Big League Chew

  • you are going to die. This is not healthy.

  • I do not know if kids hear that. “I am going to live.”

  • On a healthier note

  • you have your scrambled eggs, I have my scrambled tofu.

  • Pancakes. You don’t have to use cow's milk,

  • use soy milk, oat milk , rice milk, almond milk,

  • coconut milk, hemp milk.

  • Fruits and vegetables.

  • Spaghetti.

  • Pasta.

  • Refried beans.

  • Even have vegan sour cream,

  • Guacamole, comes from the avocado. Soy cheese.

  • Rice cheese.

  • They even have this magical cheese I'll get to in a sec.

  • Veggie burger.

  • Veggie dog.

  • Cupcakes, they have egg replacer. I think I got them here.

  • So you can replace the eggs with bananas, applesauce even.

  • You can use soy milk, oat milk, more flour, water.

  • Coconut milk ice cream. One of the best ice creams in the world.

  • Again, it's not healthy, but healthier than cow milk ice cream.

  • I’ve always said to people, “Wait a minute,

  • if you can put a man or a woman on the moon,

  • how hard is it to make a cheese that doesn’t come from a cow, or a goat?

  • How is it hard to make a vegan cheese?”

  • Well, they heard me.

  • This is called a Daiya cheese actually,

  • and it’s great thing. No soy, no rice.

  • It’s made actually out of tapioca and arrowroot flour.

  • I know that’s not making your mouth water, but man, it is good.

  • Here is another example of where you can get your protein from.

  • This is a vegan sausage. It’s about that big, the size of this remote.

  • There is 4 in a package. Each one of these has 29 grams of protein.

  • Again, the healthiest food you can eat is whole foods.

  • I don’t mean the supermarket.

  • I mean the fruits, the vegetables, the rice, the beans,

  • stuff that’s fresh. That is not processed.

  • And the last thing I want to show you is another video. It is a happier video.

  • And this is the whole idea of change in perception.

  • I know I am keeping you here, longer than you probably wanted.

  • But this is a really beautiful story. And I hope you enjoy it.

  • On the night of September 18, 2007

  • a cow was spotted on the streets of Queens.

  • She was tagged for slaughter, but she escaped that fate

  • and literally ran for her life.

  • Police and firefighters captured her

  • and brought her to Animal Care & Control in Manhattan.

  • From there, Farm Sanctuary’s

  • rescue team stepped in.

  • Maxine’s dash for freedom.

  • There she is, beautiful girl.

  • She was tagged for slaughter, and it would have been her fate.

  • But she wanted to live

  • and so she really ran for her life.

  • and now shell live out her life in the Sanctuary.

  • It is interesting how the public responds

  • when one individual animal makes a run for her life.

  • They end up making headlines on national news.

  • People’s hearts goes out to this one individual animal.

  • The cruelty that happens to farm animals

  • is largely hidden behind factory farm walls.

  • And people aren’t aware of that.

  • When you look in her eyes,

  • everyone wants the best for her. Once they get to know her,

  • and when people are able to identify with an individual

  • and look her in the eye and see

  • that she is living, feeling being who has a will to live,

  • then people care.

  • I have been working here with Animal Care and Control

  • for almost nine years.

  • This morning was really astonishing to me.

  • All of a sudden it dawned on me, this sweet, innocent cow

  • running away from being slaughtered.

  • And I never been thought about it before,

  • that something is actually being slaughtered,

  • and it is my ground beef, and it is my steak, and stuff like that.

  • And we have been eating this for years,

  • I never pictured that face on that.

  • And it hurt.

  • I can’t do that anymore.

  • I can’t.

  • So, now, we are all work on not eating meat.

  • Me and my entire family.

  • Because I am realizing that this is a life we saved today.

  • And with my family we will be saving a couple of more.

  • Thank you.

  • She is about a year old absolutely beautiful Hereford.

  • And those unfortunately are cows that are used for meat.

  • She was most likely at a live market

  • and because they have a very strong will to live,

  • like any living creature, she got loose.

  • She had a will to live, and she did it.

  • Hello!

  • When she is going now, she is gonna have

  • cows of her own breed even. She is gonna be so happy.

  • When the trailer arrives, the cows in the herd will moo.

  • Yeah. They will moo in a big line. Everybody lines up.

  • They will start mooing to her to comfort her

  • and to tell her that they are there.

  • And she will moo back.

  • Any animal, any creature has a strong will to live.

  • She is an ambassador for all animals,

  • who are still suffering in slaughterhouses and on farms,

  • and who don’t don’t have such a lucky outcome.

  • People love a happy ending and it’s happy.

  • After medical care and observation,

  • Maxine explores her new freedom at Farm Sanctuary.

  • I’ve seen that like a hundred times and I still get goosebumps.

  • It’s simple, you know.

  • It is unnecessary. It doesn’t have to be this way.

  • You change your perception. You change the story.

  • That’s all it is, the changing of the story.

  • And we cannot wait for other people to do it, we have to do it ourselves.

  • Every animal wants to live,

  • every animal wants to live, and no animal wants to experience pain.

  • If you guys want more information,

  • you can always email me at james@arff.org

  • You can visit our website for all of this information

  • www.arff.org

  • We are giving these presentations throughout the year,

  • this is on obviously every last Sunday of the month

  • I give this presentations here at Sublime 536-30

  • But also, we go to juvenile detention centers, we go to high schools.

  • We do other many different presentations on different subjects as well,

  • right now I am spending most of my time in camps.

  • It has been very nice not to have to say, “If you can hear my voice, clap once”.

  • or "Do not put that in your mouth or your ear."

  • So yes, if you want more information about what we do,

  • all these presentations are free.

  • Theyre all for free. We give them free. So if you are interested

  • in having a presentation at your school, if youre a teacher,

  • at some community event that you might be running,

  • we do everything. It doesn’t matter what it is.

  • Birthday parties,

  • Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah,

  • circumcision.

  • Maybe not the circumcision.

  • Also I do want to say, there is a lot of information out there,

  • we have starter kits,

  • we have ""why vegan?". It’s a talk about the ethical aspect of veganism.

  • There is also again more information on the Animal Rights Foundation

  • This is a card. This has a list of all the veg friendly restaurants

  • in South Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties,

  • definitely take one of these. It’s all out there on the table.

  • This is my card as well. If you have any questions, you can come and see me.

  • If you did not, print out the email on the sublime list,

  • and you want 10 dollars off tonight, it’s only for the table.

  • I apologize for that. But it’s for the table.

  • So not everybody at the table get this.

  • Or no, you know what, I am wrong, I am totally wrong. It’s for two.

  • So if you have a group of four people, you will get two of these.

  • And thank you guys for listening. I hope you enjoyed it.

101 reasons to go vegan James Wildman

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