Vegan Cupboard: Ethics Backed by Science and Logic

ANTIBIOTICS, ANIMAL FARMING AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE.

"almost 40 million people will lose their lives to superbugs over the next 25 years"
"about 70% of all antibiotics are given to livestock, creating a pool of animals in which resistance can evolve."
"About a million people die every year because of the spread of microbial resistance, and that figure will rise over the next 25 years”
"Estimates suggest that by 2050, death rates from AMRs will have doubled, with figures indicating almost 40 million people will lose their lives to superbugs over the next 25 years, with elderly people especially at risk."
"In the face of these threats, doctors have tried to limit prescriptions of antibiotics as much as possible (...). However, medical misuse of antibiotics is not the only route by which resistance spreads. The landscape itself plays a critical role, a problem that stems from the fact that about 70% of all antibiotics are given to livestock, creating a pool of animals in which resistance can evolve.
“We’re essentially throwing antibiotics at cows and chickens and sheep (...) Such actions help microbes to evolve, so they develop the ability to ward off antibiotics, resistance that then spreads across the globe."
“If you’ve got intensive farming where a lot of antibiotics are used or a busy hospital that has a poor sewage system, resistant bacteria can get into waterways,” (...) “Winds blow over these patches of contaminated land or water and pick up bacteria and genes with resistance in them, then let them rain down in other places. That is how pernicious this problem has become.”
From: Antibiotic emergency ‘could claim 40 million lives in next 25 years -The Guardian.
 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/05/antibiotic-emergency-could-claim-40-million-lives-in-next-25-years?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&fbclid=IwY2xjawIQWgZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc6o1NMEbnmG8av76wf7Q7Z8dlq7nULmYoeQn7kWkY5cEp75p4fyMJ3ENA_aem_4QnPE84TdjmW-kPqhvriGQ
Image: "Vet gives injection" by Oregon Department of Agriculture is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Hi!
Do you want to do activism from your home and your computer?
If you like looking for pieces of scientific research and science-based articles related to veganism and want to share them to help activists plant new seeds, let us know.
We look for activists that have some scientific knowledge (no need to have a bachelor's in science! but some degree of knowledge and criteria is needed) and that use non-violent, non-shaming communication strategies.
The goal of the page is, mainly, to look for objective and well documented data to support activism and to share it here in an objective way. Linking the articles and highlighting some parts that can be easily copied and pasted for easy online activism.
The more people we are, the more content we will be able to create.

ANIMAL FARMING IN CLIMATE CHANGE MEDIA COVERAGE: A HUGE (AND OFTEN OVERLOOKED ) OPPORTUNITY FOR VEGAN ONLINE ACTIVISM.

🌍🐷According to Faunalytics (2023), "having climate concerns can make a big difference in people’s openness to pro-animal actions"

( https://faunalytics.org/different-strokes-for-different-folks/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQWMdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXr-ol_9oQKOfNTHy652Rl8HYcIiFZDN68vJ6O-dJnK7cPRPSGtUABpk-A_aem_ylQgbx7EX4lqq9aTaQUoxw )

🌏🗞️🐮So, what's the media's coverage of the link between animal farming and climate change and what can we do about it?

📰 The report "Animal Agriculture Is The Missing Piece In Climate Change Media Coverage" shows that "only 7% of climate articles mentioned animal agriculture and they rarely discussed its impact on climate change" and that "animal agriculture industry is often portrayed as a victim of climate change rather than a significant cause."

( https://faunalytics.org/animal-ag-in-climate-media/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQWO5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXX3rib94KXUD0ONIGyRkd8T84Gz0-KH8_ZL1mK5MtYnsD9R1-khrqnjLg_aem_W2WFss8ac3H4MSMVungSkg)

👇🏻This is a summary of the key recommendations from the report.
✊🏻🐷🐮Many of them are a huge opportunity for online vegan activists:
- Interact with climate stories that get it right.
- Share your knowledge and opinions by writing a letter to the editor or an op-ed.
- Tip-off news outlets about interesting discussions that are happening around the role of animal agriculture in climate change.
- Join forces with other advocates or organizations to interact with the news on social media.
- Use your own platform to educate the public on the animal agriculture industry’s contributions to climate change.

We created a SWIFT COURSE ON LOGICAL FALLACIES FOR VEGAN ADVOCACY in two parts.
Each part takes around 10 - 15 minutes to complete.

Why is it useful to learn to spot logical fallacies?:

Spotting logical fallacies improves your critical thinking and allows you to challenge faulty points in others' arguments.
Also, it is important to be able to spot your own logical fallacies as avoiding committing logical fallacies helps you to create stronger arguments.

If you take the course, please, give us your feedback in the comments. Is the language too formal? Not enough? Do you see any errors? And the most important thing: did it help you to hone your rhetoric skills?
With your feedback we will be able to fine-tune it or to create alternative versions.

Part 1:
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UmQKAWuxuy0CpOjR6DaUVH0JTBy_f3zTc3DM-olYOow/viewform?chromeless=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawIQV7tleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXr-ol_9oQKOfNTHy652Rl8HYcIiFZDN68vJ6O-dJnK7cPRPSGtUABpk-A_aem_ylQgbx7EX4lqq9aTaQUoxw&edit_requested=true

Part 2:
 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Hrl83KZJGYpxW2lcrtrknB9yfnOU6v2VWdCZUZwumPM/viewform?chromeless=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawIQV-ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHW-T6jiv1U3aUbaiVTty1GbjMcKvKemQ8SftIuoe_LKOr6jVbbrirZqy1A_aem_YB7JaG6pBmm5WDBIroDobQ&edit_requested=true

💡A TRICK FOR LAZY BUT EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM:


☝🏻First comment on the post. If it fits your comment add a Gif or an image. It will make it more conspicuous. Plus the algorithm will make your comment more relevant if it has an image.
Then copy your comment.

👀Select the option to see "all comments" not only "most relevant" comments. Scroll down quickly to look for comments in which your comment would fit as an answer and paste it. As my physics teacher would say "the lazier, the smarter".

💚While scrolling down make sure to put a "heart" to all vegan comments you come across, the algorithm will consider them more relevant and people will be more likely to see them. If you have time, comment on the vegan comments too so as the algorithm is even nicer to them.

😃When you comment on a post, many people might not see your comment, but when you comment on someone's comment they are notified and they will see your comment and maybe you'll have the chance to start a meaningful conversation. Plus the algorithm favours conversations over comments.

REMEMBER THAT IN VEGAN CUPBOARD YOU HAVE MANY TEXTS READY TO COPY AND PASTE WITH ALL THE RELEVANT LINKS. USE THEM AS THEY ARE OR EDIT THEM ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS.

ARE VEGANS POLITICALLY ENGAGED?

As vegans we often are accused of only caring about the animals and not caring about "other issues". We know that these accusations are usually disingenuous and most of the time they come from people not actively involved in any kind of social justice movement.
Here you'll find some interesting research and data so as next time you come across those accusations you can simply copy and paste and save your time and energies for more honest interlocutors.

Values and Beliefs of Vegetarians and Omnivores Michael W. Allen (1999):

"They compared the full range of vegetarians and omnivores on right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, human values, and consumption values. The participants tending toward omnivorism differed from those leaning toward veganism and vegetarianism in 2 principal ways: The omnivores (a) were more likely to endorse hierarchical domination and (b) placed less importance on emotional states."

 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224540009600481?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQVE9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXX3rib94KXUD0ONIGyRkd8T84Gz0-KH8_ZL1mK5MtYnsD9R1-khrqnjLg_aem_W2WFss8ac3H4MSMVungSkg


Political Veganism: An Empirical Analysis of Vegans’ Motives, Aims, and Political Engagement. Deborah Kalte.

"this study shows that (1) a vast majority of vegans is politically motivated and aims to induce change in society at large; (2) they are highly engaged in a broad variety of political activities; and (3) politically motivated vegans live vegan more strictly and are more politically active than vegans motivated by personal concerns."

 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032321720930179?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQVIlleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc6o1NMEbnmG8av76wf7Q7Z8dlq7nULmYoeQn7kWkY5cEp75p4fyMJ3ENA_aem_4QnPE84TdjmW-kPqhvriGQ

ARE ANIMALS CONSCIOUSS? IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO KNOW?

"First, there is strong scientific support for attributions of conscious experience to other mammals and to birds. Second, the empirical evidence indicates at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates (including reptiles, amphibians, and fishes) and many invertebrates (including, at minimum, cephalopod mollusks, decapod crustaceans, and insects). Third, when there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal. We should consider welfare risks and use the evidence to inform our responses to these risks."
"It would be inappropriate to talk about “proof,” “certainty,” or “conclusive evidence” in the search for animal consciousness, because the nature of consciousness is still hotly contested. However, it is entirely appropriate to interpret these remarkable displays of learning, memory, planning, problem-solving, self-awareness, and other such capacities as evidence of consciousness in cases where the same behavior, if found in a human or other mammal, would be well explained by conscious processing.""

From "Background to the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness.Andrews, K., Birch, J., Sebo, J., and Sims, T. (2024)"

 https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration?authuser=0&fbclid=IwY2xjawIQUnpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHS4SkbJ-POyA5O2VjIPBcWld0ubcubIm3vNbr5OqT0ubSCmKPV062G_YlA_aem_PaUYPjf7n-20sQb-MZ8jGQ

CAN WE CALL IT ALMOND MILK?

In medieval cooking books “almaund mylke” was a very commnon ingredient. For example, in the “Forme of Cury”, compiled about 1390 CE by the master-cooks of King Richard II, we can find 9 recipes that include it:
“RYSE [1] OF FLESH. IX.
[…] broth and lat hem seeþ wel. afterward take Almaund mylke [2] and do þer to. and colour it wiþ safroun an salt.”
“CONNATES [1]. XVIII.
[…] and with a lytell almaund mylke and do þerinne powdour fort and …”
“SPYNEE [1]. XX.II.XVII.
Take and make gode thik Almaund mylke as tofore…”

References:
The Forme of Cury
 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8102/pg8102-images.html

The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390
 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8102

Image: "An Almond Tree", Miniature from the Tacuinum Sanitatis

WOULD WE NEED MORE LAND IF WE ALL WENT PLANT-BASED?

“Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, with most of this used to raise livestock for dairy and meat. Livestock are fed from two sources – lands on which the animals graze and land on which feeding crops, such as soy and cereals, are grown. … Research suggests that if everyone shifted to a plant-based diet we would reduce global land use for agriculture by 75%. This large reduction of agricultural land use would be possible thanks to a reduction in land used for grazing and a smaller need for land to grow crops”

From "If the world adopted a plant-based diet we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectares"
 https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

The data in the article comes from “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Poore & Nemecek (2018)
 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b0b53649-5e93-4415-bf07-6b0b1227172f/files/m13e577c73b56987e9c3e8eeb47ca6e74?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQUZxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXX3rib94KXUD0ONIGyRkd8T84Gz0-KH8_ZL1mK5MtYnsD9R1-khrqnjLg_aem_W2WFss8ac3H4MSMVungSkg

IS "GRASS-FED" A SOLUTION?

“… grass-fed livestock are not a climate solution. Grazing livestock are net contributors to the climate problem, as are all livestock.”
From "Grazed and confused? Food Climate Research Network (2017)
 https://tabledebates.org/publication/grazed-and-confused
Video summarising the findings of the report:  https://youtu.be/nub7pToY3jU?si=3U5ynhEktfcoXnfh
Links to webinars by the authors of the report and more information in  https://vegancupboard.wordpress.com/research-and-data/

POSITION OF DIETETIC INSTITUTIONS ON PLANT-BASED DIETS

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood"

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19562864/

“It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements.”

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/

“Plant-based diets can support healthy living at every age and life stage”
“Plant-based eating is recognised as an intervention to improve health outcomes. They could reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some cancers and may help you manage your weight.”

 https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/vegetarian-vegan-plant-based-diet.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQUJ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc6o1NMEbnmG8av76wf7Q7Z8dlq7nULmYoeQn7kWkY5cEp75p4fyMJ3ENA_aem_4QnPE84TdjmW-kPqhvriGQ

SLAUGHTERHOUSE WORKERS HEALTH

” The requirement to do violent, physically-demanding work at increasingly higher speeds has made animal slaughter one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations. In 2015, 5.4 percent of slaughterhouse workers experienced a job-related injury or illness. Many of these injuries were severe. Over a 31-week period from 2015-2017, there were 550 “serious” injuries reported in US slaughterhouses, including 270 incidents requiring the amputation of a body part.”
“For many slaughterhouse workers, however, physical injuries only scratch the surface of their suffering. A growing body of evidence has emerged surrounding the intense psychological toll that slaughterhouses have on the workers that allow them to operate.“
“Some slaughterhouse workers have discussed feeling the need to disassociate themselves from their work in order to suppress feelings of guilt when committing violent acts. Others have expressed increased feelings of aggression while working on the killing floor. These anecdotal reports from workers are borne out by academic research; slaughterhouse work has been linked to higher levels of aggression, violent dreams, anxiety, and hostility. Some researchers have categorized the psychological symptoms experienced by slaughterhouse employees as a form of trauma disorder, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or the more seldom-discussed Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS).”
“Work at slaughterhouses has been associated with higher levels of substance abuse and addiction. Some experts have also argued that the psychological impact of work in slaughterhouses can lead workers to cause harm to others.”
From: Slaughterhouse Workers, Physical Injuries Are Only the Beginning
 https://onlabor.org/for-slaughterhouse-workers-physical-injuries-are-only-the-beginning/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQTjhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXX3rib94KXUD0ONIGyRkd8T84Gz0-KH8_ZL1mK5MtYnsD9R1-khrqnjLg_aem_W2WFss8ac3H4MSMVungSkg#:~:text=Some%20researchers%20have%20categorized%20the,Induced%20Traumatic%20Stress%20(PITS)

"COWS ARE NOT GOOD MOTHERS" AND OTHER MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT COWS

"There is ample behavioral evidence that cows may possess not only a range of emotions but a level of complexity of emotions found in other mammals, who are generally recognized as being intelligent. This evidence includes play behavior and interactions between emotions and cognition in the forms of cognitive bias, emotional contagion, social buffering, and even emotional reactions to learning."
"Cows engage in all forms of play found in mammals, including playing with objects such as balls, gamboling and running, and also social play with members of other species."
"... calves prefer full physical contact with a partner over limited contact through the pen."
"A large body of research has confirmed that mother cows and calves experience strong emotional bonds that form rapidly following birth."
"An investigation of maternal bonding in dairy cattle found that mothers formed strong maternal bonds with their calves ..." "All mother cows showed signs of distress (walking around, urinating, vocalizing, butting, etc.) following separation from their calves."
"Maternal protective behavior appears to be less related to individual personality in cows than other behavioral traits (Pérez-Torres et al., 2014). This may be because maternal protectiveness of offspring is so critically important that all cows are very high in this trait."
"It is clear that cows, like other animals, have personalities ... "
"In this paper we have identified a number of findings from the scientific literature on cow learning, memory, emotions, personality, and social complexity (collectively cow psychology) showing that cows are far more sophisticated and sensitive than the simple grazers they are perceived to be by many members of our own species (Herzog, 2010; Joy, 2009).""
From "The Psychology of Cows. Lori Marino and Kristin Allen (2017)" :

 https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/17/AB&C_2017_Vol4(4)_Marino_Allen.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawIQTaBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc6o1NMEbnmG8av76wf7Q7Z8dlq7nULmYoeQn7kWkY5cEp75p4fyMJ3ENA_aem_4QnPE84TdjmW-kPqhvriGQ

BUT, PLANTS HAVE FEELINGS TOO....

From: "Debunking a myth: plant consciousness."
Jon Mallatt et al. 2020  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8052213/

"This paper presents new arguments against plant consciousness, the most important of which are:
A.Plants do not show proactive behavior.
B.Classical learning does not indicate consciousness, so reports of such learning in plants are irrelevant.
C.The considerable differences between the electrical signals in plants and the animal nervous system speak against a functional equivalence. Unlike in animals, the action potentials of plants have many physiological roles that involve Ca2+ signaling and osmotic control; and plants’ variable potentials have properties that preclude any conscious perception of wounding as pain.
D.In plants, no evidence exists of reciprocal (recurrent) electrical signaling for integrating information, which is a prerequisite for consciousness.
E.Most proponents of plant consciousness also say that all cells are conscious, a speculative theory plagued with counterevidence.
Our 12 counterarguments are important to the future of plant biology, because dubious ideas about plant consciousness can harm this scientific discipline. We foresee three types of harm. First, not only does the notion of plant consciousness mislead the general public, but it also can generate mistaken ideas about the plant sciences in young, aspiring plant biologists. Second, the strong, romantic appeal of plant consciousness could influence public and private funding agencies to fund projects that are based on its fallacies. Third, public acceptance of plant consciousness could affect research regulation."


Picture: Man's head on a carrot body with a top hat and monocle. [front] Created/Published: Buffalo, N. Y. : Clay & Richmond Date issued: 1870-1900