This holiday season, as you’re reaching for that second helping of turkey, you might hear a little voice in your head. No, not the one telling you to save room for pie – the one whispering “Hey, how do you think this bird lived, it probably wasn’t pretty, right?” Unlike the pie voice, this one might be onto something.
We eat about 46 million turkeys at Thanksgiving. Most of them – like 99% of the animals we eat in the US, are raised on factory farms.
The unhappy reality is that pigs, turkeys, chickens and other animals that were raised for our food did not have good lives, nor humane deaths.
If you’re like most of us, you probably deal with this reality by carefully scrolling past those undercover footage videos on social media and trying not to think about it. I get it. Nobody wants to be that person who ruins Thanksgiving dinner by talking about factory farming between bites of stuffing.
But here’s some good news that won’t require you to spend the holidays explaining tempeh to your confused relatives: you don’t have to give up your turkey dinner to help fix factory farming.
The truth is, changing your diet isn’t the only way to help tackle factory farming, and it probably isn’t even the best way. Instead, you can keep eating meat and donate to ‘offset’ your impact. Think of carbon offsets, but not just for the climate, but for animal welfare as well.
In fact, it would cost the average omnivore about $23 a month to do about as much good for animals and the planet as going entirely vegan. Even with all the trimmings, Thanksgiving dinner costs you less than a dollar to offset.
This is because some of the best charities working to end the harms of factory farming are so good at what they do that it really doesn’t cost much to make a big difference.
For many people (and animals) ‘diet offsetting’ may be a better option to help tackle factory farming than going vegan.
Despite campaigns like Meatless Mondays and Veganuary, meat eating is still on the rise globally. About 5% of US adults identify as vegan or vegetarian, and for years that number has remained stagnant.
It’s possible to persuade at least some people to change their diets for the climate or animal welfare. But for many people it’s just too big an ask. The ‘diet change strategy’ just isn’t moving us in the right direction.
On the other hand, charities have made huge gains in improving the lives of factory farm animals and pushing for a more sustainable food system. For example, Sinergia Animal which successfully pressuring companies to stop practices like confining pregnant pigs in pens so small they can’t turn around or, in some cases, even lie down.
So, instead of swapping your turkey for tofu, you could simply donate to charities doing this amazing work to help make the lives of factory farmed animals better.
Some might argue that something meaningful is lost when people can simply buy their way out of making sacrifices. Many advocates, for example, believe that individual choices are really the starting point for deeper engagement.
However, emphasis on individual action has often held movements back, not helped them.
In the early 2000s, one of the biggest promoters of the ‘carbon footprint’ – the idea of measuring and reducing your impact on global warming – was the oil giant BP. Shifting the conversation from the role of big business to consumer choice is playing into the hands of some of the world’s biggest polluters. In the same way, the meat industry would love for us to endlessly debate individual food choices rather than examine the system they’ve created.
Instead, we need systemic change: supporting organizations that push for better regulations, fighting harmful agricultural subsidies, and holding companies accountable for their practices.
Most importantly, writing a check is a much easier ask than changing your entire diet – which means more people will actually help.
We know that people are willing to give their money to animal causes: about 12% of Americans do it – more than twice as many people as there are vegetarians/vegans. These donations could fuel the organizations that are successfully pushing companies and governments to transform how animals are treated.
Right now, billions of animals are suffering in factory farms while we argue about what’s on our plates. The fastest path to ending their suffering isn’t waiting for everyone to go vegan: It’s empowering everyone who cares about animals to make a difference – whether they eat meat or not.
So, vote with your dollar to end factory farming, and maybe have a third helping of dinner too.