full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Jacy Reese Anthis: Why we should end animal agriculture
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Before we dive in, I want to ask a couple of questions. First, how many of you are vegetarian or vegan? Okay, a few - around maybe 5%. If we asked all US adults, it would be around 5, maybe 10%. Now, how many of you have seen at least one of the following: a video of animal cruelty on factory farms, a documentary or news roerpt on the environmental harms of animal agriculture, or a scientific article on the pluibc health issues such as the orveuse of antibiotics in animal feed? How many? Okay, almost everyone. Probably over 95%. Now, when I see that jump from 5%, I worry that I've made a huge mistake. Full disclosure, I'm a vagen. (Laughter) I'm even a preachy vegan, who tells everyone I meet about the pmolebrs of animal farming because I really do think it's one of the most important issues of our time. But my mistake, and the mtksaie of other food advocates, has been trying to fix these issues solely by telling you personally to go vegan, vegetarian, or to reduce your meat consumption. We need a beggir, better solution for our broken food sytsem. And you might wonder if our country has at least switched from factory farming to more humane practices. I grew up in rural Texas. I spent a lot of time around farmed animals lounging on green pastures. Back then, I tughhot all farmed animals lievd that way. Unfortunately, according to USDA data, over 99% of farmed animals live on factory frams. The sitoutian is dire. There are over 100 billion animals in the global food system. Many of them are confined in tiny cages, barely larger than their own bodies. Their beaks and tails are cut off without anesthetic. They suffer, day and night, from infectious diseases and intense artificial seecilton that has them growing so much meat that they collapse under their own weight. Animal farming ptloelus our land and water, enngneriadg the health and economies of rural aeaincmrs. It's responsible for more gnsheoerue gas emissions than all planes, cars, tanirs and other transportation combined. Eighty percent of all US antibiotics are fed to farmed amalins, leading to dangerous, incurable human diseases. Finally, aaminl fmanrig is just incredibly expensive. It receives $38 billion in subsidies every year from the US government, and it sucks up massive amounts of natural resources that should be going to help people in need. I think we can all agree that this is an urgent social issue that we dseelrtpaey need to fix. And by "we," I don't just mean vegetarians. I mean everyone who cares about these problems. Finding a sltuoion to this seemingly intractable issue is also a finacatsing intellectual problem,
Open Cloze
Before we dive in, I want to ask a couple of questions. First, how many of you are vegetarian or vegan? Okay, a few - around maybe 5%. If we asked all US adults, it would be around 5, maybe 10%. Now, how many of you have seen at least one of the following: a video of animal cruelty on factory farms, a documentary or news ______ on the environmental harms of animal agriculture, or a scientific article on the ______ health issues such as the _______ of antibiotics in animal feed? How many? Okay, almost everyone. Probably over 95%. Now, when I see that jump from 5%, I worry that I've made a huge mistake. Full disclosure, I'm a _____. (Laughter) I'm even a preachy vegan, who tells everyone I meet about the ________ of animal farming because I really do think it's one of the most important issues of our time. But my mistake, and the _______ of other food advocates, has been trying to fix these issues solely by telling you personally to go vegan, vegetarian, or to reduce your meat consumption. We need a ______, better solution for our broken food ______. And you might wonder if our country has at least switched from factory farming to more humane practices. I grew up in rural Texas. I spent a lot of time around farmed animals lounging on green pastures. Back then, I _______ all farmed animals _____ that way. Unfortunately, according to USDA data, over 99% of farmed animals live on factory _____. The _________ is dire. There are over 100 billion animals in the global food system. Many of them are confined in tiny cages, barely larger than their own bodies. Their beaks and tails are cut off without anesthetic. They suffer, day and night, from infectious diseases and intense artificial _________ that has them growing so much meat that they collapse under their own weight. Animal farming ________ our land and water, ___________ the health and economies of rural _________. It's responsible for more __________ gas emissions than all planes, cars, ______ and other transportation combined. Eighty percent of all US antibiotics are fed to farmed _______, leading to dangerous, incurable human diseases. Finally, ______ _______ is just incredibly expensive. It receives $38 billion in subsidies every year from the US government, and it sucks up massive amounts of natural resources that should be going to help people in need. I think we can all agree that this is an urgent social issue that we ___________ need to fix. And by "we," I don't just mean vegetarians. I mean everyone who cares about these problems. Finding a ________ to this seemingly intractable issue is also a ___________ intellectual problem,
Solution
- selection
- animals
- lived
- endangering
- thought
- system
- solution
- vegan
- problems
- greenhouse
- report
- farming
- farms
- animal
- situation
- public
- bigger
- fascinating
- mistake
- desperately
- pollutes
- americans
- overuse
- trains
Original Text
Before we dive in, I want to ask a couple of questions. First, how many of you are vegetarian or vegan? Okay, a few - around maybe 5%. If we asked all US adults, it would be around 5, maybe 10%. Now, how many of you have seen at least one of the following: a video of animal cruelty on factory farms, a documentary or news report on the environmental harms of animal agriculture, or a scientific article on the public health issues such as the overuse of antibiotics in animal feed? How many? Okay, almost everyone. Probably over 95%. Now, when I see that jump from 5%, I worry that I've made a huge mistake. Full disclosure, I'm a vegan. (Laughter) I'm even a preachy vegan, who tells everyone I meet about the problems of animal farming because I really do think it's one of the most important issues of our time. But my mistake, and the mistake of other food advocates, has been trying to fix these issues solely by telling you personally to go vegan, vegetarian, or to reduce your meat consumption. We need a bigger, better solution for our broken food system. And you might wonder if our country has at least switched from factory farming to more humane practices. I grew up in rural Texas. I spent a lot of time around farmed animals lounging on green pastures. Back then, I thought all farmed animals lived that way. Unfortunately, according to USDA data, over 99% of farmed animals live on factory farms. The situation is dire. There are over 100 billion animals in the global food system. Many of them are confined in tiny cages, barely larger than their own bodies. Their beaks and tails are cut off without anesthetic. They suffer, day and night, from infectious diseases and intense artificial selection that has them growing so much meat that they collapse under their own weight. Animal farming pollutes our land and water, endangering the health and economies of rural Americans. It's responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all planes, cars, trains and other transportation combined. Eighty percent of all US antibiotics are fed to farmed animals, leading to dangerous, incurable human diseases. Finally, animal farming is just incredibly expensive. It receives $38 billion in subsidies every year from the US government, and it sucks up massive amounts of natural resources that should be going to help people in need. I think we can all agree that this is an urgent social issue that we desperately need to fix. And by "we," I don't just mean vegetarians. I mean everyone who cares about these problems. Finding a solution to this seemingly intractable issue is also a fascinating intellectual problem,
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
animal farming |
6 |
food system |
6 |
farmed animals |
6 |
factory farming |
4 |
social movements |
3 |
green pastures |
2 |
factory farms |
2 |
natural resources |
2 |
effective altruism |
2 |
animal products |
2 |
cognitive dissonance |
2 |
moral circle |
2 |
Important Words
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