In this episode, Lottie gives ten reasons why being vegan is the kindest choice. Look out for her episode on December 6th 2026 where she'll give a crash course in how to go vegan, with lots of tips and resources.

1. Animals feel pain and pleasure, and are social and intelligent.

• The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness: https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration;
• Evidence that animals feel pain: https://scienceinsights.org/do-animals-feel-pain-the-evidence-across-species/;
• Farm animal personalities when free: https://sentientmedia.org/farm-animals-personalities-when-free/;
• Animal communication https://sentientmedia.org/new-research-on-animal-communication/;
• Farmed animal sanctuaries in Australia: https://veganaustralia.org.au/blog/vegan-farmed-animal-sanctuaries/.

Videos of rescued farmed animals:

• @gentlebarn: https://youtube.com/shorts/SSI-1qbAQ_I?si=oC7o0_kuwVWXZbPT;
• https://youtu.be/Y2VjfEEFJTI?si=H16GMJo2WVTQgl2_;
• The Dodo: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLoPYaJqlcK7WZBY4qvvEU9ziRJlPDcLV;
• Called to Rescue (feature length documentary): https://youtu.be/wGT8ott4dTo;

2. Animals raised for food, clothing, experimentation or entertainment have painful lives.

3. Animals raised for food, clothing, experimentation or entertainment are killed cruelly and early in their lifespans.

• Dominion (2018): https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch;
• Food Empowerment Project. E.g., 'Humane Myths' https://foodispower.org/animals-on-land/humane-myths/;
• Faunatylics Fundamentals https://faunalytics.org/fundamentals/;
• Sentient Media. E.g. https://sentientmedia.org/do-fish-feel-pain/;

4. The scale is huge.

• 86 billion land animals slaughtered every year for their flesh: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/animals-slaughtered-for-meat;
• 8 billion male chicks killed every year: https://faunalytics.org/global-chick-culling-2019-2024/;
• Billions or trillions of sea creatures (https://faunalytics.org/fundamentals-ocean-life/) and bugs ( https://faunalytics.org/fundamentals-invertebrates/);
• Per capita, the mass of meat produced has doubled in the last 60 years: https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production; https://ourworldindata.org/population-growth.

5. Eating vegan is the most impactful change to your diet, if not all your behaviours, you can make for the environment.

• Hannah Ritchie (especially her book 'Not The End of The World') https://hannahritchie.com/;
• Faunalytics animal product impact assessment: https://faunalytics.org/animal-product-impact-scales-2026-updated-u-s-estimates-and-the-u-k-s-first-animal-product-impact-data/;
• Human depopulation is too slow and small to save the planet: https://hannahritchie.substack.com/p/population-growth-decline-climate and previous Freedom of Species show 'Antinatalism and humans' impact on the planet' July 26th 2026;
• A plant-based food system is a possible near-term change: https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/cop30-briefing-energy-methane-goals/.

6. Eating vegan is more ethical for humans.

• Environmental racism: https://foodispower.org/environmental-and-global/environmental-racism/;
• Human trafficking and slavery in the fishing industry around the world: https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/workers-in-the-fishing-industry/#_ftnref9;
• Slaughterhouse work: https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slaughterhouse-workers/;
• "The Dying Trade" documentary: https://youtu.be/3qb-9Q0YhVA?si=CNjUhMCGMatLsmJn and previous Freedom of Species show 'The Dying Trade film chat' July 19th 2026;
• Colonisation and food sovereignty: https://foodispower.org/environmental-and-global/exporting-factory-farms/;
• Food deserts: https://foodispower.org/access-health/food-deserts/; https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/01/are-you-living-in-a-food-desert--these-maps-suggest-it-can-reall.

Vegans of Colour around the world:

• Vegans for Palestine podcast https://vegansforpalestinepodcast.buzzsprout.com/;
• Food Empowerment Project https://foodispower.org/;
• Afro-Vegan Society https://www.afrovegansociety.org/;
• Umoja Greenlands https://umojagreenlands.org/.

Sunaura Taylor on veganism and disability:

• Her book Beasts of Burden: https://sunaurataylor.net/books/beasts-of-burden-animal-and-disability-liberation/;
• Her interview on 'The Dig' podcast: https://thedigradio.com/podcast/beasts-of-burden-w-sunaura-taylor/.

Animal-based clothing and "by-products" have similar issues, for example:

• Leather: https://scienceinsights.org/when-did-factory-farming-start-the-key-turning-points/;
• Gelatin: https://foodispower.org/our-food-choices/gelatin-byproduct-of-cruelty/;
• Pet food: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1569372/full.

7. Animal agriculture causes many public health issues and a vegan diet can be healthy for many people.

• The Hidden Health Impacts of Industrial Livestock Systems: https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/our-campaigns/food-systems/factory-farming/hidden-health-impacts/;
• Health impacts of climate change: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.

Food guidelines examples:

• Mediterranean diet https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16037-mediterranean-diet;
• EAT-Lancet https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet/the-planetary-health-diet/;
• Danish food guidelines https://en.foedevarestyrelsen.dk/food/nutrition-and-health/the-official-dietary-guidelines.

Vitamin B12: https://veganslate.com/how-did-humans-get-b12-before-meat/.

8. We are living in unprecedented times and eating animal products today is not "natural".

• Factory farms have only been around for 100 years: https://scienceinsights.org/when-did-factory-farming-start-the-key-turning-points/;
• 'Why “Back to Nature” Isn’t the Answer for Healthy and Sustainable Diets' by Ginny Messina substack: https://theresistancekitchen.substack.com/p/why-back-to-nature-isnt-the-answer.

9. Everyone's individual choices make a difference.

• 'Being Vegan Makes a Difference' by Wonder & Aporia substack https://wonderandaporia.substack.com/p/being-vegan-makes-a-difference.
• 'Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change' by Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva and Daniel Kelly: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049788/somebody-should-do-something/ and previous Freedom of Species episode 'Somebody Should Do Something: How to help create social change for the animals and environment' Sept 13th 2026.

10. Why not?

Even if you can't eat 100% vegan straight away, consider whether you can:

• Acknowledge that animals matter and globally we need to eat much fewer animals,
• Change your mindset to identify as an animal advocate, and
• Commit to one manageable change that brings you closer to being vegan.

Email us at FoSradio@proton.me with feedback, questions or topic requests.

Music:

• Animal liberation - Los Fastidios https://www.losfastidios.net/;
• Go Vegan - C5;
• Dominion - Vegan Queen V;
• Animal Kingdom - Prince.