Making all Americans vegan for 11+ months per year

Noting that per-capita animal consumption is at an all-time high, one of your fellow One Step supporters offers this:

For the duration of this piece, I’ll put aside the question of what’s the single optimal message to the general public for reducing farm animal suffering. 

Instead, I’ll focus on “What is the best message I can promote right now, given the current state of groups doing work in this area?” That is, assume existing groups continue to promote meat reduction, vegetarian transitions, and vegan advocacy. 

Now what? 

Studies like Dr. Harish Sethu’s Counting Animals blog post show the average meat-eating American kills the most land animals with their chicken consumption: 23.7 chickens vs 1.3 for all other land animals combined. Chickens are one of the smallest animals on factory farms. Being smaller means many more individuals suffer and die for the same number of meals. ​

In addition to quantity, broiler chickens on factory farms are subjected to immense cruelty. 

​So what if Americans stopped eating chicken, as urged by One Step’s compelling message? If they substituted plant-based chik'n, they’d take their average from 25 to 1.3 land animals per year. (If they stopped eating all birds, they would be responsible for the death of fewer than one animal every year.) And even if they substituted with pork, the average would still be fewer than 2 land animals per year.

Dropping the average American’s land animal consumption to 1.3 per year is the equivalent of making all Americans vegan for 11+ months per year.

This angle, largely unprioritized by other groups, is why I support One Step For Animals. ​

Another reason is that it is an incredibly efficient organization, run by 3 people with oodles of cred: Joe Espinsoa, the #1 volunteer leafletterof all time; Anne Green, one of the hardest workers I know; and Matt Ball, a father of our movement's focus on farm animals.
​

So other groups out there, please continue doing the great work you’re known for. And supporters, please continue to support them. But if you would like to contribute to an important opportunity for farm animals, largely unprioritized by other groups, please click here.
​