The Least We Can Do: How Eating Less Meat Can Break our Addiction to Factory Farming
(University of Chicago Press, forthcoming)
by Joshua May & Victor Kumar

Summary

Factory farming is bad for our health, the environment, and especially the animals cramped in cages, warehouses, and feedlots. We should all do our part to boycott harmful products. But is the average person morally obligated to become vegetarian or even vegan? Not necessarily. Many people have moral reasons to include some animal products in their diets—whether to maintain health in the face of allergies and illness or to preserve meaningful relationships. Abstaining from all animal products is admirable but not morally required of everyone in all circumstances. 

What we can’t escape is an obligation to reduce our consumption of animal products. It’s not only an effective way to maintain a more ethical diet without burnout, but also a proven path for influencing others to join in. Even small dietary changes can lead to further reductions as health improves, new foods become favorites, and moral convictions deepen. Reductions in demand for factory farmed products then provide durable support for laws and regulations that promote more humane farming along with innovations in plant-based alternatives and cultivated meat. As social norms evolve, the movement may grow well beyond the 5-10% of vegetarians and vegans found in most countries. Slowly but surely, we can break our addiction to a system committed to animal cruelty, polluted waterways, and epidemics of avian flu. Reducing isn’t just the least we can do; it’s the best chance we have of weaning humanity off factory farming.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part 1: Ethics
Ch. 1: Change Your Diet
Ch. 2: Reduce
Part 2: Psychology
Ch. 3: Free Your Conscience
Ch. 4: Reduce Together
Part 3: Politics
Ch. 5: Bridge Political Divides
Ch. 6: Change the System
Conclusion