We believe that there are some things that anybody can do to help. Anybody can boycott animal products. A vegetarian or vegan diet is a clear personal commitment to the cause of reducing animal suffering. It means that you will not engage with or propagate the excesses of the meat industry. Without saying anything, it sends a strong message to others that you share the values of this movement. And so it adds momentum and credibility to the movement to end suffering. Such a diet also has health and environmental benefits. Many are impressed by breadth of the culinary choices available.
As a group, we believe that we can do more than make choices in the supermarket. A boycott is a political action, and as a political action it carries with it the desire for change. Campaigns fall into two broad camps:
- Advocacy targeted at specific injustices which can be corrected in an easily foreseeable future. For example, campaigns to end battery cages for hens, veal crates for calves and stall-and-tether cages for pregnant pigs have all met with some success.
- Work to increase general support for the values of the movement. For example, direct advocacy for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles.
Each of these approaches has its importance and its place: small improvements now are valuable, just as is progress towards a general change in attitudes.