Transcriber: Ana C. Ruffert Nitsche
Reviewer: Denise RQ Some weeks ago, I met
a formal friend of mine. We used to play when we were kids. We got in a conversation,
and we decided to meet. So last Sunday, I went to her house. She asked me if I remembered
the Labrador she used to have. I did. She told me she still loves animals,
which was great to hear. Nowadays, she has a dog and two cats,
which she loves a lot. When I was cuddling one of the cats,
she went into the kitchen, and when she came back, she had lunch. She grabbed the sandwich
with ham and cheese, and asked me if I have pets. No, I told her. She was confused. "But I remembered you as an animal lover!" "I am," I told her. I have respect for animals, and I don't want them
to be exploited in any way. Good afternoon. My name is Aline Ploeg. First of all, I want to thank
the TEDx organization for having me to do this TED Talk about something
that's really important to me. This is my first tattoo. It says, "A voice for those
who can't speak." That is me. I haven't eaten meat for 31 years now. Because I not only love animals
I also have respect for them. I'm going to tell you my reasons why, but not because I want to tell you
what to do, what to think, what to feel, or what to eat. This is me when I was 4 years old. As you can see,
I wasn't raised as a vegetarian. When we went on vacation,
my mother made lunch. When we arrived at our final destination. we had homemade potato salad,
white buns, boiled eggs, and sausages. I mostly liked the sausages. They were the best. This is me again,
when I was 10 years old. I was celebrating my birthday
in a petting zoo with friends of mine, and we loved our day with all the animals. I think as humans, we have
this natural connection with animals that won't go away. As children, we were taught
not to harm animals but that we have to love them. And when we walk through the woods, and catch a glimpse of a deer
or maybe a beautiful butterfly, we feel excited. And when an animal is abused,
we feel outraged. At home, I had my own rabbit.
Her name was Bloise. And she was the love
of my life at that time. Of course, I didn't eat rabbit
because that would be cruel; very cruel. Bloise was also my first heartbreak
when she died. At primary school,
I had to give a lecture. I decided to talk about animal welfare
because I liked animals a lot. I got a brochure,
and I saw a picture like this one. For the first time in my life, I saw the living conditions of pigs
in our Dutch factory farms. I was shocked, so this picture
changed my mind and my whole life. My parents never asked me
if I would like to eat these animals. It's just the way things are.
We eat these animals. In movies, children see these animals. These are farm animals too:
pigs. chickens, fish. All these animals
are superheros in our DVDs. So the shock was enormous,
when I saw the picture, and I didn't want to contribute
to this industry of meat anymore, I decided to become a vegetarian, because I thought
it wasn't fair to classify some animals as eatable
and some animals as pets; why love my rabbit and eat a pig? My parents hoped
this [faggy] phase would end. They were concerned about my health, so we went to the doctor,
but the doctor said that I’d probably be healthier
than people who eat meat, so that was OK. More and more, I was thinking about the consequences
of my food to the world. At the age of 16, I became
an animal rights activist, and nowadays, I protest against
all kind of animal abuse like the meat consumption,
animal testing, and also the fur industry. Some years later, I became a vegan because I didn't want to use or eat
animal products anymore. People were calling me a fundamentalist, and they thought
I was exaggerating my stories, that's why I decided to visit
a slaughterhouse, a pig factory, and a factory where minks
are bred for their fur. I was shocked by the conditions
these animals live in, and I will never forget the screaming
of the pigs at the slaughterhouse. These two pictures:
strawberries and a pig, I think when we see the strawberries,
we see something delicious, when I have these strawberries
over here and I slice them, it would smell sweet, delicious,
I think we would like to eat them. But, what about the pig? I think most of you will see cuteness,
and other ones will see bacon? A sandwich of sausage? I don't know. What if I had this animal
over here and I sliced it? What would we smell? I don't think it will be delicious,
it will be the smell of death, I think. What if I had this pig
and a butcher's knife? Are there willing people
to slaughter the pig? And are there people
who will come off for this animal? I think humans have
this compassion for animals so, they will help the animal. Another animal, a dog: in our culture dogs are pets,
we love them, but in other cultures pets,
and also cats, are eaten, they are food. We think that's disgusting to eat a dog. What about these two? So it is disgusting to eat this animal
but not this animal. Is wrong to eat this animal,
is not wrong to eat that animal. Why don't we kill this animal for food,
but do we kill that animal for food? We were told to love animals,
but we are also told to eat animals. It's culture, and I'm convinced
that our diet is a learned behavior. People often ask me why I'm a vegan,
why I became vegan. Well, my main reason
is the compassion for the animals. As I told you before,
these are the terrible conditions where animals
in our Dutch factory farms live in. Animals are not seen as living creatures
but are seen as things, as objects. In the Netherlands, every minute
1,000 animals are killed for our meat so that means, by the end of this speech
nearly ten minutes, 10,000 animals are killed
for human consumption. How is it possible
that we don't find this disturbing? Because is the story we were told; we are told that is healthy to eat meat,
that is good for our bones to drink milk, we are told that is natural to eat meat,
drink milk, eat fish, use eggs. The milk industry -- cows that produce milk are often
also in intensive farming, as you can see on the pictures. The cows are artificially inseminated because they have to be pregnant
over and over again to give milk, because otherwise,
a cow doesn't give milk. After birth, the calf is immediately
taken away from her mother, and the calf goes to the meat industry. When a cow doesn't give
enough milk anymore is killed. By the way, humans are the only animals
that drink the milk from another animal, and besides that, humans are
the only adults that still drink milk, I don't think that's very natural. The egg industry -- chickens are held
in terrible conditions too, mostly. To produce eggs, we need female chickens; when the chickens are born,
we also have the male chickens, and they are worthless
for the egg industry. So they are killed immediately
after they were born. This concerns 30 million male chickens
every year in our country, so that's a lot. I don't really think
we want to do this with animals, but we like the taste of them, so, I don’t know. Nowadays, I have more reasons
to eat plant-based and not to use any meat,
fish, eggs, or milk anymore. World hunger is one of these reasons. More than 70% of all our acres, we use to grow grains to feed the animals. For every pound of grain and soy beans
that are fed to farm animals, only a fraction is returned
in the form of edible flesh, so that means that we are
very inefficient with these foods. These foods can be used more efficiently
when we feed them directly to humans. I think is very unfair
to make food this way while people are starving; everyday, 15, 000 children
starve of hunger, while we need the food
to feed our animals. Studies indicate that by eating meat
there is enough food and space to feed the world for now
and in the future. The environment is a big reason to. What we eat, especially animal products,
has a big impact on the environment. Intensive farming,
causes the biggest emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2, so even more than all our transport. Besides that, the industry uses
a lot of water and energy. We were told to live more energy-efficient and research shows
that by eating plant-based, that's the only
and most effective strategy for reducing the global warming. We all know that drinking a lot of alcohol
or smoking have a bad influence on our well being, and the way we eat
it's also very important. Whereas a poor diet may have
injuries impact on our health, like heart disease, diabetes,
obesity, and strokes, eating a lot of vegetables
can improve our health, it provides us
with all the nutrients we need. These are some examples of meals I make; since I'm a vegan, they are made
with a lot of vegetables, tofu, whole grain pasta, rice, vegetables; there's a lot of foods that can be eaten
if you eat plant-based. I think there are many reasons
to eat plant-based. It's the way you're thinking and acting
that can be learned, if you are interested in eating healthier and contributing to a better world. You can make the change. Any questions; you can email me
at this email address. Thank you very much for your attention. (Applause)
