The day I watched Earthlings, my life changed forever.

This documentary highlights America’s physical and economic dependency on the slaughter of millions of animals. The cruelty is presented in 5 chapters; pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research. It presents to viewers why it’s completely inhumane and unethical to continue to have such a dependency on other living beings if they’re not going to be treated as such.

Too often, we poke food down our throats without taking the time to think about the journey from its creation to our plates. We forget that for every chicken nugget (assuming it’s real meat) we eat, and steak we marinade, we are literally taking the life of another earthly being.

Human dependency on animals leads to abusive practices, there’s absolutely no getting around that. Life for animals belonging to factory farms is far from humane, here are some examples.

This, folks, is what your chicken tenders live like before they’re served to you.

And your steak.

And your precious bacon.

Abuse, neglect, objectification. This is not living.

As the granddaughter of a lifelong farmer, I will say this. If everyone raised their livestock with the respect and care that my grandfather does, I would not have a problem with indulging in some bacon for breakfast and steak for dinner, but sadly enough, that will never be a reality. And the only way to combat the reality that we face is to abstain. To stop giving factory farms the business and time of day. I can’t bring myself to eat something that was completely and totally mistreated throughout the entirety of its existence. I just can’t.

And what’s even better is that I get to have a clear conscience and a healthier body, potentially longer lifespan, and all of the hummus and guac that I want. Plus, without all that meat in my freezer, I have so much more room for ice cream. Score.

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” -Paul McCartney