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California Topiaries by Marc Alcock

In his captivating series, California Topiaries, British photographer Marc Alcock documents the relationship between houses, plants and trees in the Californian suburbs. In some cases foliage is considered an architectural statement, while in others it seems to devour the very building it surrounds.

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True love in Epping Forest

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When you think about becoming a vegan because you can’t stop thinking about the pain inflicted on slaughtered animals and then you start thinking about the exploration of immigrant farmers who are paid less than nothing for their hard work to produce fruit and quinoa and then you realize there’s no way to live without hurting someone and allowing the system to exploit people and how it would just be easier if you died and didn’t have to think about these things

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Immigrant workers are exploited and that is something we should all be actively engaged in fighting, there is no doubt about that. However, we cannot survive without consuming plants; most of us can thrive without consuming animal products. Besides, if you’re concerned about crop workers, veganism would still help reduce your impact enormously. We feed considerably more plants to farmed animals than we ever eat ourselves and livestock take in far more calories in crop feed than they will ever give out in meat, meaning your average omnivorous diet requires significantly more crops (and therefore more crop workers) than a vegan diet does.

This isn’t even taking into account slaughterhouse workers, who are some of the most exploited workers in the world. They are much more likely than average to have problems with alcohol abuse and with mental health issues like PTSD from working under extremely stressful conditions. These workers have astonishingly high rates of injury due to a high pressure, dangerous working environment. When workers do sustain injuries, The Human Rights Watch reports the industry avoiding administering their workers’ compensation programs by systematically failing to recognize and report claims, delaying claims, denying claims, and threatening and taking reprisals against workers who file claims for compensation for workplace injuries. These are most often poor immigrants with few other choices.

For all these reasons and so many more, I implore you, please don’t do what most people do when presented with these facts and simply resign yourself to apathy. Our choices do make a difference, and while we will cannot live a lifestyle that is completely free of any harm, we can reduce the harm we cause as much as we can, which is what veganism is all about. We can’t do everything, but that doesn’t mean we should do nothing. If you’re seriously considering veganism you can find my guide on how to get started here, or drop me a message and I’ll help in any way I can.