Chomp

Be the human an animal needs when everyone else fails them.

Wearing someone’s skin. Keeping someone as decor. Killing someone for fun. Drinking another species’ breast milk.

We’ve normalized some objectively weird behavior.

But “normal” and “ethical” aren't the same.

James Cromwell has spent decades connecting compassion with what we put on our plates.

His commitment to animals goes far beyond playing a role or making an occasional statement. After filming Babe, Cromwell became increasingly outspoken about animal rights and eventually went vegan.

For him, the question is not simply what tastes good or what we’ve always eaten.

It’s whether our compassion extends to the animals whose bodies and lives are involved in producing our food.

That’s what makes his message resonate.

Veganism asks us to look beyond the product on the plate and consider the individual behind it.

And once compassion enters that conversation, our choices can start to look very different.

The vegan salad-maxing game is strong! 🥗💪

Does 'Pro-Life' include animals?

Going vegan can feel like giving something up only if you keep starting from the human point of view.

But meat was never ours by right. Milk was never ours by right. Eggs were never ours by right.

Once you stop looking at animals as resources, the story changes.

Whales are among the largest and most socially complex animals on Earth.

They form strong social bonds, care for their young, communicate across vast distances, and some species can live for many decades.

And yet, whales are still hunted and killed commercially today.

Modern commercial whaling typically involves pursuing whales by vessel and firing explosive harpoons designed to pe*****te the body and detonate inside the animal.

The goal is to kill quickly.

But that does not always happen.

Whales are enormous, powerful animals, and a harpoon strike does not necessarily cause immediate death. Some may remain conscious after being struck and require additional killing methods before they die.

That matters because discussions about whaling often focus on quotas, population estimates and whether a hunt is considered “sustainable.”

But sustainability and suffering are not the same question.

The International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling that took effect in the 1985–86 season, and that moratorium remains in place.

Yet commercial whaling still continues in some countries.

Norway continues under an objection to the moratorium. Iceland maintains a reservation to it. Japan left the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling outside the organization.

For the whales themselves, those legal distinctions make little difference.

They are still pursued, harpooned, and killed for products humans do not need to survive.

For us, the ethical question is pretty simple:

If we know these animals can suffer, why should killing them for commercial purposes still be acceptable?

Would you support a global ban on whaling to end whale suffering?

Sources: International Whaling Commission; animal-welfare research on whaling methods

Calcium is a mineral. It doesn’t belong to cows.

For decades, dairy has been marketed so successfully as the default source of calcium that many people still treat “milk” and “strong bones” as almost interchangeable ideas.

But plants contain calcium too — and some can provide a meaningful amount in an everyday diet.

Calcium-set tofu, fortified soy milk, white beans, kale, collard greens, bok choy, tahini, chia seeds and almonds can all contribute calcium without requiring a cow to be impregnated, give birth, produce milk and eventually be sent to slaughter.

A little nuance matters: calcium levels vary by food, serving size and product. Tofu varies widely depending on how it’s made, and plant milks are strongest sources when they’re fortified.

But the larger point is simple.

You do not need dairy to get calcium.

You need calcium.

And plants can provide it.

The idea that children need meat and dairy to grow properly has been repeated for generations.

A major new analysis of 59 studies involving 48,626 children and adolescents puts that assumption under a much bigger microscope.

Researchers compared vegan, vegetarian and omnivorous diets and found that most average nutrient intakes and blood markers remained within healthy pediatric reference ranges.

Vegan and vegetarian children also consumed more of several nutrients commonly associated with plant foods, including fiber, folate, vitamin C, magnesium and iron. Both groups had lower total and LDL cholesterol than children eating omnivorous diets.

There were nutrients that required more attention.

Vegan children had lower average calcium intake and were more likely to show vitamin B12 deficiency, while researchers also flagged iron status. That’s why properly planned vegan diets include fortified foods and appropriate supplementation, especially B12.

But needing to pay attention to certain nutrients is not the same thing as a diet being inherently inadequate.

And that’s the bigger takeaway.

Across 59 studies and nearly 49,000 children, the evidence shows that children can grow and obtain adequate nutrition without making meat the center of their diets.

The question is increasingly becoming less “Can children eat this way?”

And more “Are we planning their diets well?”

Source: Lotti et al., Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2025.

One of these requires an entire reproductive system.
The other requires oats and water.
The complicated part was never the milk.
It was making an animal produce it for us.