Published Letters and Op-Eds from
COK’s Writers Group

Aim for “ethical eating”

It is encouraging to witness the growing popularity of ethical eating.

One barometer of how compassionate dining choices are going mainstream is to simply type “vegan” into the search field on Amazon.com or Google.com and see how many products come up.

That’s understandable. A vegan lifestyle is good for our bodies, it’s good for the environment and helps reduce the suffering of billions of animals. By eating only plant-based foods, we deny support to an industry that forces factory farmed animals to exist in horribly overcrowded conditions and that continues to engage in such cruel practices as de-beaking, tail-docking, castration, toe removal and branding—all performed without painkiller.

Each of us has the power to improve the lives of animals every time we take a bite.

Mark Hawthorne
Rohnert Park, Calif.