Despite overwhelming proof of the ethically, ecologically, and politically problematic nature of industrial animal agriculture – and despite the ongoing efforts of animal rights activists, environmental NGOs, scholars, and scientists to critique this industry – the global public’s appetite for meat continues to grow.
In the United States alone, 10 billion animals will be killed for food this year and the average American will eat approximately 220 pounds of meat. In this context, the most promising weapon against factory farming has emerged from the private sector. Plant-based meat and milk alternatives have made massive strides in the market, and not-yet-released cellular agriculture products promise to replace conventional meat with a biologically identical analogue. This talk, taking a cynical-pragmatist view of social change, suggests that capitalism offers unique opportunities for ethically and ecologically desirable disruptive action: a “progressive Schumpeterianism” whereby large-scale change in public behaviour can be achieved through the development of alternative forms of production.