Gene Baur > Quotes

“The sixteen hundred dairies in California’s Central Valley alone produce more waste than a city of twenty-one million people-that’s more than the populations of London, New York, and Chicago combined.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“As I learned about the consequences of my food choices and as I recognized that I didn't have to eat animals, and that eating animals caused the animals to suffer, it caused an enormous footprint on our planet, and it wasn't healthy, it made since to go vegan. And, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I think most people who've decided to go vegan share a similar experience. It's very empowering. And, when I went vegan I actually started eating a wide variety of foods I had never tried before. Different ethnic foods. You also start combining things in different ways, you start becoming more creative in the kitchen. But I went vegan just because it seemed to make sense, and it was aligned with my own values, because I didn't want to support this system that was so abusive to animals, and wasting and squandering so many scarce resources on our planet. And it was also healthier, so it was in my interest to eat food that was plant-based instead of animal-based. Living a vegan lifestyle makes a lot of sense.”
― Gene Baur

“A noted writer in The Washington Post recently described the cause of compassion for farm animals as “the moral calling of our time.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“We’ve created mass production at low prices, a system that operates under duress. There are stressed-out pigs who can’t mate, who bite one another’s tails because they’re so confined, or who are so heavy their legs can no longer support their bodies; turkeys who can’t reproduce naturally; chickens who have to be debeaked because they peck at each other in densely packed cages; roosters bred for growth who’ve become so aggressive that they injure or kill their mates; and cows who eat other cows as part of their feed and go mad. All of this is presided over by stressed-out farmers, many of whom have come to accept the industry’s bigger-is-better mantra, though it’s clearly unsustainable for them and the earth. In the process they have become almost as trapped as the animals they “farm.” Farmers, industry, and consumers have created a treadmill that runs ever more rapidly, fueled by all kinds of suffering animals—including us. It’s a system that only takes and doesn’t give back; it extracts and doesn’t replenish, until the creatures and the earth that sustain its existence have nothing more to give.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“Becoming a vegan is not about self-denial; it’s more a matter of self-awareness. It is about trying new foods and broadening your palate, expressing the joy of being alive, and knowing that you’re making a daily effort to live less violently and more sustainably.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“Our food is among the most intimate connections we make with the earth.”
― Gene Baur, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day

“If we can live well without causing unnecessary harm, why wouldn’t we?”
― Gene Baur, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day

“If you can live well and be happy without causing unnecessary harm, why wouldn't you?”
― Gene Baur, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day

“We pack on the pounds in affluent cultures in a manner that rather perversely parallels the animals we eat, who have been bred to grow big, fast - until both eater and eaten can no longer function normally and begin to suffer health problems.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“ASK THE EXPERIMENTERS WHY THEY EXPERIMENT ON ANIMALS, AND THE ANSWER IS: ‘BECAUSE THE ANIMALS ARE LIKE US.’ ASK THE EXPERIMENTERS WHY IT IS MORALLY OKAY TO EXPERIMENT ON ANIMALS, AND THE ANSWER IS: ‘BECAUSE THE ANIMALS ARE NOT LIKE US.’ ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION RESTS ON A LOGICAL CONTRADICTION.” —CHARLES R. MAGEL, PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR”
― Gene Baur, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day

“Imagine being in a business where your worst fear was that people might actually see what you're doing.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“No one really knowswhy, but antibiotics make farmed animals grow faster. This has resulted in agribusiness using a phenomenal 25,000,000 pounds here - that's eight times the amount used to treat human illnesses. We are increasingly making ourselves vulnerable to bacterial infections and are developing immunity to normal lines of antibiotic treatment.”
― Gene Baur

“Even in the production of wool, cruelty is a feature. To reduce problems with flies that infest the folds in the skin of Merino sheep (the most highly prized wool breed), producers practice “mulesing.” Strips of flesh are literally cut off the backs of the animals’ legs and hind region to create smooth skin without anesthesia or pain relievers. Sheep also commonly have their tails cut off to control fly problems.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“There’s one thing that Rudy, Truffles, and Terrin have in common with nearly all the other pigs: they can’t stand the sound of clanking metal. Even though they were very young, they must remember what it was like to be crowded behind metal slats on that transport truck. They hate the very sound of trucks. When the UPS truck drives up to the farm, they run and hide. It’s a reminder of how sensitive and intelligent pigs are and that, while they may forgive, they don’t forget.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“The size and shape of the birds have also made it impossible for commercial turkeys to mount and breed naturally. This means that workers at breeding facilities have to masturbate male turkeys, called toms, to collect their semen. Then, in rapid succession, the females are turned upside down and their legs secured by a clamp. The semen is put in straws and inserted into the hen. She’s then released from the clamp, making way for the next in line. Not a pleasant process for the bird, nor a job one can take much pride in.”
― Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food