A Call for Plant-Based Eating

We, Archduke Arthur I of Duckionary, support and recommend a plant-based vegetarian diet. There are many good reasons to abstain from consuming foods that are produced through the killing of animals:

1. Health Aspects:

The consumption of meat and fish significantly increases the risk of developing cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, gout, rheumatism, osteoporosis, and other so-called “lifestyle diseases.” This has been proven multiple times, most notably and comprehensively by the China-Cornell-Oxford Project—better known as “The China Study”—which over the course of more than 20 years established a direct connection between degenerative diseases and diet.

2. Ethical Aspects:

Animals are sentient beings.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said:"Whoever tortures animals is without a soul and bereft of God's good spirit, no matter how dignified they may appear—such a person should never be trusted."

While this quote is usually applied to individuals who torture animals out of sadistic pleasure, eating meat and fish—though not involving direct cruelty by the consumer—still indirectly supports animal suffering. The desire for meat ensures that animals are tortured by others.Animals raised for consumption are, as a rule, subjected to cruelty—often starting with their rearing and housing, and certainly during transport and slaughter. Since meat consumption is not a human necessity but a matter of indulgence, it is an act driven by desire rather than need.

Let’s be honest: Even animals raised under the highest organic and ecological standards are ultimately subjected to suffering. There is no such thing as slaughter without cruelty. The least cruel method of execution ever devised by humans was the guillotine—yet no butcher guillotines animals. Instead, they are shot in the head with a metal bolt, which frequently fails to kill instantly. Numerous secretly recorded videos from slaughterhouses show cattle being dismembered while still alive, or having their throats slit.

All of this is cruelty. And anyone who simply decides not to contribute to such suffering will find they go through life with a clearer conscience. That feels good. It’s worth trying.

3. Environmental Aspects: Industrial livestock farming has devastating effects on the environment. Forests are being cleared to make way for pasture and the cultivation of animal feed. Yet forests are the green lungs of our planet. They cleanse the air of pollutants, absorb climate-damaging CO₂, and produce the oxygen we all need to breathe—to survive. By destroying forests, we are quite literally cutting off our own air supply.

Furthermore, the cultivation of feed—especially genetically modified soy intended for fattening livestock in regions like Latin America—involves the use of massive quantities of carcinogenic chemicals. Both humans and the environment suffer the consequences. Meat consumption plays a significant role in the destruction of our world—in many ways.

Written by the Duckonian Health Department on 14 May 2025