Lauren Ornelas

Whether we’re talking about human or nonhuman animals, the abuses in our food system are similar—living beings are treated as commodities for profit.

Lauren T. Ornelas is an American animal rights advocate and the founder of the Food Empowerment Project.

Quotes

• All farm workers, including migrants, are some of the most exploited people in the U.S. They work from dawn to dusk, often with no breaks in the heat of the day. Workers go out into fields that are often still wet with pesticides. Unable to wash, they are forced to eat with the pesticides on their hands. Many employers fail to provide them with enough water—or any at all.
  • "Who Our Food Comes From", Satya (June/July 2005).

• The first time I ever saw footage of a mother pig, in a more natural environment, making a nest for her babies, it brought me to tears realizing the frustration they must feel in farrowing crates.
  • "Some Pig", All-Creatures.org (April 2013).

• When people look at fishing, sometimes they’re only looking at the fact of the animals who are actually consumed by humans, so we’re not necessarily looking at all the animals who are caught in the drift nets, all the other animals who are killed in the industry.
  • Interview in the documentary-film Cowspiracy by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn (2014).

• Food justice is incredibly important, because food touches all of our lives daily. We have to look at how [food] impacts everyone, from the waiters and waitresses and cooks at restaurants, to the produce workers who pick our food, to the animals who are suffering and dying so we can eat them. We have the responsibility to speak out against these injustices and make sure we hold those who are doing the exploiting accountable.
  • Interview in the book The Sustainability Secret by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn (2016).

• The word vegan should not just be used when referring to people who choose not to eat animal products because being vegan includes doing our best to abstain from participating in the other ways animals are exploited, including animal testing, wearing them, etc. Clearly there is a lot of buzz about the word vegan these days, which is great, but I think it is imperative that we keep the dialogue about this word focused on what it truly means. Veganism is simply about one's ethics and not contributing to the suffering of others.
  • "EVEN Interview with lauren Ornelas", All-Creatures.org (March 2016).

• Whether we’re talking about human or nonhuman animals, the abuses in our food system are similar—living beings are treated as commodities for profit.
  • "ACE Interviews: Lauren Ornelas" by Erika Alonso, AnimalCharityEvaluators.org (13 July 2017).