Plant-Based Orientation - Umoja Greenlands

🌱 Why We Are Plant-Based

At Umoja Greenlands, our plant-based orientation is not just about diet. It is a deep ethical, ecological, and strategic stance. It’s about ending exploitation, regenerating ecosystems, and practicing radical compassion across species and generations.

In the face of the Metacrisis—from ecological collapse to systemic suffering—we believe that transitioning to a plant-based way of life is one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce harm and build a more just and regenerative world.

🚩 The Crisis of Animal Agriculture

Animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of:

Greenhouse gas emissions
Deforestation and biodiversity loss
Water pollution and overuse
Land degradation and ocean dead zones

According to scientists, we could feed more than twice the global population if we used land to grow food directly for people, instead of for animals.

“If the world went plant-based, we could reforest huge areas, sequester carbon, and feed everyone.” – Eating Our Way to Extinction

We recommend watching:

🎥 Eating Our Way to Extinction (narrated by Kate Winslet)
https://www.eating2extinction.com/

🌿 The Health Case for Plant-Based Living

Meat, dairy, and eggs are linked to:

Heart disease
Diabetes
Cancer
Obesity
Antibiotic resistance

In contrast, plant-based diets have been shown to prevent, manage, and even reverse many chronic illnesses, while also improving mental clarity, energy, and longevity.

We recommend:

🎥 What the Health (documentary)
https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – research and support for healthy plant-based eating

😔 The Suffering of Nonhuman Animals

Each year, over 80 billion land animals and trillions of sea creatures are killed for food, often in conditions that involve confinement, mutilation, and immense suffering.

Animals are not products. They are sentient beings—feeling pain, fear, joy, and love.

“We cannot be fully compassionate while turning a blind eye to this suffering.”

Watch and reflect:

🎥 Earthlings (narrated by Joaquin Phoenix)
https://www.nationearth.com/
🎥 Dominion – A powerful look at modern animal agriculture in Australia
https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch

🌍 The Future of Food Must Be Plant-Based — For a Safe and Just World 🌱

🌍 A Safe and Just Food System for All Life

The science is clear: how we produce food today is the leading cause of climate disruption, mass extinction, soil collapse, and systemic injustice. Animal agriculture alone drives more than half of food-related emissions and occupies 83% of farmland, while providing less than a fifth of global calories. At the same time, billions of animals suffer, and millions of humans go hungry.

A groundbreaking report by the Plant Based Treaty — Safe and Just: A Vegan Doughnut Economics Approach to the Food System — offers a holistic framework to transform this reality. Inspired by planetary boundaries and Doughnut Economics, the report calls for a just global shift to plant-based systems through three clear pathways:

✅ Relinquish harmful practices like deforestation, industrial animal farming, and live animal exports
✅ Redirect policies, public funding, and food culture toward healthful plant-based systems
✅ Restore ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate stability through rewilding and community-based regeneration

This systems-level approach reinforces our belief that a plant-based transition is essential not just for animals and health, but to keep humanity within safe ecological limits — while uplifting the most vulnerable and repairing our relationship with the Earth.

“A vegan food system offers the most powerful chance we have to reduce suffering, restore nature, and regenerate life.”
– Plant Based Treaty, Safe and Just Report

📘 Explore the full report here

💖 Compassion Beyond Species

We believe that compassion does not end with humans.

When we ignore the suffering of nonhuman animals, we normalize cruelty, desensitize ourselves, and create a culture where empathy is conditional. But when we extend care to the most innocent—the animals who cannot defend themselves—we cultivate a world where no one is left out of love.

“How we treat the most vulnerable reflects who we truly are. A kind world is possible—but only if we make it so.”

🌱 Partnership & Movement Alignment

We are proud to collaborate with aligned movements:

🌍 Climate Healers – Advocating for a vegan world by 2026 as a climate imperative
🌿 Plant Based Transition Coalition – Designing pathways for just and strategic transitions to plant-based systems globally

Together, we work for a world where compassion, justice, and regeneration go hand in hand.

🔎 Further Reading and Resources

Books:

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer (foundational ethical case)
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (personal, investigative)
How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger (health-focused)
The World Peace Diet by Dr. Will Tuttle (spiritual and philosophical)

Organizations:

Starter Guides:

🌾 A Living Invitation

You don’t have to be fully vegan to be part of Umoja Greenlands.

But we invite you to walk this path with us—to reflect, to learn, and to consider the impact of your choices on all beings.

A plant-based future is not only possible—it’s already growing.

Let’s nurture it together.