Abstract: Every year, humans kill 66 billion nonhuman land animals and more than a trillion aquatic individuals for the purpose of consumption. Countless other nonhuman animals are tortured in laboratories or exploited for human clothing, leisure, sports, or work. The immense suffering of animals contrasts with a general neglect of the issue in left and green movements, and theory. In this paper, it will be argued that the animals typically used in animal agriculture are sentient subjects with diverse interests that have to be considered in order to make justified individual and political decisions. Since merely improving the welfare of animals doesn’t make the basic practices of animal use ethically acceptable, the use of nonhuman animals should be abolished. It will then be shown how the degrowth movement can incorporate consideration for nonhuman animals in its theory and practice and how apparent conflicts can be overcome.
Keywords: ethics, animals, animal liberation, agriculture, veganism