Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Antarctic Wildlife, Welsh Biodiversity and Yellowstone Bears

A little help, please: Adélie penguin feeding a chick. Adélie penguins have survived in Antarctica for almost 45,000 years, by human factors like commercial fishing and climate change could decimate them in just a century. The creation of a network of marine protected areas and reserves would go a long way to protecting their habitat. (Photo credit: Jerzy Strzelecki/Wikipedia)

 

 

Pew Charitable Trusts: In October 2016, the 25 member governments that make up the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) agreed by consensus to designate the world’s largest marine protected area in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Commercial fishing is banned throughout an area that covers more than 2 million square kilometers, including the Ross Ice Shelf. The commission now has the opportunity to establish a network of marine protected areas and reserves throughout the Southern Ocean by 2020, which would protect critical penguin habitat.
>>>Urge the CCAMLR to designate MPAs in the Weddell Sea and in the waters off East Antarctica.

Care2: Wetlands are vital ecosystems on which many species depend for their survival. That’s why it’s so tragic that the Welsh government is on the brink of approving a project that just might destroy one of their most important wetland areas—the Gwent Levels. £1 billion has been invested in a 14-mile stretch of motorway that will cut across this precious area near Cardiff. If the project is approved, four sites of scientific interest will be affected during its construction and long after the motorway is built. Otters, water voles and countless species of insect and birds, including rare cranes, use the wetlands as a safe haven to breed, raise their young rest during migration.
>>>Urge the Welsh Assembly protect this rare biodiversity hotspot and to deny the motorway proposal.

Change: Bili the bonobo was born in England in 2008. His mother did not accept him, so he came to Frankfurt at the age of 3 months. Contrary to the claims of the Wuppertal Zoo, he was very well integrated into his group there before he was shipped to Wuppertal as a new breeding male. In the following weeks, they tried to integrate him into the group, but failed. The bonobo group began to attack Bili violently, resulting in him losing an ear, and left him severely traumatized in the bonobo concrete bunker. Now the zoo is planning to euthanize Bili.
>>>Urge the Wuppertal Zoo to immediately transfer Bili to the Ape Monkey Rescue Sanctuary in Wales.

PETA: While Yellowstone National Park is home to large populations of wild bears, Yellowstone Bear World breeds bears, holds them captive and forces the cubs to take part in cruel public encounters. Wild bear cubs naturally play, explore, and socialize with one another and their mothers for several years. But at Yellowstone Bear World, they’re taken away from their mothers prematurely, forced into close proximity with humans—who they would naturally shun—and are exploited for bottle-feeding encounters with the public as well as carted to crowded events to be used as props for tourists’ photos.
>>>Urge Yellowstone Bear World to stop using bear cubs as tourist photo props.

This is not good…

Mother’s milk: The natural lifespan of a cow is 20 years. But mother cows trapped in the dairy industry are confined in inhumane conditions, forcibly inseminated so that they are regularly pregnant and lactating, and forced to experience the emotional anguish of having their calves taken away from them. Around a third of the 9.3 million dairy cows in the U.S. are slaughtered each year for their meat, along with 500,000 of their male calves, making the dairy industry directly connected to the meat industry—something that many people, including ethical vegetarians who consume dairy, don’t realize. (Photo credit: Oregon Department of Agriculture/Flickr)

Round of applause…

The company she keeps: Ariana Grande performing in 2014. “I love animals more than I love most people, not kidding,” the singer said in an interview with The Mirror, explaining why she switched to a vegan diet in 2013. “I was raised on meat and cheese, so I’ve had enough for anyone’s normal lifespan.” (photo credit: Lindsay Neilson/Flickr)

Parting thought…

“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it.” —Albert Schweitzer

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Wilderness, Dogs, Coyotes and Ancient Trees

Contested beauty: Indian Creek and the Sixshooter Peaks at Bear Ears National Monument. Located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, the monument was established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation in December 2016. Less than a year later, President Donald Trump reduced its size by 85 percent (about 1.3 million acres) in order to make land available for development by the fossil fuel and uranium mining industries. (Photo credit: U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

 

 

Pew Charitable Trusts: The U.S. is losing 6,000 acres of open space every day. In December, key members of the House and Senate reached a bipartisan agreement on a public lands package that would conserve more than a million acres of wilderness while safeguarding other public lands and waters across the country—but time ran out in 2018 before a vote could take place. This year offers a new chance to finally protect these treasured public lands.
>>>Ask your members of Congress to urge their leadership to pass this public lands package to conserve more wild land for future generations.

White Coat Waste: She didn’t have a name. She was only known as “Beagle #2474,” trapped and tortured in a Veterans Affairs lab. Government “researchers” strapped infected sand flies to her bare skin for 22 months, leaving her to suffer countless bites and extremely painful ulcers. Then the government killed her and dumped her in a garbage bag, like trash. Horrifically cruel and useless government experiments like this cause so much pain and suffering to countless animals and cost American taxpayers $11.8 million every year.
>>>Urge Congress to defund the Veterans Affairs dog labs.

PETA: Paragon Sports is an outdoor retailer that claims that it’s committed to offering its customers the “most innovative and technologically advanced products.” Yet the company continues to sell fur, an archaic and wholly unnecessary product that’s stripped from animals, many of whom are forced to spend their entire lives confined to filthy, cramped cages before being beaten, electrocuted, gassed or skinned alive. Paragon Sports also sells products from animal-abusing retailer Canada Goose, despite knowing that coyotes are trapped and killed for its fur-trimmed jackets, often in steel traps that slam shut on their limbs and can cut to the bone. Victims (especially mothers with starving pups), desperate to free themselves from traps, will often attempt to chew off their own limbs to escape.
>>>Urge Paragon Sports to join the hundreds of designers and retailers that have kept up with current trends and refuse to sell items that use fur from animals.

Care2: Thousands of birds fly over Malta during the migratory season. And thousands are killed, both legally and illegally. Illegal killings amount to more than 200,000 birds per year—and these are only the documented ones. Legally, birds that are protected worldwide (including storks) can be shot and caught in nets in Malta by taking advantage of loopholes that allow hunters to collect birds for “traditional” and “cultural” practices. Hunters have been using these loopholes to kill the black stork, an extremely rare bird.
>>>Urge the Maltese government to close these loopholes and abide by current European Union laws to protect migratory birds.

Change.org: Britain has the largest collection of ancient yew trees on Earth, some over 5,000 years old. But they are gradually being lost as they have no legal protection. There are approximately 157 ancient yew trees—aged over 2,000 years—across the United Kingdom. The vast majority are in churchyards, which puts the trees at great risk as the church declines and church lands are sold off.
>>>Urge U.K. Minister of the Environment Michael Gove to support legal protections for Britain’s yew trees.

This is not good…

Massive meltdown: Imja Lake where it meets Imja Glacier in Nepal. The lake was created after meltwater began collecting at the foot of the glacier in the 1950s. Now a new report predicts the impact of climate change on Nepal’s mountains may be much worse than previously thought. (Photo credit: Daniel Alton Byers/Wikimedia Commons)

Round of applause…

No grudges: “Pigs are compassionate animals who show distress when they see another animal or human suffering,” writes author Rhea Parsons, creator of The “V” Word, a website that focuses on vegan versions of favorite, familiar foods. “They are also forgiving, as anyone who has ever visited a farm sanctuary knows. After being severely abused, rescued pigs learn to trust again and seem to not hold grudges. Even though they may have known horrible pain and loss at the hands of humans, they welcome the gentle touches of people who intend them no harm.” (Photo credit: mali maeder/Pexels)

Parting thought…

“The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.” —Arthur Schopenhauer

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Child Workers, Bumblebees, Kangaroos and Orcas

Bitter fruit: A child worker opens a cacao seed pod. Surrounded by sweet white pulp are the bitter cocoa beans used to make chocolate. There are an estimated 2 million children working in the cocoa sector in West Africa, according to a 2014 report from Tulane University. (Photo: U.S. Department of Labor)

 

 

Rainforest Rescue: Chocolate has a dark side: Millions of children are forced to work on plantations, with little hope of pulling themselves out of poverty. In many places, the expanding plantations are eating their way into protected rainforest areas. As Germany is the largest cocoa market in the European Union, regulation with teeth can only be realized if the German government is on board. The German cabinet, however, disagrees over how to deal with the issues of deforestation and child labor. While the Development Ministry is in favor of a proactive approach, the Agriculture Ministry is digging its heels in.
>>>Urge German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner to promote cocoa sector regulations that help prevent child labor, human rights violations and deforestation.

Humane Society of the United States: The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act will make it a federal crime to commit malicious cruelty to an animal on federal property or in interstate commerce. Federal law already prohibits animal fighting, as well as the creation and trade in obscene video depictions of animals being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or subjected to other forms of egregious cruelty—but the underlying cruelty itself is not banned. The PACT Act will create a federal anti-cruelty statute that complements the cruelty laws in the 50 states.
>>>Urge your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 724, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.

NRDC: The rusty patched bumblebee’s population has plummeted in recent decades due to habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change and other threats—leading to its official endangered species listing in 2017. But more than a year later, the U.S. Department of the Interior has failed to set aside protected habitat for the bee—violating the Endangered Species Act.
>>>Tell the Interior Department to follow through on bee protections.

Total Liberation International: Despite being Australia’s national symbol, millions of kangaroos are slaughtered—the largest land-based killing of wild animals in the world. In 2018 alone, nearly 7 million kangaroos will be killed. Many of these kangaroos end up as pet food sold on Chewy.com, a leading online retailer of pet food and supplies. This is an Australian government-sanctioned bloodbath and Chewy is complicit. It is a mass-scale profit-driven slaughter of kangaroos for their meat, leather and pelts. Adult kangaroos are shot. Hundreds of thousands of joeys (baby kangaroos) are clubbed, shot or decapitated after their mothers are killed. And, larger young but non-pouched orphaned kangaroos are left to die. Like the African elephant, kangaroos could be eliminated completely due to slaughter on a massive scale.
>>>Urge Chewy to stop supporting the slaughter and stop selling kangaroo meat.

Southern Resident Killer Whale Chinook Salmon Initiative: The 75 remaining wild critically endangered salmon-eating southern resident orcas off the coast of Washington state are dying from starvation, leaving an effective breeding population of less than 30—near the point of no recovery. More than 50 percent of their diet comes from salmon in the Columbia Basin, half of which are from the Snake River System. The orcas can be saved if they can access this salmon, which can be done only if the state government breaches the Lower Snake River Dams.
>>>Urge Senator Patty Murray and Governor Jay Inslee to direct the Army Corps’ General Helmlinger and Bonneville Power Administration’s Elliot Mainzer to begin breaching dams in 2019.

 

This is not good…

 

Round of applause…

Call of the wild: On January 28, a California state court judge upheld protection for gray wolves under the state’s Endangered Species Act. The ruling rejected a challenge from the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the California Cattlemen’s Association and California Farm Bureau Federation, two trade associations supporting beef producers. “Wolves are not yet close to recovered in California, said Joseph Vaile, executive director of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. At a time when the Trump administration is hostile to endangered species conservation, it is critically important that the state of California help recover wildlife like the iconic gray wolf.” (Photo credit: Retron/Wikimedia Commons)

Parting thought…

“The butterfly flitting from flower to flower ever remains mine. I lose the one that is netted by me.” —Rabindranath Tagore

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Monkeys, Dogs and Dolphins—and Against a Fracked Gas Pipeline

Fracking fracas: Williams Transco has proposed a new 23.4-mile, 26-inch diameter pipeline in New York to expand its existing Williams fracked gas transmission system. The pipeline will originate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, travel across New Jersey and ending in the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City. Opponents cite threats to air quality, water quality, marine animals and natural ecosystems—and “dire impacts from the further burning of fossil fuels.” More than 11,000 Americans have signed a petition to block the project. (Image: Action Network)

 

 

350.org: Earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State address, where he committed to a Green New Deal for New York, including a $1.5 billion investment in wind power, directives for state agencies to study fossil fuel divestment, and a new goal of 100 percent clean power by 2040. But he didn’t say anything about stopping fracked gas infrastructure projects—and there’s no such thing as a “Green New Deal” that includes pipelines. Unless Cuomo takes action, the Williams fracked gas pipeline could be built right in New York Harbor.
>>>Urge Governor Cuomo to block the permits for the Williams pipeline.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation: In a laboratory at John Hopkins University, a group of monkeys spend their lives as research subjects for brain experiments. Two of these monkeys—Aragorn and Isildur—were recently used in experiments to investigate which region of the brain is involved in human gambling. Aragorn has been confined and used in these types of experiments for nearly 10 years. This madness has consumed $2.5 million in federal dollars since 2015, supposedly informing scientists about the human brain’s involvement in human gambling behavior. These twisted and unnatural experiments are not simply callous, they are also totally unnecessary. Using methods that enable non-invasive brain monitoring, neuroscientists can directly study blood flow and electrical activity in the human brain as willing participants carry out tasks with computers or simulated casino games, including people with actual gambling disorders.
>>>Urge the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University to put an end to these cruel experiments and immediately release the monkeys to a sanctuary.

Born Free: Dolphins are self-aware and wide-roaming, and they have complex social and emotional lives. How would anyone still consider it acceptable to confine them in tanks for entertainment? Sadly, the Tropicarium aquarium in Budapest, Hungary, is proposing to do just that—despite a ban on the imports of dolphins into the country. To date, the aquarium has not applied for an exception to allow the import of dolphins, but plans have been published in the media.
>>>Urge the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture to uphold Hungary’s ban on dolphin imports.

Care2: As Spain’s hunting season comes to an end, so do the lives of the dogs who were used to help hunters track and kill game. The worst part? This Spanish tradition of executing these dogs is performed by the animals’ owners. During the annual hunting season in parts of rural Spain, each hunter purchases around 10 to 70 Spanish greyhounds, called galgos. Dogs who don’t perform during the season are abandoned and left to starve to death, thrown down wells, shot or, more traditionally, hung. An estimated 100,000 galgos are killed each year by their owners. The root of this rampant killing is the fact that hare coursing—the cruel sport of using galgos to hunt down live rabbits—is still legal in Spain.
>>>Urge the Spanish government to end the ritual killing of hunting dogs by banning the cruel “sport” of hare coursing.

V.I. Dolphin Voices: Dolphins will be held captive for financial gain and entertainment at a new dolphin enclosure built by Coral World Ocean Park located within Water Bay, St. Thomas, a body of water that has been deemed as unsafe for swimming and fishing by the Virgin Islands government. It is cruel and unhealthy for dolphins to be confined and permanently housed—especially in a body of water that is so frequently polluted by pathogens.
>>>Urge Carnival Cruise Lines to not market and/or sell cruise ship excursions to the future dolphin enclosure at Coral World Ocean Park in St. Thomas.

Parting thought…

“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” —Mark Twain

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Whales, Dolphins, Giraffes and Public Lands

Free no more: Beluga whales at the Georgia Aquarium. Activists are calling for the release of over 100 whales—orcas and belugas—who are being held captive in tiny enclosures in the Russian port city of Nakhodka. (Photo credit: Diliff/Wikipedia)

 

 

Change.org: More than 100 whales—orcas and belugas—are being held in tiny enclosures on Russia’s Pacific Coast in the city of Nakhodka. This is the largest number of marine animals ever to be held captive in such small temporary spaces. Some of them have been there since July 2018. Marine mammal experts claim that the animals will be sold to Chinese aquariums and are concerned that they will die if they are kept in these stressful conditions much longer.
>>>Urge the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kobylkin to immediately transfer these whales to a responsible party to be rehabilitated and released back to their natural habitat.

 

Pew Charitable Trusts: America’s public lands help define us as a nation. They are precious and prized—as sources of clean air and water; as wildlife habitat; as quiet havens of solitude. The public lands package being considered in Congress would preserve cool mountain streams, desert canyons and rivers, granite peaks, and other special places to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
>>>Urge your senators and representative to ask their leadership to protect wilderness and uphold bedrock environmental protections.

 

Care2: “Bama Bayou” is a proposed $300 million dollar project that will transform the small town of Orange Beach, Alabama into the next big summer destination. If approved, it will include tanks, pools and holding facilities where captive dolphins will live their entire lives and be forced to perform. Dolphins who live in the wild can live up to 50 years, but in captivity, a 25-year lifespan is considered long. These intelligent, emotional animals deserve to be in the wild.
>>>Tell the Orange Beach City Council that the bayou would be better without dolphin cruelty.

 

African Wildlife Foundation: About 40 percent of Africa’s giraffe population has been decimated in the last 30 years. Poachers are targeting the species for its body parts and skin—and a recent AWF study found that giraffe meat is being passed off as beef or goat in butcher shops. This heartbreaking development worsens the effects of habitat loss and human encroachment, which have been wreaking havoc on giraffe populations for decades.
>>>Tell the Kenya Wildlife Service that you support a recovery and action plan to save the giraffe.

 

Paws 4 a Cause NZ: In the quiet of New Zealand forests, hidden from public view, tens of thousands of animals are dying. Screaming. Squealing. Writhing. Convulsing. Fluttering. Suffering. These animals have been poisoned by helicopter drops of lethal 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) poison baits. These poison baits are dropped by New Zealand government to target rats, stoats and possums. But the poisons are indiscriminate, and can cruelly kill any animals who ingest baits or a poisoned carcass.
>>>Urge New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to ban 1080 poison.

 

Parting thought…

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Trump’s Border Wall Would Be an Environmental Nightmare

National shame: “Three weeks into the partial shutdown, trash is overflowing and human waste is blighting park roads and visitor areas,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kurt Repansket on the state of U.S. National Parks. “Illegal campers and off-roaders have trashed delicate ecosystems. Vandals axed some of Joshua Tree National Park’s namesake spiky evergreens.” (Photo credit: daveynin/Flickr)

 

 

League of Conservation Voters: President Trump shut down the government to demand funding for a monstrous border wall that would unfairly target and disrupt border communities, endanger immigrant families, waste taxpayer money and cause environmental damage.
>>>Tell your senators to end this shutdown without funding Trump’s racist and environmentally damaging border wall.

Sea Hugger: 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide each year. Cigarette butts are 98 percent plastic, take up to 10 years to degrade and are the most common form of human-made litter in the world. They are also the worst ocean contaminate.
>>>Urge Phillip Morris International, the world’s largest tobacco company, to create a biodegradable cigarette filter.

Organic Consumers Association: Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, is the most-used agricultural chemical ever. Mounting scientific evidence of its human health impacts indicates that it may also be the most devastating. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified the chemical as a probable human carcinogen.
>>>Tell the EPA to ban glyphosate.

Cathy Liss, Animal Welfare Institute: A recent review of USDA enforcement records has revealed more than 50 incidents in which birds were knowingly neglected or abandoned during transport or at the slaughterhouse. In all of the instances, large numbers of birds suffered; often, hundreds or thousands of them died. In one case, more than 34,000 birds froze to death in unprotected trucks en route to slaughter.
>>>Tell the Secretary of Agriculture to take action to prevent incidents of avoidable suffering to birds destined for slaughter.

Care2: In a quietly-dropped executive order, President Trump just authorized a radical increase in logging on federally owned land in the West. He says it will decrease fire risks. But scientists disagree. This proposal will benefit members of the Trump administration who receive support from the timber industry.
>>>Tell President Trump to leave the trees alone.

Parting thought…

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.” —Leo Tolstoy

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

How Examining My Whiteness Brought Me to Animal Rights

Sisters-in-arms, and legs: Without an animal rights pedagogy, any anti-oppression movement that seeks “liberation for all” is fundamentally deficient.  (Photo credit: Kat Jayne/Pexels)

As a queer white woman doing social justice work, giving my money to the animal industrial complex was an expression of solidarity with my oppressor.

By Stuart McDonald, Independent Media Institute

 

3 min read

Growing up in rural Virginia, veganism was never on the menu. It was one of the many things I simply did not know about until later in my life—much like the idea that I could love women, or that I am complicit in systems that oppress people of color.

The bootstraps ideology I was raised to believe in—this idea that those with less than me simply didn’t work hard enough to earn it—instigated not only my racism but my speciesism. I believed we were entitled to animals because we had dominion over them by virtue of being “smarter,” more “developed,” and able to “contribute to society” in a way that non-human animals could not. It wasn’t exploitation; it was just the natural order of things.

Even when I struggled with eating meat and felt actively uncomfortable consuming the flesh of animals, my socialization made it easier to push my qualms aside than parse through my discomfort.

When I left for college and began to interrogate my place in the world as a white, able-bodied, cisgender, queer woman, my cognitive dissonance around speciesism was still very much intact. I viewed animal rights as a petty movement of yuppies determined to steal the narrative from people of color; to say “it isn’t about you; look how bad the animals have it.” Looking back, I think my determination to believe that was less about inclusivity in the animal rights movement and more about using my social justice ideals to justify not engaging with the topic.

So, to my great convenience, I was able to ignore the issue of animal exploitation. As I became more and more politicized I focused instead on racial and queer justice, examining and unlearning how my whiteness contributed to a racialized system of oppression. It wasn’t until my professor Dr. Paul Gorski introduced me to Dr. A. Breeze Harper’s anthology Sistah Vegan that I realized my determination to whitewash the vegan movement was actually ignoring and discounting the hard work of the many women of color who pioneered it.

As a graduate teaching assistant, I constantly pushed my students to consider the root causes of societal problems. Issues like poverty and food insecurity do not exist in a vacuum—they are the direct result of a system designed to preserve the power of the ruling class. These causes are rooted in those “-isms” and “-phobias,” and in some ways, specifically, anti-Blackness.

When confronted with the realities of the animal agriculture industry, with its wide range of exploitation of human and non-human animals, I realized that without an animal rights pedagogy, my anti-oppression lens was incomplete. And as a queer white woman doing social justice work, giving my money to the animal industrial complex was an expression of solidarity with my oppressor.

Beyond recognizing the systemic connection between human and animal liberation, veganism offered me a much-needed way to care for myself. When faced with the enormity of the world’s injustice, changing my eating habits was a simple way to make a quantifiable impact. Not only that, but eating a plant-based diet did wonders for my health, virtually eliminating medical issues I had struggled with since I was a child and helping me better manage my depression and anxiety (although I don’t want to claim that veganism can be a cure-all for everyone). My renewed energy makes me a better asset to all the movements and causes I fight for.

Even today, nearly three years into my veganism, I realize my consumption is not, and can never be, completely ethical. But as I attempt to navigate the world in the most compassionate and just way I can, veganism offers me a tangible way to refuse to be complicit and to move toward “liberation for all.”

###

Stuart McDonald is a creative writer for Compassion Over Killing, a national animal protection nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

This article is part of a content partnership between Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and Encompass. An earlier version was originally published by Encompass on September 4, 2018.

Ecuador Drilling Plans in Yasuní National Park Threaten Indigenous People

Paradise lost: Ecuador’s Yasuní national park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, was “once a beacon of hope for global conservation,” writes Jonathan Watts, global environment editor for The Guardian. But the lure of oil has marred that view—and a sensitive ecosystem. (Photo credit: Buster&Bubby/Flickr)

Amazon Watch: Ecuador’s president recently named Marcelo Mata Guerrero to lead the country’s environmental agency. A career oil executive, he is expected to grant an environmental license for new oil drilling deep inside Yasuní National Park—widely regarded as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. The project would allow multiple drilling platforms, 200+ wells, pipelines and access roads, and it would threaten the very existence of the Tagaeri-Taromenane indigenous people living there in voluntary isolation.
>>>Urge Minister Mata to protect Yasuní from oil drilling.

Katherine Sacks, FoodPrint: Are you resolving to live in a more eco-conscious way in the new year? Here’s a list of resolutions you can commit to in 2019 to lower your “foodprint.” You could start out small and pick just one. Or pick one for just a month. Or try one once a week. Or, if you are a champion (or a superhero), you could try all seven at once.
>>>7 New Year’s resolutions for a more sustainable 2019.

Caroline Cox, Center for Environmental Health: Glyphosate has been found in over 70 percent of oat-based breakfast cereals served in U.S. schools. Exposing children, with their developing bodies, to a chemical that can cause cancer and hormone dysfunction is wrong. It’s especially wrong for children simply eating breakfast at school, who often are from low-income families.
>>>Tell the CEO of General Mills to get rid of glyphosate in Cheerios and other cereal products by switching to organic oats.

Asha & Jia Kirkpatrick (aged 11 & 8), Leighton Buzzard, UK: Sisters Asha and Jia love orangutans. They are big fans of Orangutan Jungle School on BBC Channel 4. “We were really upset when they saw that the orangutans are being killed and orphaned as their jungle homes are destroyed by companies that want cheap palm oil,” they write in their petition. “We want it to stop now.”
>>>Join Asha and Jia in urging Kellogg’s to stop using these suppliers immediately and to tell the public exactly which palm oil companies they buy from.

Care2: Animals like elephants, rhinos and lions—despite their vulnerable or endangered status—are legally hunted in South Africa. Trophy hunters argue that their activities and the money they pay to take big African game actually creates an incentive for locals to protect these vulnerable species. But according to research by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, trophy hunting has negative impacts on wild populations, and legal hunting and poaching are closely linked.
>>>Urge the South African government to ban trophy hunting.

Alexa Frandina-Brown, PETA: After activists pointed out that more than 150 dogs have died during the Iditarod’s history and that off-season tours keep mushers’ kennels in business, Merit Travel Group—which operates CruiseExperts Travel and AlaskaShoreExperts.com—dropped dogsledding excursions. It’s time for Discover Holidays to join the competition by ending its sale of these activities.
>>>Urge Discover Holidays to remove all dogsledding excursions and replace them with activities that showcase Alaska’s beauty and culture without promoting cruelty.

Parting thought…

“There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.” —Marshall McLuhan

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for Kittens, Chickens, the Climate and an Eco-Friendly Christmas

Unconscionable: Even though 75 percent of Americans want to end taxpayer-funded experiments on cats, the USDA continues to conduct deadly and wasteful experiments on kittens.

 

 

White Coat Waste: U.S. taxpayers are funding a USDA laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, that breeds up to 100 kittens a year for wasteful experiments, feeding the two-month-old kittens parasite-infected raw meat, collecting their feces for three weeks, and then killing and incinerating them—even though they’re healthy and adoptable. The USDA is being sued for hiding details about the experiments from taxpayers and Congress.
>>>Urge your Representative to co-sponsor the KITTEN Act (HR 5780) to de-fund these horrific experiments (via phone or online webform).

Compassion in World Farming: The chicken on the McDonald’s menu comes from factory farms, where the birds are bred to grow so big, so fast, they can’t even support their own weight. Their unnaturally large chests can cause the birds to suffer from chronic pain, leg deformities, and heart attacks. Despite the fact that other big names like Subway, Burger King and Sonic have already committed to treat chickens better, McDonald’s is lagging behind.
>>>Urge McDonald’s to commit to better animal welfare standards for chickens in their supply chain.

Prairie Protection Colorado: In October, the Denver Board of Water Commissioners began killing prairie dogs on a small plot of land off Quebec Avenue that they own in Denver, Colorado, for what they claimed were “neighbor complaints.” This colony is not harming anyone and is located in one of the only prairie communities left in this area. No developments are planned to occur here and Denver Water is killing only to get rid of what they see as a “pest.”
>>>Tell the Denver Board of Water Commissioners to stop killing prairie dogs.

350.org: The world’s leading climate scientists have warned there are only 12 years left to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C, and just two years to stop fossil fuel expansion for good. Even half a degree more will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty that hundreds of millions of people are already feeling.
>>>Tell world leaders to protect the climate by banning fossil fuel development.

PETA Australia: Last week, the Australian government released draft advice for a new heat-stress test for measuring animal-welfare standards on board ships that take live sheep to the Middle East, where animals endure abuse and methods of slaughter that would be illegal in Australia. The draft advice recommends that these ships be allowed to reach no higher than a wet-bulb temperature of 28°C. Since air temperatures reach over 45°C in the Middle East during the summer, such rules could prevent the industry from shipping live sheep for much of the year—and may make it no longer financially viable ever to send animals on these terrible voyages of despair.
>>>Urge Prime Minister Scott Morrison and federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud to adopt rules prohibiting ships exporting live animals from traveling during the hottest months of the year.

Marisa Pettit, RESET: Want your Christmas to be green, not white, this year? And celebrate the festive season with glow in your heart and a squeaky clean conscience? From ethical gifts to sustainable decoration and fair trade food, we show you how.
>>>Get 6 tips for an eco-friendly Christmas.

Parting thought…

“The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” —Jeremy Bentham

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Take Action Tuesday: Speak Up for the Climate, Rainforests, Sharks and Bees

Getting worse: Global energy-related carbon emissions rose to a historic high of 32.5 gigatons in 2017, after three years of being flat, according to the International Energy Agency.

 

 

Rhea Suh, NRDC: Thirteen key federal agencies released a damning new scientific report on climate change impacts in the U.S., and it lays out the truth in stark terms: Climate change is a clear and present danger to the American people, it’s getting worse, and its impacts on our country will be more and more devastating—if we don’t take decisive action now. And what was President Trump’s response to this urgent call to action from his own administration’s scientists? “I don’t believe it.”
>>>Urge President Trump to take immediate action to address climate change.

Rainforest Rescue: The Indigenous Dayak Tomun people of Kinipan on Borneo have tried everything—peaceful protests, lawsuits, lodging formal complaints with the government—and still the sounds of chainsaws and heavy diesel engines are reverberating through their ancestral forest. For generations, the Dayak Tomun have been gentle stewards of the land, and now the ancient trees are disappearing before their eyes. In the loggers’ wake: endless rows of oil palm seedlings.
>>>Urge Indonesian President Joko Widodo to stop the destruction of Kinipan forest by PT Sawit Mandiri Lestari.

Corey Hill, Care2: Bees are dying. Colonies across the Western world have collapsed with, up until recently, few clear answers as to why. A new study suggests glyphosate may be one reason: The world’s most commonly used herbicide is harmful to insects like bees. This toxic chemical is found in household products like Roundup, which remains on the shelves of several hardware stores.
>>>Urge Home Depot to stop selling glyphosate.

Rick Stafford, Independent Media Institute: Many species targeted by shark fishing tournaments (including all thresher sharks, porbeagle and makos) are already classified as vulnerable or threatened by international conservation organizations, meaning they should be protected, not killed, especially for recreation or competition.
>>>Urge NOAA Fisheries to stop the killing of IUCN Red List threatened species at shark tournaments and rodeos.

Change.org: Two-thirds of all animal species are being wiped out. 100,000 elephants have been killed in the last three years. Too many species with once robust populations are now reduced to a few thousand, a few hundred or even less. Humans are rapidly destroying the natural world in a blood-soaked pursuit of greed, false-power, ego, ignorance and stupidity. Natural habitat destruction, climate-change and greed are big problems, but the most grotesque offenders are poachers and trophy hunters.
>>>Urge Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres to ban international travel for hunting.

Jason Baker, PETA: Earlier this year, an eyewitness worked on a sheep farm in Victoria, Australia, the world’s top wool exporter, and found the farm manager and workers mutilating terrified lambs in assembly line fashion—showing, yet again, that there’s no such thing as humanely produced wool. Workers punched holes in lambs’ ears and cut and burned off their tails with a hot knife, causing them to writhe in agony as flames shot up from their flesh. The manager slashed the throats of fully conscious sheep with a knife and then broke their necks. One sheep kicked for nearly a minute after the manager began cutting her throat.
>>>Urge Forever 21 to drop wool in favor of animal-friendly materials.

Parting thought…

“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” —Immanuel Kant

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.