Justice for animals
The health and environmental crises of the past two years have taught us that our lives are increasingly connected across nations and generations. Many of our current activities are not only harming vulnerable populations but also contributing to global health and environmental threats that harm us all. And when disruptions occur, they disproportionately impact the most vulnerable among us. Thus, many of us now appreciate, pursuing health and climate justice requires pursuing social and economic justice too. And in the same kind of way, I believe, pursuing justice for humans requires pursuing justice for animals too.
What can we do to achieve justice for animals?
While many basic changes will be necessary to address these harms, we can make three general observations for now. First, we need to reduce our use of animals as part of our pandemic and climate change mitigation efforts. Reforming industries like factory farming, deforestation, and the wildlife trade is not enough to limit the damage to animals, global health, and the environment. We need to reduce our support for these industries and increase our support for alternatives as much as we can, for instance by divesting from factory farming and investing in plant farming, plant-based meat, and cultivated meat instead.
