Change your life, and make a public stink. Change society.

I am increasingly bothered since the Animal Rights National Conference about new things I learned, pertaining to the meat industry.

First, was a speaker who talked about the killing of wolves, bison, wild horses, wild burros, prairie dogs, etc., due to pressure from the cattle ranchers. He mentioned that there are many endangered species that are not included on the government's list.
I don't remember his name, or which group he was from, but thought that people who might not care about food animals might care about wildlife, and should know that it is the cattle ranchers who are behind the demise of many wild species.

Second, was Paul Watson's keynote address, where he mentioned that the world's fisheries are in a state of collapse, and on top of that, mentioned that half the wild fish that are caught go to feed our livestock! And that pigs eat more fish than all the people of Japan. He said more tuna is fed to our cats than people eat. He also said that many species of fish are caught before they reach sexual maturity, so there is little possibility of recovering those populations that we destroy.

It is amazing to me, that not only is this happening with the fisheries in the state that they're in, but that I'm not hearing about it from the environmentalists or from the humanitarians. Maybe they don't know that we waste half the fish caught on livestock. I didn't.

I posted this on my other blog, and decided to link to it here, because not only are we endangering so many the world's species by killing off the oceans, but we are endangering our own species. And it isn't just the people in the poor countries who will suffer. Eventually, and probably much sooner than later, our society's inattention to and complacency toward the environment and other animals we exploit in every way possible, is going to affect us all.

Please take a look at my other blog's blurb -- especially Paul Watson's Keynote Address, and the article from Grist about the fish that feeds our livestock. Then get outraged, speak out, and change your diet. Anyone who is concerned about species extinction, the various forms of environmental degradation caused by the meat & fish industries, anyone concerned about the people of the developing countries needs to examine their personal choices, and what they promote -- especially in the Church! Stop pussy-footing around with general catchwords like "biodiversity" and "sustainability" that have no real impact on the listeners. Call a spade a spade. Wake people up. If you don't like the fact that 70 % of the world's grain is used to feed livestock instead of people, if you don't like that the rainforests are being cleared to grow crops to feed livestock instead of people, and if you don't like that 14 million tons of wild-caught fish are going into "food" animals feed every year just so you can enjoy your bacon, or so your church can make a little money on an "all you can eat" fish fry -- boycott those industries that are killing our planet, and change the culture around you.

It is not only time for the environmentalists to speak out passionately, but it is time for humanitarians to search for eco-friendly and animal-friendly solutions to "making poverty history". I feel all the more strongly that our churches, both local and national, should not be promoting and supporting the propagation of animal agriculture in developing countries. Our charities need to get out of the animal-supplying business. There are other charities and other things churches can choose to do, that won't add to other problems that impact the environment and multiply animal suffering. Look for alternative solutions.