The Oct. 5 front page of The Sun tells of Rhode Island’s school food waste reduction plan and the federal electric fleet conversion delays, which will indirectly help animals but may be too subtle for the Page 3 stare-down squirrel to understand. Just about anything that helps people in nature helps animals too, since people are animals, despite the Bible drawing a distinction.
With so much human-caused human suffering, animals have a tough time in these COVID times getting a sympathetic ear. The last UN IPCC report warned that a million species in nature face extinction within decades. Our natural world need is definite compared to a natural world that would do much better without us. People might ask “What are you doing for me?” but animals ask “What are you doing to me?” with human encroachment destroying animal habitat, human factory farming causing intense suffering from birth to death and human-caused climate change putting a million species on the extinction chopping block. Today we live in the golden age of plant-based foods with so many animal rights, environmental and health organizations offering tips, facts, recipes and encouragement on how and why moving to a plant-based diet is practical for your health and the health of our planet, not to mention the health of the animals that would otherwise face a miserable life ending in a violent death.
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” is popular. Are you a friend to animals? Well “Friends don’t eat their friends” should be more popular than it is. We’re all limited to roughly 2,000 calories a day, so make your calories count. There are so many ways to enjoy your food, but involving the murder of the innocent is not one of them. Start a plant-based diet direction that can make Thanksgiving a double celebration when you go turkey-free.
There’s world animal protection but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals captures it: Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way. Sure COVID, Ukraine, Trump containment and the rising cost of living demand your attention, but they can’t squeeze out justice for our animal friends who cannot speak for themselves. Do it with a family member or friend, for ethical or health reasons, compassion or empathy, environmental, economic or convenience. Your motivation may vary, but your action does not. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not just reserved for humans, it is a fundamental right all animals deserve.
Jay Lustgarten
Westerly