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Compassion, Sustainability, and the End of Denial
Welcome to Animal Justice! Did you know animals are fully sentient with the same nervous systems as humans? They are also intelligent individuals, with reasoning ability, and who can feel happiness, as well as fear and suffering.
THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE COME BACK IN FEB 2010.
Below is a paining created for this site by Kristen McAhren. The idea of the painting is to capture the essence of animals, and symbolically place "farmed" animals back with their ancestors – back to their rightful place in nature.
"In my world, there is life . . ." Painting by : Kristen McAhren
-- BIG PICTURE
Animals are intelligent and have emotions, much more so than many assume. In many cases they have at least the reasoning ability (including language comprehension and the ability to follow numerical sequences) of a young human child of two, three, and in some cases four years old. In addition to highly intelligent apes, doplins, whales and elephants, scientists have speficially proven the reasoning ability of dogs and PIGS. These experiments do not include all the other "intelligences" of non-human animals unique senses and properties, that humans may lack. However, sadly, in a for-profit world, animals have been come to be seen as commodities, as things, when in fact they are a lot more like you and me.
Therefore, this is is a site that endeavors to help us understand non-human animals as more than mere objects for consumption, and argues that they should treated humanely and have basic rights to life and to lead their natural lives. (In the case of "farmed" animals this means no factory or industrial farms and in some cases re-wilding.) Furthermore, this site signifies a revolt against big agri-business, which are not only includes slaughter houses, but quite literally, extreme life-long torture camps for animals, which subvert and exploit their natural physical behaviors and needs, and ignore their emotional ones.
It is true that for many people, in America and around the world, big agri-business has become "normalized" and, because of the horror of the reality of factory famrs, and resistance to chance, many people do not want to know the facts, no matter how much suffering non-human animals endure.
This is not only all the fault of meat eaters -- most of us have been raised this way. Additonally, the food agri-business is a very powerful and rich lobby that works hard to suppress the truth about what is happening to 47 million animals a year in the USA alone. We badly need to raise in awareness to end factory farming, which is not only killing animals at a brutal and alarming rate, but killing us. Factory farming contributes to 18% of global warming, which is more than motor vehicles, which contribute to 13%. In addition to heart disease and cancer, factory farming is the cause of avian and swine flu, and is an incubator for pandemics.
My goal is to introduce the concept of animal abolition and show that we can live happiy, healthy, and fully without mass-exploitation, torture, slavery, and murder of our fellow sentient creatures. Do you think murder and slavery are too strong to use? They are not. When you learn the conditions of factory farms, these are obvious facts.
It is common for people to shield ourselves from this "even more inconvenient truth" because we are so deeply entrenched in the system that we can not imagine life any differently. However, animal consumption has actually tripled over the last several decades and this has not been the norm throughout human history. In fact, many cultures have been vegetarian or vegan, and individual humans have been healthy and lived long lives. Because this new extreme system seems normal to us, it is not my goal to condemn people who consume (or otherwise use) animal products, but to help you imagine better and more humane ways to move forward.
Although I will take on the harder issues here, the fun part will be to expose people to the adventurous, ethically satisfying, and tasty concept of an international vegan lifestyle. Since I am new on the journey of veganism (after 24 years of vegetarianism) my gatherings of recipes and concepts will be a work in progress. However, in just a few short months, I have made many discoveries that have made the transition not only relatively easy, but fun.
I hope we can end denial, and move toward a more just world -- for people and (our fellow) animals alike. We are all interdependent and in this world together -- a very beautiful world, but one that is in peril due to the depths of our denial. Therefore, this site is not only about abolition, but the beauty and hope of liberation.
-- MY STORY
In time, I will recount my personal journey of how I came to the gradual realization of the need for animal justice, abolition, and the end of denial. It is not a remarkable journey, but one of small epiphanies, and those moments when, inexplicably, I decided to listen to my conscience on this matter. Some of you will relate to these moments.
My story also is about some animals that I have had the pleasure to know and love, and also some people, fighting for rights and liberation of all kinds. Somehow I came to realize all the issues I care about (social, educational, enivonmental) are interconnected, and it is my duty at this time, to narrate and testify about my realizations and lessons about animals -- including the animals that are us.
-- METHODOLOGY
I have mixed methodology, as I have always been an interdisciplinary person. Some of my methodology will be academic, some narrative, and some a bit more informal, including links to other sites. I hope to create tangible and creative ways to convey this information, as well as provide empirical evidence.
-- SOURCES
Since I am trained as an English Professor, most of my sources with be cited using MLA style. However, when a quote is cited without the book and page number, I will indicate at the bottom of the page the website. Many quotes by famous people on this site came from Vegan and Vegetarian quotes: http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/quotes.html
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