Rethink, redirect, reward Part 1

Politicians have acted as a mouthpiece for unsustainable and inhumane industries, rather than speaking on behalf of the interests of world citizens, the environment and non-human animals (hereafter, ‘animals’), and taking those issues seriously. Due to the economic crisis, jobs have been lost, people have been evicted from houses and many of us have less money to spend. But we should not lose perspective; we are still far better off than most of six billion people in the rest of the world. However, the financial sector, the media, the government and most political parties lead us to believe that the current situation is one that should cause the populace to feel fear, anxiety and dissatisfaction. The only way ‘out’, the leaders say, is economic growth through spending, and more spending.

Yet this idea is literally bankrupt, as we’ve seen. The credit crunch was the result of continuous unsustainable growth, at the expense of the earth’s resources. We’ve become greedy and needy, and have caused a massive ecological crisis, which far outweighs the harms caused by the financial crisis, and which may never be reversed.

Our oceans and forests have been depleted. It is not an exaggeration to say that we’ve overfished the oceans to the point where they are nearly empty. Many fish species have become extinct; coral reefs are dying, and marine birds and mammals are struggling too. About one third of amphibian species are threatened with extinction. And about half of all primate species are becoming endangered.

And let’s not forget the more than 60 billion animals bred, reared and slaughtered for human consumption. The livestock industry causes massive deforestation, pollution of the environment, and takes up enormous amounts of water and land use. All very unsustainable, cruel to animals, bad for people working in the farming sector, and disastrous for the billion people who live in
chronic hunger around the world.