Two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of going to PowerShift West, an environmental conference focused on youth activism. The conference was spectacular, I learned even more on human impact on the environment as well as useful organizational skills. But something was very much missing, mentioning animals.
There was not a single workshop, panel or speaker dedicated to the human impact on animals. I felt like I had to represent a voice for animals at times, which felt wrong. Animals are an integral part of our lives and ecosystems and deserve attention in environmental justice discourse.
To add salt to the wound, ten of us from UW went out to dinner, and my vegan roommate and I were the only ones to not order meat. Obviously, I was upset. I couldn't believe that the supposedly most progressive students hailing from UW chowed down on animal carcass while celebrating how much we learned about environmental justice. Moral inconsistency? I think so.
A call to universal justice and compassion must be urgent!
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