A hotter world is a hungrier, dirtier, more violent world.  

Winter 2019

There is a direct relationship between climate change, human health, hunger, sustainable use of resources, pollution, and the exploitation of sentient beings.  To protect the defenseless, and reverse the damage this exploitation is causing, there needs to be a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism.

International law has been a primary concern of the United Nations starting with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948.  This milestone document sets out, for the first time in history, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.  The Convention Against Genocide, also adopted in 1948, defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.  The Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979, is the only legal protection women have in places where extensive discrimination continues to exist.  The Convention Against Torture and other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, adopted in 1984, and was intended to be a starting point for further work.  The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1989, primarily involves children in armed conflict, sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.

Rights need to be extended to all.  The largest number of exploited, tortured, murdered individuals on Earth today have no protection.  They are animals: domestic or wild, in the air, on land, and in the water.  This does not ignore human suffering from violence and abuse.  In fact, it has been proven there is a correlation between violence against animals, and violence against people.  The concept of who needs protection must be broadened to include all those who have no rights.  Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere, is injustice everywhere.”   It is time to extend protection to all inhabitants of earth with a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism.

A United Nations Convention Against Speciesism will extend Justice to all inhabitants of Earth, while resolving Earth’s most profound and life- threatening problems such as:

Climate The main source of climate change is not the lack of sustainable energy, it is the meat and dairy based diet.  The massive amount of animal feces from raising animals for food is the largest source of airborne methane in the United States.  Methane traps heat in the atmosphere 100 times more effectively than carbon dioxide.

Hunger More than 80% of starving and hungry children live in countries where food is grown and exported to feed animals raised for food.

Pollution The meat industry causes more water pollution in the United States than all other industries combined.  Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population, but without the sewage system.

Agriculture More than 45% of earth’s total land is devoted to raising animals for food.  3.5 billion more people could be fed by growing plants for human consumption on land currently used to grow crops for farmed animals.

Deforestation Animals raised for food are the number one cause of deforestation as forests are cut down to provide grazing for cattle.  Nature Animal agriculture is the number one cause of wildlife habitat loss, and species extinction. Wild animals are expected to lose 2/3 of their population by 2020.

Currently there is a proposed Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW).  This is a non-binding inter-governmental agreement to recognize that animals are sentient, to prevent cruelty, reduce suffering, and promote standards of animal welfare for farm animals, companion animals, animals in scientific research, draught animals, wildlife and animals in recreation.  That does not go far enough!

A United Nations Convention Against Speciesism needs to be as binding as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention Against Genocide, the Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on The Rights of The Child.  This is the only way to extend justice to all inhabitants of Earth, and thereby save the Earth from the destruction caused by this injustice.