The first I heard about HSI was from a television commercial with Chrissie Hynde signing I'll Stand by You in front of images of beautiful animals in the wild juxtaposed with images of human cruelty to them. I joined up and was a member for a few years. I liked their attention to political pressure to ensure legislative change for the benefit of animals, and coming from the USA they had a powerful reach. They do wonderful work, and understand the link between the environment and animals, plus they had that beautiful hear wrenching ad...
Links
I've stolen the name of Peter Singer's wonderful book for the name of this section of E.A.R.T.H. about animals because it encapsulates my thoughts on them perfectly. Freedom is a right that should never be taken from any being without deep thought and absolute necessity. I first became involved with Animal Liberation in Queensland soon after I became vegetarian as a consequence of my partners involvement. I created the first website for the Queensland org, admittedly it wasn't the best, but that was a long time ago and they've improved it since :) It was during this time, being exposed to the full story about humans interactions with animals that I slowly became vegan, removing one thing after another from my diet. I was already vegan when I finally read Animal Liberation, two people gave me the book in the same week, I decided this was too close to a message from fate to ignore and I absolutely loved it. I think it will be a book that will always be remembered as a historical turning point, at which humans turned to their animal brethren with the hand of compassion rather than exploitation. Animal Liberation itself, the organisation founded from the book, does great work in uncovering animal abuse and informing the public.
I love organisations like IFAW. They are fighting the illegal wildlife trade, and protecting some of our key species such as seals, whales and elephants. The name animal welfare has a distinct meaning, in that there is a difference between that and animal rights. Animal welfare organisations like the RSCPA, IFAW etc accept that humans have a right to use animals for various reasons, but think it should be done humanely. Whilst I am more of an animal rights person, I see that in the real existing world we still need to care for the animals in systems of exploitation whilst they exist. IFAW of course may not have wanted to buy into that whole discussion with their name, instead they may just want to do their best to save some of our most majestic species of animals, and for all our sakes I hope they succeed.
One of the largest Animal Rights organisations in the world, Peta is well known particularly in the USA for it's provocative campaigns. They are often criticised for trying to make Animal Rights sexy or cool, through campaigns such as I'd rather go naked than wear fur, or Peta2 enlisting musicians to talk about their vegetarianism. Basically like all movements if Animal Rights doesn't embrace youth and cool, along with people of all ages and uncool (like me) then it will only ever reach a percentage of the audience. I've done a tiny bit of volunteer work with them, handing out their teacher resource packs at the British Education Show in Birmingham and have been lucky enough to have a couple of friends who've worked there, including a friend I accompanied to one of their socials (I was quite smitten sitting at a table with 10 women who care about animal rights). Yes Peta's hip image isn't to everyone's taste and like every other organisation on the planet they don't always get everything right, but they are saving animals from lives of suffering, and that's why you should support them.
I first got involved with Vegan Meetup in Brisbane Aus, after stumbling across the Meetup website looking for PHP programming tips. I became a regular of the group and it was great to meet some other vegans in a town and country not known for its tolerance for difference. When I came to London I was lucky enough to meet some great people but alas no vegans, so as one of my new years resolutions 2006 I resolved to start London Vegan Meetup. The first was in January 2007 and it has gone from strength to strength since. We hold dinners frequently, and I now count a number of my friends amongst people I've met through it. If you are interested in Veganism in London, get in touch and come to one of our events. There are 30 vegan restaurants in London, and plenty of vegetarian ones which understand the vegan diet, and I'm aiming to try every one.
So you're about to travel somewhere in the world and you need to know if there are any plant based restaurants there? Then Happy Cow is your friend, there's a great phone app as well, so wherever you are you won't miss out on any great restaurants. I've contributed a number of reviews to the site too so see if you agree!