Name: Hutch Hutchins
Social Justice Group: Global Warming
Date of Fieldwork: March 29, 2022
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Alex Wolfe from The Humane League
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
We spoke with Alex Wolfe from the Humane League. Their mission is to end the abuse of animals raised for food. She believes an issue with activism is that often how successful it seems is subjective and that we need data and science to know what works. They pressure companies to adhere to specific regulations. 9 billion land animals are raised for meat and because 90% of those animals are chickens, it makes sense for the organization to focus on chicken welfare policies. Also, chickens are not protected by the humane slaughter act.
They target college campuses because the purchasing tends to come from factory farms known to commit a lot of abuse, including slaughtering caged hens. College students are typically very open-minded and will speak up for change on their campuses. It was a cage-free campaign. Then they started targeting the actual factory farms. They also worked for a regulation in California which didn’t allow pig farmers to use a gestation cage. It took 4 years to go into effect and is in effect now.
The work is challenging. They want to improve animal welfare incrementally. They’re dealing with wealthy, powerful companies and the status quo. The way to reverse global warming is to stop eating meat or at least eat less of it. Some people still believe the myth they have to eat meat because they need a lot of protein. So they’re pressing companies, trying to create legislation and regulations, and make public the harms and abuse suffered by the animals. She shared how slaughterhouse workers are often immigrants and these workplaces are intentionally put into marginalized communities in which these workers can be utilized for low pay. These workers get severe psychological damage because they are faced with killing every day which isn’t normal.
She shared that she doesn’t believe in shaming people about eating meat. She does try to inspire people by giving them information and asking them questions. If it means some people end up eating less meat, that’s great. Any direction towards a more plant-based diet is helpful. She said, “Perfection is the enemy of good” which I take to mean that we should start where ever we are and do what we can.
She recommended we watch Genesis Butler’s Ted Talk which points to the link between climate change and animal agriculture. She was the youngest person ever to give a Ted Talk. She also recommended FFAC (Factory Farming Awareness Coalition) and we shared we’d interviewed someone from there.
Finally, she talked about how important it is to understand the intersections of racial justice, labor justice, the environment, and animal agriculture. These intersections are a way we can reach people we wouldn’t otherwise reach.
I really appreciated meeting and talking with Alex Wolfe. She was so open and generous, sharing with us the work the Humane League is doing, but also some of her own experiences. It is inspiring to know there are people working for animal justice and environmental justice in so many different ways.
