Creating a Humane Canada: Interview with Barbara Cartwright (vegan), Part 3 of 3

Ms. Cartwright is not only passionate about protecting animals, but also about protecting our Earth. On her Facebook page, she states, “Maybe the best way that we can prevent disasters and devastating weather events like forest fires and hurricanes, is to eat less meat and dairy. And it’s better for your health.”

She further explains the devastation caused by meat consumption. “Well, it’s well known in the (United Nations) UN sites that factory farming and over-consumption of both, whether it’s farmed meat or wild meat, is contributing significantly to not only our climate change, because of deforestation to build farms for example, but also our recent pandemic, possibly making the leap from consuming wild meat. We are consuming our planet at a rapid, rapid pace.” “I mean, there is an endless number of reasons why looking at the way we eat is critical to our future. And looking at the way we consume, in Canada, 800 million animals a year. And it’s ten times that in the United States, because of the size of their population. So, we need to do some serious reflection on how our diets are killing our planet.” “As well, we need people thinking about their everyday choices. How do they shop humane? How do they act humane? How do they eat humane? And ultimately, it’s going to make our entire world better.”

At the conclusion of the interview, Ms. Cartwright shared her thoughts on how to better protect our animal co-inhabitants. “It’s simple. It’s be kind. I was talking to my son about this recently, the idea of ‘Do unto others as you would have done to yourself.’ And we get away from that very quickly, when we distance ourselves. But that’s because we want to watch a whale in a tank or we want to eat a certain type of meat or we want to wear a certain type of fashion. We divorce ourselves from that. I imagine that your viewers are thinking about that all the time and choosing the kindest path, the path of least harm.”