Madrid, Animal Equality takes to the streets for the climate and animal rights
Environment — di Lorenzo Brenna
On the occasion of Cop 25, Animal Equality's demonstration highlighted the link between the climate crisis and livestock farming.
Madrid, Animal Equality takes to the streets for the climate and animal rights
On the occasion of Cop 25, Animal Equality's demonstration highlighted the link between the climate crisis and livestock farming.
Cop 25, the twenty-fifth United Nations world climate conference, is under way in Madrid. The disproportionate environmental impact of livestock farming has by now been widely demonstrated: it is a highly polluting sector that generates more greenhouse gases than the entire transport sector. In the Spanish capital, animal rights and climate justice came together in the demonstration organised by Animal Equality, reminding us once again that animal welfare is closely linked to that of the planet and, therefore, to our own.
For the planet and animals
More than five hundred activists gathered at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, united by the motto "save the planet – save the animals – save the future". The aim of the demonstration, which took place alongside the climate conference and shortly before the World Day for Animal Rights, was to denounce the impact that intensive livestock farming has on the environment, on our health and on the animals confined within it, reduced to meat machines stripped of the most basic rights.
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The weight of our choices
"This system takes no account of people's health, nor of young people's future, nor of the welfare of billions of animals," declared Carla, aged 12, who was tasked with reading the manifesto to those present. "It is no coincidence that Greta Thunberg, like me and millions of people around the world, is vegan, because one of the most powerful actions we can take to improve the world is to make conscious choices about what we eat."
The revolt is young
The common thread that seems to unite the demonstrations of recent months and fuel the winds of change is the young age of the protesters, who are increasingly aware of the crumbling world they have inherited. The solitary strike by Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament about a year ago was the proverbial butterfly's wingbeat, capable of triggering a chain reaction across the entire planet.
Read also: Greta Thunberg, one year on from the first climate strike: not just Fridays for Future
"I am not discouraged, because I am part of a new generation that is changing reality," said the young Animal Equality activist, "one that will not sit idly by while our planet and the lives of its inhabitants are destroyed."
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How much do livestock farms pollute
In Madrid, scientists, technicians, delegates from more than 200 governments and representatives of NGOs are working to reach the agreements needed to tackle climate change. These efforts will remain in vain, however, if the problem of intensive livestock farming is not addressed decisively (and, judging by the EU subsidies that farmers still benefit from, there appears to be no intention of doing so).
Read also: To save the planet, we all need to eat less meat
"Behind 14 per cent of emissions lie intensive livestock farms, which consume a third of all the world's drinking water and are the cause of deforestation in the Amazon and the pollution of groundwater," explained Matteo Cupi, executive director of Animal Equality in Italy.
Animal Equality in the Amazon
Not only in Madrid — hundreds of Animal Equality activists also gathered in São Paulo, Brazil. The demonstrators drew attention to the millions of animals exploited by the food industry in Brazil and the effect this sector is having on the Amazon, whose ancient old-growth forests are being razed to the ground to create pastureland and grow cereals and soy to feed livestock.