Green New City: Animal Rights

Problems:

• The COVID-19 pandemic — which was possibly caused by the illegal trafficking of endangered pangolins — is the latest demonstration of a distorted relationship with non-human animals. But scientists are just as concerned about the US factory farming industry — which has been the cause of most of the pandemics of the last century.
• Corporate animal agriculture poses existential risks to public health, the environment, and well-being of animals. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has described factory farming as a mistake that “will haunt our legacy.”
• Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change.
• Consumers are regularly deceived about the actual conditions animals are raised in. Food fraud generates more illicit revenue than the illegal drug trade, worldwide, yet governments due little to protect consumers or animals.

Solutions:

• Follow in San Francisco’s foot steps in passing “right to know” legislation that would provide transparency to consumers about disease, antibiotics, environmental impacts, and animal cruelty in the production of meat.
• Include a shift to plant-based food systems in our carbon neutrality targets, focusing on providing incentives to retailers.
• Establish a bill of animal rights that will give our non-human companions and other animals legal standing, in cases of abuse or exploitation.