By Rebekah Malkin
It’s one thing to espouse morals and another thing entirely too actually live by them. It is easy for many to condemn cruelty toward animals, yet those people still eat foods, wear clothes, and use products that hurt animals.
The only way to change this pattern of righteous indifference is to change your lifestyle, which will in turn encourage other to do the same.
You’re probably thinking, “But what can I change that can actually help our animal brethren?”
The answer is complicated, but this article will attempt to lay out some easy ways to change your life so you can live in a way that helps, instead of hurts those who don’t have the words to ask for help.
The first way to improve the lives of animals is to use beauty products that do not test on animals. This is becoming easier and easier as more and more beauty brands are stopping animal testing.
Many of the most popular beauty companies such as AHAVA, Urban Decay, Waxelene, Wet n’ Wild, and Eco choose not to test on animals, and are given the label of cruelty-free by PETA. A simple change like only buying responsible cosmetics such as these can make a difference, in shifting the future of cosmetics towards one free of animal-cruelty.
Another way wild animals are often hurt, is when their habitats are invaded, or destroyed, and they no longer have a place to live, or the environment has changes faster than they can adapt to it.
This has led to the extinction of many species all over the world. The best way to stop this is to only patronize businesses that have good corporate ethics, and value socially responsible products. For example, Pepsi Co. has a sustainable farming initiative.
This may seem like it has little to do with animals, but farming that doesn’t deplete the land is essential to the survival of not only humans, but the animals that depend on the land as well. Kellog Co. only uses that oils that it can trace all the way back to the producer to ensure sustainability practices, Tim Horton’s holds an annual Animal Welfare Summit, and General Electrics has reforesting and responsible farming initiatives.
Giving your money to only companies that value animal and human life as much as you do, will help create a future market where any large company has to incorporate these practices to succeed.
One of the biggest ways you can make a difference is to change your diet and fashion. I know it is unrealistic to expect the whole world to become vegetarians, but you can still eat meat and help animals live better lives.
Only eat meats, eggs, and milk that come from companies that use cage-free practices and allow the animals to live happily and healthily. And when choosing meat, try to choose only the companies that kill the animals humanely.
For eggs, Land of Lakes has delicious eggs in just about any supermarket that are 100% cage free, but most stores also have a cage-free store brand as well. Milk and butter which is organic tends to have better practices with its animals, since they have to pass extra tests to get their organic certification.
The same goes for meat, most organic meats are more likely to be more humane in their practices, and most fowl will have a label that says free-roam.
So I encourage you to go out into the world and not only profess your love of animals, but live it.