Jeremy Rowley
Jrowley1@uwyo.edu
Two representatives of the nonprofit organization The Humane League visited the University of Wyoming yesterday.
The two representatives Alex Beck and Claudia Lifton handed out 1,500 pamphlets with information regarding benefits to vegetarianism and veganism while on campus.
“We work to spare the nine billion farm animals that are killed for food every year,” Beck, the director of the Denver office of The Humane League, said. “Just by handing out sixty of these leaflets you can get one person to go vegetarian or vegan. So every two leaflets spare about one farm animal, and we hand out a million every year.”
Between the two of them Beck and Lifton handed out 1000 of their pamphlets to students within two hours, Beck said.
“This campus has been really, really nice,” Beck said. “Almost everybody has taken a booklet. I’ve had a really good response this year.”
In addition to handing out leaflets, the organization helps school districts implement meatless Mondays and gives presentations to high school and college classes about factory farming, Beck said.
“We just want people to know how animals are treated on factory farms,” she said. “Most people don’t support that once they find out about it.”
Though some people do not believe that their individual actions may make a noticeable difference, that is not the case, Beck said.
“Even if you just eat meatless one day a week you can save 600 gallons of water, you can spare a farm animal and it’s really good for the environment and good for your health,” Beck said. “So even if you don’t want to go vegetarian or vegan, just cutting back on your meat consumption makes a really big difference.”
Claudia Lifton, a volunteer for The Humane League, agreed with Beck, saying moderation is a perfectly acceptable step in animal advocacy.
“It’s never all or nothing,” Lifton said. “You don’t have to be a self-identified vegetarian of vegan to put almond milk or soy milk or hemp milk or oat milk or cashew milk in your cereal or coffee every once in a while. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to order a veggie burger when you’re eating out. We don’t need to be eating meat three times a day every day.”
Still, the end goal of the group is to get as many people to go vegan as possible, Lifton said.
“Between 2007 and 2014 there were 400 million fewer animals killed just because of consumer choices,” she said. “We really do make a huge impact. Every dollar we spend makes an impact. Every time we make a purchase from a menu or a grocery store, we are farming by proxy.”
Both Lifton and Beck said they were surprised at the response from students on campus.
“This school is amazing,” Lifton said. “People have been really receptive. I’ve had some great conversations with people. I think we’re in a time where people are willing and ready to hear about these issues.”
