I'm sharing the letter below that I wrote to Zoos Victoria as a blog post because as far as the environment is concerned; we really need to step up and do all we can to protect it. Another reason is that I sent this letter in to Zoos Victoria via a multitude of mediums and did not get a response (Update, I did get a message back on facebook). The ethics of what we are doing, coupled with the stats and facts about how we are impacting our earth combines to create a robust topic. I try my best to open a friendly and informative conversation with Zoos Victoria.
Dear Zoos Victoria,
Last year I visited Healesville Sanctuary and I respect the variety of information you share about animals and their wellbeing and your effort to keep the animals in your care happy and comfortable. I appreciate your contributions to conservation projects such as those involving the Tasmanian Devil and the Helmeted Honeyeater. However, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of discouragement when I saw all around me banners and signposts promoting your ‘Wipe for Wildlife’ campaign. Reduction of deforestation and loss of biodiversity in Australia is an incredibly noble cause and I really value that you are attempting to curb this problem; however, hear me out while I suggest that the ‘Wipe for Wildlife’ campaign is not as effective to this end as another approach may be. There are several reasons for this, all fleshed out in the scientific field by leading experts on climate science and environmental protection. Your company has an extremely privileged and powerful position in terms of public scope, leadership, and education. Zoos Victoria ought to utilise this power to drive meaningful change in the behaviour of the Australian layperson towards the protection of Australian native forests and wildlife.
The most pressing concern with the Wipe for Wildlife campaign is that it doesn’t educate the public about Australia’s leading cause of deforestation; animal agriculture (1). This industry clears enormous areas of native forests for pastural land and livestock feed. The animal agriculture industry is far more harmful to the environment than the entire paper industry worldwide (1-3) and in Australia (1, 4). Therefore, it would be more beneficial to focus on animal agriculture statistics and changing the layperson’s food intake behaviour than their recycling/paper buying behaviour. According to the Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF) regarding deforestation in Eastern Australia, “Pasture creation for livestock is the dominant driver, accounting for 88 per cent of clearing of both primary and secondary forests and woodlands”(1). In order to really tackle the devastating consequences of deforestation in our beautiful country, we need to reduce demand for livestock – the only way forward is to encourage our fellow Australians to cut down their intake of meat and other animal products. This will benefit our public health (5-7) and reduce the threat that Australian biodiversity currently faces(1, 8).
In terms of individual Australians’ impact on the environment; the research shows that the greatest ecological burden each member of the public has lies in their diet (1, 9). This is demonstrated concisely in a graph summarising the analysis done by Thomas Weidmann and colleagues in their report to the Victorian Environment Protection Authority “The Ecological Footprint of Consumption in Victoria” (9)
Zoos Victoria has shown itself to be a leader in educating the Australian public on how best to care for and help our environment and therefore has a responsibility to ensure that the information put forth to the public is as comprehensive and influential as possible. Promoting access to this kind of information should be of utmost importance; it’s time for the Australian public to understand that the best way to reduce their carbon footprint, the demand for the destruction of Australian native forests, and their overall negative impact on the environment is to take a stand against the harmful effects of the animal agriculture industry. Perhaps alongside ‘Wipe for Wildlife’ you could promote ‘Meatless Mondays’, vegan weekdays, or a new catchy slogan promoting vegan eating habits such as ‘Feed Families for the Future’. Zoos Victoria could also provide more appealing and available vegan products and meals in Zoo cafés and restaurants; encouraging people to make a better choice with what they choose to eat for the health of their bodies and their planet. We need to be teaching the Victorian public to stop and think about what effects their meals are having on our country and our wildlife. Advocating for a reduction in animal product purchase is what we urgently need to do to secure the future of Australia’s biodiversity (3, 4, 9, 10). There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in the scientific literature regarding the damaging nature and unsustainability of animal agriculture and the harmful effects of animal products on the human body; there really are no excuses left to justify ignoring this blaringly obvious course of action.
Furthermore, not all non-recycled toilet paper in Australia is produced using materials harvested from Australian forests. AND pulp production for paper products isn't even listed as a major concern to deforestation in Australia, reported in the Living Forests Report, Here are two infographics regarding Australian causes of deforestation leading to habitat loss (1):
Therefore, although your campaign may raise awareness for the importance of recycled products – this campaign might be doing very little in the way of reducing demand for Australian tree logging which makes the slogan misleading to the laypeople of Australia who want to do all they can to protect our beautiful wilderness.
We should be trying to have the biggest impact on the protection of our beautiful Australian forests, I’m sure you will agree with me that we should reduce the demand for deforestation throughout the world in the best interests of the global climate. The best, and only, way to achieve this end is to reduce the demand for animal products, this is something that cannot be ignored any longer and I hope to see the staggering statistics about animal agriculture and environmental destruction provided to the public at Zoos Victoria in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
Penny.
Dear Zoos Victoria,
The most pressing concern with the Wipe for Wildlife campaign is that it doesn’t educate the public about Australia’s leading cause of deforestation; animal agriculture (1). This industry clears enormous areas of native forests for pastural land and livestock feed. The animal agriculture industry is far more harmful to the environment than the entire paper industry worldwide (1-3) and in Australia (1, 4). Therefore, it would be more beneficial to focus on animal agriculture statistics and changing the layperson’s food intake behaviour than their recycling/paper buying behaviour. According to the Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF) regarding deforestation in Eastern Australia, “Pasture creation for livestock is the dominant driver, accounting for 88 per cent of clearing of both primary and secondary forests and woodlands”(1). In order to really tackle the devastating consequences of deforestation in our beautiful country, we need to reduce demand for livestock – the only way forward is to encourage our fellow Australians to cut down their intake of meat and other animal products. This will benefit our public health (5-7) and reduce the threat that Australian biodiversity currently faces(1, 8).
In terms of individual Australians’ impact on the environment; the research shows that the greatest ecological burden each member of the public has lies in their diet (1, 9). This is demonstrated concisely in a graph summarising the analysis done by Thomas Weidmann and colleagues in their report to the Victorian Environment Protection Authority “The Ecological Footprint of Consumption in Victoria” (9)
Zoos Victoria has shown itself to be a leader in educating the Australian public on how best to care for and help our environment and therefore has a responsibility to ensure that the information put forth to the public is as comprehensive and influential as possible. Promoting access to this kind of information should be of utmost importance; it’s time for the Australian public to understand that the best way to reduce their carbon footprint, the demand for the destruction of Australian native forests, and their overall negative impact on the environment is to take a stand against the harmful effects of the animal agriculture industry. Perhaps alongside ‘Wipe for Wildlife’ you could promote ‘Meatless Mondays’, vegan weekdays, or a new catchy slogan promoting vegan eating habits such as ‘Feed Families for the Future’. Zoos Victoria could also provide more appealing and available vegan products and meals in Zoo cafés and restaurants; encouraging people to make a better choice with what they choose to eat for the health of their bodies and their planet. We need to be teaching the Victorian public to stop and think about what effects their meals are having on our country and our wildlife. Advocating for a reduction in animal product purchase is what we urgently need to do to secure the future of Australia’s biodiversity (3, 4, 9, 10). There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in the scientific literature regarding the damaging nature and unsustainability of animal agriculture and the harmful effects of animal products on the human body; there really are no excuses left to justify ignoring this blaringly obvious course of action.
Furthermore, not all non-recycled toilet paper in Australia is produced using materials harvested from Australian forests. AND pulp production for paper products isn't even listed as a major concern to deforestation in Australia, reported in the Living Forests Report, Here are two infographics regarding Australian causes of deforestation leading to habitat loss (1):
Therefore, although your campaign may raise awareness for the importance of recycled products – this campaign might be doing very little in the way of reducing demand for Australian tree logging which makes the slogan misleading to the laypeople of Australia who want to do all they can to protect our beautiful wilderness.
We should be trying to have the biggest impact on the protection of our beautiful Australian forests, I’m sure you will agree with me that we should reduce the demand for deforestation throughout the world in the best interests of the global climate. The best, and only, way to achieve this end is to reduce the demand for animal products, this is something that cannot be ignored any longer and I hope to see the staggering statistics about animal agriculture and environmental destruction provided to the public at Zoos Victoria in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
Penny.
- WWF. Living Forests Report: Chapter 5. Gland, Switzerland: WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature; 2015.
- Kissinger G, Herold M, De Sy V. Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation: a synthesis report for REDD+ policymakers. Lexeme Consulting; 2012.
- McAlpine CA, Etter A, Fearnside PM, Seabrook L, Laurance WF. Increasing world consumption of beef as a driver of regional and global change: A call for policy action based on evidence from Queensland (Australia), Colombia and Brazil. Global Environmental Change. 2009;19(1):21-33.
- Seabrook L, McAlpine C, Fensham R. Cattle, crops and clearing: regional drivers of landscape change in the Brigalow Belt, Queensland, Australia, 1840–2004. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2006;78(4):373-85.
- Craig WJ. Health effects of vegan diets. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2009;89(5):1627S-33S.
- Key TJ, Appleby PN, Rosell MS. Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2006;65(1):35-41.
- Sinha R, Cross AJ, Graubard BI, Leitzmann MF, Schatzkin A. Meat intake and mortality: A prospective study of over half a million people. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169(6):562-71.
- Maxwell SL, Fuller RA, Brooks TM, Watson JE. Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. Nature. 2016;536(7615):143-5.
- Wiedmann T, Wood R, Barrett J, Lenzen M, Clay R. The ecological footprint of consumption in Victoria. Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York: York, UK. 2007.
- Butler C, Brown S, Blashki G. Climate change and human health: What can GPs do? Australian family physician. 2006;35(11):909.
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