Now it is time for us to do our part and eat sensibly and with compassion and a willingness to preserve and protect all animals
Compassion in World Farming launches STOPTHEMACHINE campaign
Compassion in World Farming recently launched its new campaign in a one-night only event at the Natural History Museum in London.
STOPTHEMACHINE explores the link between factory farming and the devastating impact this is having on some of the world's most iconic wild animals.
The campaign calls for an urgent rethink of the way we produce and consume food – before it's too late.
Factory farming is driving many species – including the Sumatran elephant, African penguin and Brazilian jaguar –to the brink of extinction, but we can halt this decline, says Compassion in World Farming.
The organisation says that the everyday food choices we all make could help save these much-loved animals.
The launch event was attended by actors Peter Egan and Evanna Lynch, and influential figures including leading British environmentalist Tony Juniper and conservationist Stanley Johnson.
Chris Darwin – naturalist and great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin – attended the launch. He said: “I know Charles [Darwin] would want to stop the machine because he loved the natural world. Ultimately, we have got to put factory farming to bed. In the museum. Out of history. Right now.”
Award-winning wildlife expert and presenter Simon King OBE, who helped launch the campaign, said: “The final goal of every campaign like this is that it no longer needs to exist. We're not powerless in this battle. I'd like to hope that you go away from this evening feeling empowered.”
He went on to read the D.H. Lawrence poem 'The Triumph of the Machine': “They talk of the triumph of the machine, but the machine will never triumph.”
Global investigation
Informed by the global investigation undertaken by Compassion in World Farming's Chief Executive, Philip Lymbery for his new book – Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were – the immersive exhibition demonstrates how once diverse lands and waters are now over-farmed and over-fished, all to feed billions of animals crammed into cruel factory farms.
“Many people attribute the decline of iconic species to climate change and habitat destruction. However, few know that intensive farming – fuelled by consumer demand for cheap meat – is one of the biggest drivers of species extinction and biodiversity loss on the planet,” said Compassion in World Farming.
The organisation points out that in the last 40 years, the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish globally has halved – and species are disappearing at a rate 1,000 times faster than would occur naturally.
Huge swathes of wildlife habitat are being destroyed across the world to make way for intensive crops, which are then fed to intensively reared animals. These monocultures are doused with agrochemicals – which are harmful not just to animals, but to people too.
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