This month’s Ethical Action Spotlight is turned on Kathleen Wilsbach and a little lesson she shared with me about the spirit of holiday giving, especially when the gift is a goat, cow or pig! In my December platform, I mentioned that in the past my adult nephews and nieces received from me a card from Heifer International indicating that farm animals were given in their names to individuals in poor nations.
In doing this, I put aside some minor internal resistance about figuratively gift-wrapping live animals for slaughter because human starvation seemed a more pressing evil. I also assumed some animals would be kept for milk and treated humanely. However, thanks to Kathleen, I have rethought my gifting strategy.
Kathleen pointed out some ethically questionable policies of Heifer International, such as “zero grazing.” This approach places donated animals into confined spaces so as to better control spread of animal waste. The fact that this is motivated in part by some admirable environmental concerns does not mitigate the problems caused by the factory-farming type of food production. The image of warehoused animals is a far cry from the photo of a cute little boy lovingly holding a lamb on the cover of Heifer International’s catalog.
But even more ironic than the animal cruelty of factory farming is the fact that animals are not necessarily the best long-term solution to hunger. Kathleen steered me to a number of articles pointing out the inefficiency of meat production, a reality I knew on some level already. I just needed to apply it to my holiday donation giving habits!
She urged me to consider alternative charities, such as Freedom from Hunger that focuses on more sustainable nutrition supplementation strategies. After a brief investigation into “Freedom from Hunger” I think I may have found a solution to my ethical quandary. Check it out at http://www.freedomfromhunger.org/ and help build grassroots partnerships that really can make a difference. Thanks to Kathleen for swinging into the Ethical Action spotlight in her typically friendly and supportive way!
Do you have an ethical action commitment or event you are willing to share in the newsletter? Please contact Hugh at Leader@BaltimoreEthicalSociety.org.
