On September 21st, seventeen Democratic presidential candidates staged campaign events at the Iowa Steak Fry, which organizers describe as a “landmark American political tradition.” Their participation in this event was breathtakingly tone-deaf and a betrayal of the people they are campaigning to represent in the White House. Here’s why. Just one day earlier, hundreds of thousands of kids in the United States and millions around the world participated in what has been called the largest climate strike in history to demand action from their leaders. Promoting meat, which emits more greenhouse gasses than all forms of transportation combined, does the exact opposite.
In fact, the Amazon rainforest, which we and other animals need to survive, is being burned down to graze cattle and grow cattle feed. Furthermore, these same presidential candidates just participated in CNN climate change town halls during which they acknowledged, albeit reluctantly, the
The candidates’ decision to celebrate meat consumption not only contradicted their pledge to tackle the climate crisis, but it also demonstrated a lack of compassion for the health and well being of all animals, human and nonhuman. Meat is unhealthy, and it’s the wrong food to promote to a population that is plagued with cancer, diabetes, hypertension
The biggest victims are, of course, the animals, all of whom lived a life of pain and suffering before being killed. A steak fry is a celebration of death. In 2019, slaughterhouses should not exist. In conclusion, our country’s leaders should not be promoting and glamorizing an industry that is destroying the planet, compromising human health and terrorizing animals.
Contact your candidate of choice and let them know how tone-deaf it is to stage a climate debate over a “steak fry”:
