The Animals Need You

Pigs are some of the smartest animals out there. They've figured out how to use mirrors — not in a Miss Piggy checking-out-her-hair kind of way, but to check out their surroundings (which already makes them smarter than the majority of horror film victims). Pigs can figure out who knows where the good food is and trail them to the stash. The pigs who know where the stash is will try to lose their followers to keep it for themselves. They can complete puzzles, learn tricks, and play video games. The point isn't that you should invite a pig over for the next big Xbox release, but we should recognize that they're a whole lot more than future ham sandwiches. Yet despite their intelligence and empathy (and their political leadership in Animal Farm), pigs can't form a union to protest abusive factory farm conditions. If we value pigs at least a fraction of how much Miss Piggy values herself, we need to be their voice.

It's not just pigs in this position. Birds can use tools, but they can't testify at city council meetings when their nesting grounds are threatened by a new strip mall. Bottlenose dolphins have been observed following recipe-like meal prep prior to eating cuttlefish,2 but they can't lobby to end the use of fishing gear that threatens them with deadly entanglement. Your dog may be part of the family, but he doesn't get a vote on Election Day if his favorite park or even his right to exist in your town is under attack by local officials. The animals need you to speak up for them and to live your life with them in mind.

Change happens in a number of ways. Laws and policies can directly influence how animals are treated, such as factory farm regulations that require minimum standards of care, or they can indirectly provide incentives or disincentives that influence animals' lives, such as reduced license fees for spayed or neutered dogs or fines for pollution that puts wildlife at risk. The political system plays a huge role in creating change — both good and bad. A single policy that's passed or overturned can have sweeping consequences. Learning how to use your voice to defend and protect animals at the local, state, and national level can change the world.

But these policies aren't created in a vacuum. Not only do elected representatives have to listen to their constituents, but they spend a lot of time gauging which way the wind is blowing to try to anticipate what will make them popular with voters and donors. (In other words, what will keep them in office when the next election rolls around.) Shifting cultural expectations and demands to reflect our love for animals and pressuring companies to be more humane can generate hurricane-level winds that can uproot animal suffering in our day-to-day lives, our communities, and the market, forcing politicians to pay attention to the issues you care about while making the world a better place in the process. Each time you choose to act on behalf of animals, you're helping create that storm.

The Chicken and the Egg

Consider the egg and the chickens who lay them: Two decades ago, no one was talking about cage-free eggs. But today, there's widespread concern about hens' living conditions after dedicated animal lovers and activists spent years exposing how much egg-laying hens suffer crammed in battery cages in dark, dirty warehouses, unable even to spread their wings. iPads have more personal space than your average commercial egg-laying hen. Maybe some people were just grossed out by their eggs coming from a place like that and worried about the safety of their scrambles. But a lot of people recognized chickens as living, feeling creatures and decided no omelet was worth that much misery. Even as awareness grew, egg producers were sure people would ultimately want to stick with the cheapest option. Ultimately, they were wrong.

Thanks to the cultural shift driven by education campaigns, outcry against these practices, pressure from animal protection groups, and rising demand for eggs from humanely raised chickens (i.e., regular people going into stores and happily paying a few cents more per egg), corporate giants from Costco to McDonald's have made commitments to shift their supplies to cage-free eggs, and several states, such as California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington, passed laws to ban the use of battery cages.

Cage-free facilities aren't perfect, but they're a flap in the right direction. The demand for better, more humane conditions for farm animals has had a ripple effect. Companies are not only making cage-free commitments, they're also reporting on the steps they're taking to source more humanely across their supply chain, because they know people care about animals. Restaurants and food service providers are expanding animal-free options on their menus. There's been a rise of egg-free alternatives and vegan bakeries. People across the country are raising and spoiling backyard chickens, so if they do eat eggs, they know the names of the hens who laid them and exactly how they were treated.

Public outcry, behind-the-scenes efforts from animal protection groups, and individual actions and choices all work together to change the outlook for animals.

Every [Insert-Motivational-Cliché-Here] Makes a Difference

From laws that turn a blind eye to animal suffering to the challenge of finding cruelty-free products at your local store, our impact on animals is woven into the fabric of society's customs, markets, and legal system. The odds are stacked against the animals, and unfortunately, that's not going to change overnight. That can feel pretty daunting when you're trying to change the world, but every person's actions matter. Every thread of cruelty that's tugged apart helps weaken the tapestry so we can patch it with a more compassionate design. Every avalanche is made of individual snowflakes. Tiny drops of water band together to make tsunamis. Whichever metaphor you prefer, there's an underlying truth to it.

If you and everyone you know, and everyone they know, adopt their next pet, your local shelter would have a lot more empty kennels. If you and everyone you...