Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
Priscilla Feral, FOA Friends of
Animals
December 2017
The key to staying hopeful is to operate on an assumption of success rather than failure...and to identify success on your terms... If supporters are not always up for the task of facing off with hunters, furriers, the meat industry’s ranchers, or other federal and state bureaucrats, please do invest in Friends of Animals.
As we sew up 2017, I think the question most asked of Friends of Animals
this year is how we stay devoted to knowing and making news while sustaining
enthusiasm for intense animal advocacy campaigns.
As someone resilient and serious-minded, I work at making optimism work for
me – visualizing what Friends of Animals wants and going after it. What
makes the difference is action not passivity, which means tackling setbacks
with persistent effort. As The New York Times columnist Jane E. Brody said,
optimism is about how we respond when times get tough. We keep going, being
fully engaged. She called it “fake it until you make it.”
The key to staying hopeful is to operate on an assumption of success rather
than failure…and to identify success on your terms. Taking risks,
instigating, agitating and inspiring others not to water down principles or
quit is as important as being victorious in a lawsuit.
With an acrimonious, harsh Trump administration, our efforts have been
further complicated. Alaska’s Congressional delegation and GOP legislators
have pushed commercial exploitation of Alaska’s Arctic Refuge, specifically
a 1.5 million-acre coastal section, for oil and gas drilling as a way to
offset budget deficits caused by tax cuts. Meanwhile, the administration
that sees pristine wilderness as nothing more than a cash crop, moves to
auction off millions more acres for oil exploration and development in
Alaska’s North Slope. It’s as though clean water, air, public lands, and
wildlife are all under threat and up for sale as former industry executives
are plopped into key government agencies with promises of rolling back
government regulations for corporate, or trophy-hunting interests.
The year has truly been nightmarish, yet we prevailed with nine victories
worth celebrating, in addition to our filing a lawsuit to safeguard African
elephants in Zimbabwe. These victories include:
If supporters are not always up for the task of facing off with hunters, furriers, the meat industry’s ranchers, or other federal and state bureaucrats, please do invest in us. We’ll craft arguments, publish letters, articles and Op-Eds to educate and raise awareness as well as lobby Congress and state legislators. We will go to the wall — often litigating for the best results. We hope to be your special interest group.
Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, has presided over the international, non-profit animal advocacy organization since 1987. She has also served as president of the San Antonio-based sanctuary Primarily Primates and is a food activist and author of three vegan cookbooks.
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