Reply To: Exercise 2: 5 Unsolved Problems
by Hayden Kessinger
in
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The exercise
Before I list my problem-solution pairs, I want to clearly state that my chosen field of interest is often associated with anger, righteousness, ridicule, judgment, and a bunch of other less-than-ideal emotions. My intention is to simply state problems that I see. My statements related to the treatment of animals may seem extreme or silly, but I am simply speaking about the reality of our food system. My statements about people are generalizations and not necessarily true for everyone in the group that I describe. I hope to inspire meaningful reflections and create conversations, not arguments.
Human problems related to animal welfare:
Problem: Most people feel tension (and the emotions listed above) when discussing animal welfare and find it difficult to talk about.
Solution: Have more difficult and uncomfortable conversations about animal welfare! Perhaps through a podcast or simply by chatting with people.
Problem: People who eat animal products feel guilt, judgement, and resistance when spoken to about the animal agriculture industry.
Solution: Help guide people to make consumer choices that reflect their values. This could also be through a podcast, similar to Sustainability Simplified. I could do the Spodek Method, animal edition.
Problem: Animal advocates feel hopeless about improving the lives of farmed animals.
Solution: Expose more people to the amazing work that is already being done for animals, what they can do, and the potential for huge change in the future.
Problem: Animal advocates feel lonely and different from others. They can struggle to connect with friends and family.
Solution: Create an animal advocate social network. It could be a slack channel (like Hive) where people can chat about a variety of topics, related and unrelated to animals.
Problem: Slaughterhouse workers and farmers feel trapped in their jobs that exploit animals. They want to treat them better but the demand for animal products makes higher animal welfare impossible.
Solution: Work with farmers to transition to a more just and sustainable business. Or decrease demand for animal products somehow (work for alternative protein company, create culture that views plants as primary food source)
Animal problems related to animal welfare:
Problem: Animals feel pain and suffering when they cannot escape poor conditions on farms.
Solution: Improve conditions on farms so animals feel less or no pain and suffering.
Problem: Dairy cows feel grief when farmers take their calves away from them immediately after birth.
Solution: Change the standard practice of separating mothers and calves. Make it illegal to separate them.
Problem: Pigs feel fear when they’re forced through the slaughterhouse to the kill floor.
Solution: Change the slaughterhouse standard design and practice to make the experience less horrific.
Problem: Factory farmed animals (99% of animals raised for food) suffer immensely their entire lives.
Solution: Work to create stricter animal welfare standards that do not allow for animals raised for food to live on factory farms.
Problem: Farm animals want to live normal, healthy lives.
Solution: Remove animals from the food system!
Exercise reflections
This exercise was more challenging than I anticipated. Thinking of the problems was easy. The hard part was choosing which problems to focus on and making them specific. At first, I also struggled to think of problems from the perspective of the group that is experiencing them, as well as the specific emotions involved. Though it’s a slight shift, changing the language to reflect the group instead of projecting my own idea of the problem onto them, made a big difference. I’m sure I’m still projecting some with the problems I chose, but I’m learning how to prioritize the problem to then find a solution. There are a lot of solutions that I want to find problems for. I’m seeing that that is misguided, ineffective, and honestly quite arrogant and disrespectful.
I benefited from getting started early in the week and letting my thoughts simmer for a few days, jotting down new ideas every once in a while. I think I did a decent job brainstorming rudimentary solutions that could turn into real action, especially for the human-centered problems. Identifying problems centered on farm animals is extremely easy because there are so many, however finding a specific solution for each is more difficult. Somehow, it feels more abstract. I called on the help of others, asking for ideas from people in the Hive community (an organization that I could maybe emulate in a slightly different way to fill a gap in the movement) which was very helpful.
Last class, we met a former student named RJ. Through the class (he took it at NYU), he took a huge idea of helping Gaza, and made it real. He founded and directed a non-profit called LEAD Palestine for three years. Though he and his team decided to end the program in 2018, it seemed like it made a positive impact on the youth that they served. Below is a description from RJ’s LinkedIn.
“LEAD Palestine is an initiative that aims to inspire, motivate, and empower the next generation of Palestinian youth. Working in collaboration with local organizations, community centers, and university students, we will offer young Palestinians one-on-one mentorship and a fun, hands-on, leadership-based summer program where they will develop a sense of their own capacities and acquire the necessary skills to solve the problems they face. We believe that everyone has the potential to be a leader, and we want to cultivate that potential. We want every child to know that they are capable, talented, and cared for by positive mentors they can look up to.”
I haven’t done much other research on LEAD Palestine, so I can’t say one way or another that it was an effective program. I only know what RJ and Josh shared with us. I’m not doubting it was positively impactful, I’m only pointing out that just because an idea or program sounds good, doesn’t mean it is. But for the purpose of this workshop, it was cool to hear from someone who truly made something happen. RJ took a massive idea and created a tangible program, working on the problems he cared about.
It was encouraging to hear that RJ was considering revisiting the program, too. It was also encouraging to hear the way the course ignited his passion and made him excited to do all the exercises. He talked about staying after class to chat with Josh and other students, working out kinks in their ideas. Outside of creating a project, RJ shared how taking the course made him a better salesman at his family business; he became a natural people person, connecting with each potential customer rather than trying to push products on them. If improving my social skills is all I gain from this course, I’ll be pretty happy.