'I'm the Communications Director for the international animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere and I work with the Fair Start movement advocating for the first and foremost human right: an ecosocial fair start in life. My perspective on population intertwines both these causes, and I weigh the impact of unsustainable human consumption all the more heavily because I account for the real value of the lives it devastates, including future generations of human and nonhuman animals.

 

Current corrupt concentrations of power push a growth model that promotes unsustainable family planning policies. They see us ordinary people as economic inputs in their machine, to use for our reproductive and other labor. It's our job to fight that narrative and elevate the worth of every individual to have their basic needs met, on day one. My partner and I hope to adopt children one day and I feel the urgency to ensure that my future child, and all children, have the resources and opportunities that are their right - their very first right, one that will make or break the rest.'