On the day the World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report of 2016 was released, I was reading Ruby Roth’s book, “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals,” to five-year old Kimaya in bed. At the end of the story, she laid her head down on my shoulder and asked,

“Grandpa, who were the first human beings?”

After learning that I had been deliberately lied to as a child by our education system, I had promised Kimaya that I will never ever lie to her, no matter what she asked. I told her,

“Let me explain how it works. Imagine that you are standing on the street and you are holding your mama by your hand. Then you ask your mama to bring her mama to stand by her side and so on, so that you have a long line of mothers on this side of the street.”

“On the other side of the street, you ask a chimpanzee to do the same thing with her mother, her grandmother and so on. Before these two lines go from Phoenix to Tucson, they will merge because both lines are going to say, “Hey, that’s my mama too!”

Immediately, she sat up in bed and said,

“WHAT? Are you telling me that animals are my family?”

I replied, “Now that you put it that way, yes they are your family.”

Until that moment, I had never really put it together like that.

She said, ‘Then, why are people eating my family? Grandpa, make them stop! Make them stop!”

She began sobbing inconsolably.

At that point, I felt like my heart was being wrenched out of my chest. I tried to console Kimaya and blurted out,

“Kimaya, I’m trying, I’m trying. In fact, it’s my job to make them stop.”

She stopped crying and looked at me wide-eyed, clearly in shock. She said,

“WHAT? This is your job? This is your job?”

Then she wagged her finger in my face and shouted,

“DO YOUR JOB!”

That was the rude wake-up call I needed to start the Vegan World 2026 project at Climate Healers. That was also the day I realized that we have created a world full of monsters for our innocent children.

Kimaya is routinely horrified to see her relatives, the animals, being abused and devoured by all those around her. Just a few months ago, when Kimaya entered fifth grade, she was eager to enroll in violin class at school, until she discovered that the violin bow was strung with sheep intestines.

She was disgusted and firmly declined to attend violin class.

Surely, as a species, we can figure out how to make music, play games and live our lives without abusing animals and without desensitizing our children who are naturally empathetic to animals. This is no longer a pie-in-the-sky Vegan pipe dream, but a matter of sheer ecological necessity.

If we can’t figure this out, we will be going extinct in short order.

Today, I imagine the animals of the world wagging their paws, hoofs, flippers and wings in our faces shouting,

“DO YOUR JOB!”

Perhaps that is the rude wake-up call we need to build a new system based on health, happiness and harmony with nature to replace the current system of death, disease and destruction of nature. As soon as we admit that we are changing the climate of the planet, we automatically assume the responsibility for harmonizing the climate on behalf of all life.

That is our job, our life’s purpose. That is the answer to the age old question,

“Why are we here?”

We are here to serve the animals. The animals are our bosses. Not objects to be exploited for our enjoyment.

Our responsibility as a compassionate, climate harmonizing, caretaker species requires an entirely new way of thinking and a new system of education, governance, health and economy, founded on four strong pillars of modern ethical human behavior:

Eat plants.

Plant trees.

Serve animals.

Heal the planet.

For those who are still not practicing an ethical vegan lifestyle, I say,

“It is time to adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs.”

Where do you stand?

Join us. Please don’t be a dinosaur.

All the best,

Sailesh Rao on behalf of Vega, Cow and Climate Healer and the Climate Healers team.