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This Earth Day, Joaquin Phoenix reflects on the calf and her mother who he helped liberate from a Los Angeles slaughterhouse () with the help of Los Angeles Animal Save almost a year ago and the environmental realities we're facing today. In a powerful new video directed by Earthlings Director Shaun Monson, Phoenix reunites with the pair at Farm Sanctuary, the country’s first farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization. At his 2020 Oscars acceptance, Phoenix spoke to the plight of mother cows and their babies. A day later, he helped liberate a calf and her mother from a Los Angeles slaughterhouse and brought them to Farm Sanctuary. When Phoenix first met Liberty and Indigo (as they'd soon be named), he experienced them as beings in the grip of uncontrollable fear. Liberty had been trucked from a feedlot to the slaughterhouse where she gave birth. They were exhausted and dehydrated and frightened. Almost a year later, though, Phoenix got the chance to meet them as individuals. As Liberty and Indigo: warm, intelligent beings with their own unique lives, as animals experiencing autonomy and with the freedom to exhibit their natural behavior. Phoenix reflected on the rescue and the environmental realities we're facing today. “We spend one day each year paying homage to our planet, Earth Day, but the other 364 days, we consume with impunity,” he said. “It's undeniable the detrimental impact that animal agriculture has on the environment. This simple act of rescuing Liberty and some ways, it's just as simple as sparing the lives of these creatures. But it's also an acknowledgment of not only the destruction they feel at our hands but the environment as a whole. By our actions, we either have the choice to continue to destroy other beings and the environment, or we begin the process of reversing the damage that we've done.” With more than *nine billion animals* raised and slaughtered for human consumption each year in the U.S. alone, modern animal agriculture puts an incredible strain on natural resources such as land, water, and fossil fuel. Climate change is imminent if we do not adopt a plant-based lifestyle. Every day is Earth Day. Learn more: Follow us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram:
