EP 03: Environmental Justice, Youth Activism, and Veganism With Afro-Indigenous Animal Rights, Climate, and Environmental Activist Genesis Butler (Part 1)

Welcome to Episode 3 of Supersede! 

In this episode, Madeleine is joined by Genesis Butler in a discussion that highlights the vitality of youth voices in the climate movement. Madeleine and Genesis share their journeys to climate activism and discuss the ways young people can get involved in the movement. As Genesis points out, climate activism is about life. So many dreams for the future are impossible on a dead planet , and she is making the journey to protect this future for her peers and those who come after her.   

For Genesis, animal activism was her inroads to the climate justice movement, as she quickly realized that animal rights are connected to environmental rights which are in turn connected to environmental justice. On this theme, Genesis shares her journey to veganism and her knowledge of the harms that stem from industrial agriculture. Revealing the intersectional nature of justice issues, this conversation brings nuance and personal perspective to work for food justice. Genesis shares the power in speaking up about the issues that affect you, and shows the need for voices from all backgrounds to join together to make change. 

Genesis Butler is a 16-year-old Afro Indigenous animal rights, climate, and environmental activist and is one of the youngest to give a TEDx talk. As a leading voice of a generation of activists concerned about climate change, Genesis has spoken at many events worldwide including the Seeds and Chips Global Food Summit and the Environmental Media Association Impact Summit. She has won several awards for her activism, including the 2018 Lisa Shapiro Youth Animal Activist of the Year and was also featured in Marvel Hero Project on Disney+ where Genesis was named a real life superhero. Genesis has been fully vegan since the age of 6 and convinced her parents and three siblings to go vegan as well. She is the founder of the nonprofit organization, Genesis for Animals, which raises funds for sanctuaries around the world.  In 2019, Genesis wanted to continue her activism despite quarantine so she started a global youth-led climate organization, Youth Climate Save, which raises awareness on the connection between animal agriculture and climate change. This organization now has over 80 chapters worldwide and continues to grow. Genesis’ activism has been featured by Harvard, Time for Kids, People, Nickelodeon, Marvel, Crate and Kids, The New York Times, Washington Post and many more.

Transcript

madeleine:
Hi Genesis, welcome to the podcast.

genesis_butler:
Hi. Thank you.

madeleine:
How are you doing today?

genesis_butler:
I'm doing good.

madeleine:
Awesome. I know we're both in California right now, and the weather's kind of funny all around the country,

genesis_butler:
Mm-hmm.

madeleine:
it

genesis_butler:
Yeah.

madeleine:
seems. Yeah. It's so exciting to talk to you, just for many reasons. I think that we have followed your work for a while. I know that you're also familiar with Seeding Sovereignty's work, and it's just going to be awesome to have a conversation for people maybe to your age, who are younger, who are like very feeling lots of feelings about climate and social justice and animal rights. And maybe just try to unpack a little bit, you know, and unpack like why there's reasons to have hope or also what we can like try Any thoughts that you have to share? So thank you for joining us today.

genesis_butler:
You're welcome. Thank you.

madeleine:
I just want to share really quickly that I started getting into activism when I was... I'm 26 right now. And I started getting into activism when I was 9. So I know you were younger, not that it's a competition. It was pretty impressive to be 6 and getting into activism. I was 9 and just saw an issue that I was concerned about, which happened to be water. And I got like my school on board and created an environmental action committee and, you know, got clean canteen bottles for everyone and got my friends all kind of on board with this cause. I started a project called it Superheroes Needed because my vision at the time was that like we're all, we all have need all of us to try to work together. And so that's why I started Super Heroes Needed. And now we're recording this podcast, which is Super Seed, which is like the combination of seeding sovereignty and superheroes needed in a way, which is helping people understand how you and others found your climate superpowers, like the journey that you've been on to kind of unpack that because it's a very personal I feel like to

genesis_butler:
Thanks for watching!

madeleine:
understand your climate and social superpowers and like live within that. So that's just a little bit of background.

genesis_butler:
Thank you for

madeleine:
Thank you so

genesis_butler:
listening.

madeleine:
much. I want to hear about you. I want to hear about basically the work that you're doing right now, projects that you're working on, just kind of like, you know, get the listener familiar with you and your work and what you're passionate about.

genesis_butler:
Well, some of the work that I've been doing, I got into this work because I went vegan when I was six, and then after that, then I figured out about the environment and how veganism and the environment was connected. And it really shocked me because it was like, how are the foods that I'm eating harming the environment? And then I figured out everything that went into it. And I was shocked. So then I gave my TED talk and I gave that on the environment when I was 10. because I realized that I can't do any of the things that I love on a dead planet. So I have to speak up about it. And I have siblings and I'm worried for their future. So I'm like, this is right. And I'm also Native American. And these are things that my ancestors have always done was protecting the earth. So it just really felt right. So I started speaking about the environment and animal agriculture and how it's connected. And then after that, I started Youth Climate Safe during quarantine everybody was in lockdown and we couldn't do any protests. None of that. And that's normally what a lot of youth would do was protesting or going out and using your voice, however you could. But we couldn't do that cause we were all in sight. So it was like, well, what am I gonna do now? So then I started to think and I knew that there wasn't any youth organizations that were talking about and agriculture and how it's connected to climate change. So I knew that there was a lot of youth that were worried about that. And especially during quarantine, like I feel like we were doing a lot and figuring out about new things, getting new hobbies. And I know a lot of youth were finding out about their food choices and how it's harming our environment. And then they're super worried and they're like, well, what now? And there wasn't really anything that they could do or anyone that they can talk to about. So I wanted to have youth climate safe so that youth could have a safe base to talk about this. But not only that, just so that they could also be able to use their voice and have a platform for them to tell people about what they're passionate about I know that there are so many youth that don't have that space or just can't talk about it, but I knew that this was something that was important. So I started Youth Climate Save and we have chapters all around the world and it's so amazing to see all these members that I have and yeah.

madeleine:
That's okay. Cool. It's like, no, you know, just one or two things.

genesis_butler:
and

madeleine:
That is so impressive. And I'm sure you hear that a lot, like people who are older than you saying, that's so impressive. You know, you're doing so much and you're just over here like, yeah, I'm trying to have a livable planet. Like, you know, I need to be doing all of this. Do you feel that pressure? Like emotionally, how does it feel for you? Because I know that like, this is something that you're passionate about. This is something that you love to do, right? passions of yours that are combining your skills and what you love and what makes you happy and fulfilled. But also like, we have to do this. You know, like it's kind of like unfair. You know, do you feel that? Like what are you? Do you feel climate anxiety? What are your emotions around all this?

genesis_butler:
Yeah, I do really feel climate anxiety. I feel it every single day because we're seeing all these changes that are happening to our Environment this is something that is all the time and like even in California I know it's been snowing in a lot of places in California Which is so crazy to me because I've never seen snow like you'd have to go to the mountains But now that it's coming closer like I think that's so scary and it's really showing how climate change is real So it makes me super anxious a lot to know that this is happening I'm also hopeful because I know that people are using their voice and I'm now seeing that there's more of a community of climate activists that are coming together and talking about this and just being connected with each other, becoming friends and supporting one another, which I think is something that is so important. I know that a lot of the successful movements that have been in the past that have done amazing work was because they had a community of people who all came together and were able because when there's one person, like you can still do so much work with one voice, but when it's so many more voices connected, then I think it's so much more powerful. And I'm seeing this right now with a lot of youth and climate activists in general, which makes me super hopeful because I know about in the past, people with community have been able to get these important work and causes done to get their voices heard. So seeing this happening now with the climate movement shows me that this is something that we can do, especially since we have community.

madeleine:
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I think this is something that I've mentioned a few times because we just launched this podcast. You're the third episode, which is really exciting. And I'm realizing I've said it all three episodes. I'm gonna say it again. I think I'm just gonna keep saying it, which is what you're talking about, which is the idea of community and how in this world we tend to, I guess, just depending on where you live, but in certain societies a lot of societies, there can be a lot of isolation and kind of the antithesis of like climate anxiety, basically what I have found is just sharing these emotions with people. Obviously it applies to way more situations than climate, but the idea of like joining or growing a community of people, it's like I had asked you, do you feel anxious about this? Do you feel like this is something of almost obligated to do, but at the same time it's actually something that, you know, on the other side is like the cure. You're feeling anxiety, you have to do something about it and,

genesis_butler:
Thanks for watching.

madeleine:
you know,

genesis_butler:
Bye.

madeleine:
the action reduces the anxiety a lot of the time. I think it's really awesome that you guys have chapters around the world and it sounds like a really cool project for people to get involved in. to get involved? Are there steps that they can take? What can they do to actually get involved?

genesis_butler:
And yeah, we have our youth climate safe Instagram account and people will reach out to us on there and then we can get them a form or if there's already a chapter in the location then they can join with that chapter. And people don't even have to be vegan to join when there's youth. They just have to be open minded to it because we know that everybody's circumstances are different and

madeleine:
Right.

genesis_butler:
not everybody can be plant based but they can at least be open minded to it and try if they can. So yeah. of that and all you have to do is just reach out to you for climate save and then we send you the sheet.

madeleine:
That's awesome. Perfect. So if you're listening and you want to get involved, is there an age cut off?

genesis_butler:
Um, hmm.

madeleine:
Hehehe

genesis_butler:
I think our oldest member that we have is like 26 or 27?

madeleine:
Okay, so I'll sign up. That's awesome. Okay, thank you for that Genesis. Okay, I want to step back a little bit, because you mentioned you got into, you know, animal rights and the work that you're doing through understanding the link between climate and animal rights and animal agriculture. And if someone's I can and because that's something that I want to do for climate and for animals. But if someone is listening and maybe hasn't heard of the connection between climate and animal agriculture or is wanting to further understand it, what would you say to them? What is the connection? if you want to about this.

genesis_butler:
Yeah, well, I think the first thing that really made me realize the environmental impact was how much land goes into the meat products that we're eating. And that really shocked me when I first went vegan was because I was thinking like, these animals are just there, like they already have the land, like I never knew. And then I figured out the fact that every single second 10 acres of land are cut down to put the animals there and to grow their food crops, which is something that so much land. we need for oxygen, they absorb the greenhouse gases, and they're all being cut down and put the animals there. And that really shocked me because of how much land that goes into it. So that one really made me realize like, it's so important to continue being vegan because we're saving all that land. And I feel like that really shows when you just like think about it of how much acres of forest are being lost. That's every single second. So that really made me realize the connection, because these animals when they're there it's ruining our environment because they're having to put these animals there so much food so much water is going into that and those are foods that we could be having there's so many kids that are hungry but the world produces enough food for everybody yet they're still kids hungry and that's because of animal agriculture so that really made me realize of the environment and everything that goes into it and then I are in these communities near it. So animal agriculture is not only harming our planet, it's also harming people, it's harming our health. So it really shocked me to know like my foods were contributing to this big environmental impact and also to the people, which I never knew about. So it showed me how important it is to be plant-based.

madeleine:
Thank you for putting that so eloquently. I think it's helpful for people to understand that. And as you said, it's not accessible to a lot of people and there are many reasons why someone might not be able to go plant-based. I'm curious how you, as someone who identifies as Afro-Indigenous Mexican, you have multiple intersecting identities and cultural backgrounds. So I know that that might not sometimes go in line with veganism. So I'm curious as to how you think about that for yourself.

genesis_butler:
Mm-hmm. Well, when I first went plant-based, I was like, well, it was really me. I would say like more of my mom and my dad was like, because my mom's Mexican. So she's thinking about Christmas time. And when we have tamales, like, she's like, I'm just gonna sit there. Like, what do I do? But

madeleine:
I'm gonna

genesis_butler:
then

madeleine:
go.

genesis_butler:
we realized that we could have them in a plant-based version. And my grandma figured out a way to make it. So instead of large, so use coconut oil, and they turn out just as good. And she'll fill them with vegetables, like sweet potatoes and peppers. and mushrooms and garlic, all those things that are delicious. And for my dad, my dad, he always loved seafood, but we're still able to have seafood in a vegan version. We have vegan shrimp all the time. We'll have vegan crab cakes, anything that he used to like to eat, just veganized. So we're still able to eat our favorite foods, especially for my mom with our cultured foods. We're still able to eat them. And they're just veganized. more popular, it's easier to find in some areas. So we're able to find veganized options that we don't have to make anymore that are already pre-made. So I feel like that really showed me that you can be plant-based even if you are Mexican. I'm also Black and Native American, so I can still have all my cultured foods just in a vegan version.

madeleine:
That's amazing. Was there like a period of time when you started going vegan and you were at maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas or family gatherings where everybody else wasn't vegan and they were eating the culture foods that you've always been eating and they were vegan and you kind of felt like a little bit weird or have people started to, in your family started to be like, oh, you're vegan, I'm gonna try that.

genesis_butler:
Yeah, a lot of them actually do try it and they all really like it. They say it tastes the same. We make vegan ham every Thanksgiving and my aunt tried it and she said she would have never been able to tell the difference and my grandma tries it, my grandpa tries it, everybody tries it all. And we always make like the side dishes like mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, all those things. And people eat them vegan, they have no problem with it because it's just as good as the normal version. holidays, I feel like that hasn't been the hard part. Because we've always brought our own food, but I feel like for birthday parties and like birthday parties, slumber parties, like that first when I went vegan was kind of difficult because with like cake and pizza, they would be feeling sad for me because I wouldn't be eating it. But I started to bring my own vegan version or any party that I go to. All my friends know that I'm vegan already. have something for me or I'll bring something or they'll tell me ahead of time like hey we're gonna go here like I don't know if there's anything vegan so you can check and then if not then I'll just bring my own food but a lot of my friends that aren't vegan will try my food and they like it better than the food that they had so yeah I feel like holidays hasn't really ever been something that has made me like feel like upset about it I guess I feel like feeling like, oh, I feel bad eating this in front of you, but

madeleine:
Mm-hmm.

genesis_butler:
Yeah, I've never really felt because I know what I'm doing is right, so I like I'm not like shy about it anymore I'm more like embracing it like this is who I am. I'm vegan and everybody knows so yeah

madeleine:
I love that. And I can relate to that, too. I don't know about you, but I have almost no vegan friends, which is kind of funny because I live in New York City. I feel like, you know, it's it's easy to be vegan there. I do a lot of cooking and and whenever I make my vegan dishes and favorite things for people, they always love them and support my veganism. But they're not they don't. You know, it's kind of almost like you and I. if we are living a certain way, this idea of being the kind of quote unquote lighthouse is interesting. It's kind of like you're doing your thing and you know, as you just said, you know that it's right. It feels right for you. You have the access to do it and that's a decision you're making to fight animal rights and to increase animal rights and fight climate crisis and social injustice animal agriculture. And that's a decision that I make too. I wonder if someone who is not vegan or who's been made think about vegan, not really sure, you know, what would you say to that person in terms of how to kind of get started? Because I know that for me, it took me quite a while. It was quite an almost accidental, not accidental, but natural process. on a very slow basis, then I cut out eggs on a very slow basis almost so that I was making sure my body felt good at every step of the way. So it took a

genesis_butler:
Thanks for watching!

madeleine:
few months and now I've been vegan for five years and it just feels right. So what was your process like of going vegan and how would you kind of give advice to someone who's thinking about it?

genesis_butler:
Um, well when I first went vegan there wasn't that many like vegan cheeses and vegan meat So I had to make a lot of those things or I would eat them But the vegan cheese is at that time which was a long time ago I have been vegan now today is my vegan anniversary and I've been vegan for Ten almost a bit. Yeah a decade now and I've been not eating animals for 13 years. So

madeleine:
Wow.

genesis_butler:
That was a long time ago and they tasted super like coconutty and weird, but now the vegan cheeses are so much better. So I don't have to make them anymore and I can go to the store and buy them. But that was one of the first things that I did was go to the store and find things that I like and look at the ingredients because some of the foods that I would already eat were already plant-based so I could still eat them. But

madeleine:
Mm-hmm.

genesis_butler:
yeah, that was the first thing I did. But I also looked up a lot of recipes and there's so many vegan that were non-vegan, I would look up the vegan version to the recipe. So there are things that I would buy like I used to love meatball subs so I would buy all the ingredients in the vegan version and they were just as good. Things like that like pasta and lasagna like recipes is the first thing that I did and to find good ones but it's also good to experiment if you can like what are some foods that you like or some ones that you don't like because you're not gonna which I feel like is the same thing for when you're not vegan. Like you're not going to like everything that you eat. So just to make sure you also keep an open mind, because I feel like that's something that people do is like, they'll try one vegan food and if they don't like it, they're like, oh, this is disgusting. I can never go vegan. But it's just cause you ate the wrong food. So if you try vegan foods that are the right ones for you, then you will like them. And so yeah, the first thing I did was go to the store, look at everything, buy some things, try it. look up vegan recipes and then veganize my favorite dishes.

madeleine:
That's a great approach. That's awesome. I am so curious what your recipes are. Maybe I'll ask you at the end what some of your favorite dishes that you like to make are, because I love your cooking videos. And when

genesis_butler:
Thank

madeleine:
you post

genesis_butler:
you.

madeleine:
about food that you make, it always looks so good.

genesis_butler:
Thank you.

madeleine:
So yeah, of course. OK, so I want to kind of transition a little bit, because You have not eaten animals, did you say 13 years?

genesis_butler:
Thank you.

madeleine:
And you've been vegan for 10. Happy vegan anniversary,

genesis_butler:
Thank you. Thank

madeleine:
by

genesis_butler:
you.

madeleine:
the way. I wanna go back to like Genesis when she first, learned about animal rights and climate and the link. Because I

genesis_butler:
Thank

madeleine:
think

genesis_butler:
you.

madeleine:
from you now, it's probably pretty, you're on your path, you're 16, and you can kind of look backwards with clarity, right? And this has been your path. But for someone who doesn't have clarity, for someone who's like, I don't know which issue I'm passionate about yet, right? Or I don't know if it's climate change or animal rights or anything, right? water issues, it could be pollution, it could be micro plastics, you know, plastic, that's my specialization. Was there a point for you that you figured out, you know, because you were so young, like, I guess my question is, you kind of talked about it already, but I want to dig a little deeper into like, how did you get into that? Was that your mom going vegan? And then you started For me, my mom is an environmental lawyer. And so she really inspired me to get into water issues and plastics and climate. What was your initial influence, if that makes sense?

genesis_butler:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, when I first went vegan, that was like the first step for me, was just being

madeleine:
Mm-hmm.

genesis_butler:
vegan and being around the animals. And then I started going to sanctuaries around that time because I wanted to be around the animals that I love so much, the ones that I wasn't eating. So then I realized, like, I want to be their voice and help talk for them because they have a voice. People just don't listen. So I wanted to do whatever I could. So I became an animal rights activist. that's when I started figuring out about the climate because I looked up the benefits of being vegan because I didn't know all of them. I knew it helped the animals. Then I was thinking like what else can this be connected to because I know that a lot of these classes are connected to one another so then I figured out about the environment. So then I realized well I can still be an animal rights activist because it's connected with the environment. So I became an about more causes and I also talk about people of color, how they're in these areas where animal agriculture is and it's affecting their every single day life. So I became an intersectional activist, but I just realized like one thing after another and how it was connected and my great great uncle is Cesar Chavez. So at that time I looked up the work that he was doing and I went to the room where he fasted in and I realized the important of community so I started to become a part of those communities that I was in also because I wanted to have friends that also felt the same because my mom is like my best friend but she and me became activists and vegan at the same time so she didn't know any more than I knew so I got a lot of friends that were a part of that community I became a part of those communities and yeah I just of these people sometimes get mistaken with you have to be with one cause like you're supposed to just find it magically and then you're like okay and that's the case for some people which is great but I know for other people there's so many issues that are connected to their core issue so then they become intersectional so that is also always an option is that you can support all causes if that's what you're passionate about you don't have to just stick to just one.