Big News! I'm announcing my candidacy for the European Parliament for the Green Party (The Alternative).

I've been looking forward to sharing this with you all, because I realize that there is so much work to be done to reach my full potential for the big voting day in May of next year. I want to invite you along to inspire, teach, and help me be as strong and vocal as I can be for the animals and our planet.

I had planned to make it a happy announcement, with the intention of getting those of you who know me to celebrate the opportunity to bring our activism to the European political stage. However, that happy strategy took a hit yesterday. I got a brutal reminder of why I'm doing this in the first place - and who I'm doing it for.

Yesterday, I was invited to a tour and visit of a conventional pig farm. I was more than willing to join, as the main guest of this visit was a Danish MP, and I wanted to make sure that there would be at least ONE voice in that room to remind her that what she was seeing isn't natural, ethical, and can in no way be described as welfare or animal CARE. Conventional farming is based on animal cruelty and environmental destruction as factory farming is a major cause of deforestation, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

It's extremely easy to listen to an experienced farmer, speaking with confidence, dominance, and knowledge about "producing units for slaughter," and overlook the animals in those filthy, uncomfortable prisons. Many of them are experts at dominating the conversation and steering you away from your intuition and empathy.

It's easy because it's in our nature to avoid conflict, to believe that the person in front of us means no harm, and to seek common ground with those we are speaking with. I guess you could say I've lost that nature long ago. With every animal I have met, suffering, encaged, forced, in pain, and killed, I lost the need and the ability to overlook all of those things just to try and keep the meeting "pleasant" and make sense of why someone would spend their lives doing something like this.

So my self-appointed job yesterday was to pay attention to those who really mattered on that visit and speak for them.

This farm is described as a high-standard farm, and the farmer was absolutely proud of his production and "units." I know these visits well enough to know that a thorough cleaning prior to the politician's arrival had been done. And in spite of this, the first thing that met my eye as I entered the first stable was a small pile of dead piglets – newborns and stillborns, some with their umbilical cords still attached. Just thrown to the side of the walk path, in some cases with the mother pig able to see them from the corner of her eye while she was forced to stay in the farrowing crate. Walking down that pathway, we passed several of those piles. No one took notice, apart from me and the main guest.

Moving on to the gestation units, the stench of feces hit hard, soon followed by loud squeals caused by the fighting among the pigs. In this high-standard production, it took me less than five seconds to spot the hernias, the bitten tails, the bloody scratches, and the absolutely depressing and stressful stares and pacing from the animals. Again, no one seemed to notice or care, except for us.

I would have loved to show you pictures. But the industry is smart. As soon as we arrived, we were told that they would be taking all the pictures we wanted, but we weren't allowed to bring our own cameras, citing "GDPR rules." I'm not going to dwell on how ridiculous that excuse was.

Conveniently, the pictures of the dead piglets, the hernias, the missing ear parts, the big open sore from a pig having its entire tail bitten off were not sent after the visit, even though I specifically asked for them. The lack of honesty and transparency at every level of this industry is the main reason why I believe that we HAVE to be harsh, clear, and uncompromising in our communication with the public, the media, and policymakers. Because we cannot win this battle by being polite, understanding, and patient. We shouldn't take the liberty either, as we would be doing this at the expense of thousands of animals suffering and dying EVERY DAY in facilities that are 100% dependent on the public NOT seeing and understanding what they are supporting with their wallets and votes.

We are en route for big changes, and many have been working hard for decades to get the animal cause the attention it deserves today. We do have the strength and power to create policy changes at the national and EU levels. We just need to pull collectively. This is why I'm running for the European Parliament.

And I hope that many of you reading this feel inspired to join in. Whether you want to run yourself, help others, help me – it's all needed. I extend the warmest invitation to contact me if you want to be part of this campaign for the animals. If you are a national or international NGO and want to use this platform, or if you are an individual with skills that you want to offer, get in touch! If you are a photographer, activist, writer, researcher, a professional within the animal industry, or someone who loves to do street outreach – WHATEVER you can bring to the table to help the animals via EU policy, I want to get to know you.

I'm extremely grateful to be given this opportunity to focus on EU politics for the next year, and I want to thank The Alternative for inviting an animal rights activist to the table. I feel privileged, and it's very much accompanied by a sense of responsibility.