by Jordan Houser
Suzeii Liu, a freshman student and animal rights activist from Texas, received the honorary Star Street Teamer award from peta2 this month.
Peta2 is the youth division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA), whose mission statement proclaims, “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any way.”
The Start Street Team Award is rewarded to the member of peta2 that contributes the most to the movement every eight months to one year. This includes work such as protests and missions supported by the organization.
Liu began working with PETA in 2008 at the age of 15. Now 20 years old, she regularly protests against corporations such as McDonald’s and informs others of the maltreatment of animals in American society.
“I started off as a street teamer where I would just do the missions that they have on the website,” Liu said. “I did protests against McDonald’s. I did two of those back home in Texas. I did one against the Ringling Brothers circus. I have also done work handing out information for peta2 on animal cruelty.”
Once Liu moved to Columbus, she continued to be an activist and became even more involved with the organization.
“In August they hired me to be in the peta2 youth advisory board. I get to put in my thoughts and opinions on the new merchandise they’re going to have or missions, things like that,” Liu said.
In addition to her work with peta2, Liu also works proactively on campus. Vegetarian and vegan students have likely noticed her contributions to the dining halls.
“I also added some vegan options at the MDR here at Capital: the vegan vegetable soup, the pizza without cheese, and then soy milk,” Liu said.
A vegan herself, Liu applies her beliefs on the treatment of animals to her own life. For her, the greatest joy is influencing others to also change their lives to coincide with the ethical treatment of animals.
“I got to turn two people vegetarian and I think that’s probably my proudest moment,” Liu said.
“For every vegetarian out there, it’s one hundred animals that you save. That’s every year. So, I think that really does make a change. Knowing that I got to help out these people make the change as well, it’s the most wonderful thing.”
Liu would urge others to consider all the effects of their actions and how they influence not only the animals, but also issues faced by humanity as a whole.
“It’s kind of narcissistic, the whole meat production thing. That affects the entire world. The meat production is the number one cause for global warming. If everyone in the world ate like the people in the United States do, with the amount of meat we do, 3.9 billion people in the world would starve,” Liu said.
Liu will be honored for her efforts in a special blog post on peta2.com and will receive a certificate commending her activism and success.
jhouser@capital.edu
