GOAT Mag #1 November 2013 | Page 22

Naomi is a young woman from the inner western suburbs of Sydney. Her life is a flurry of work, cooking, photography, blogging and loving all the Earth’s creatures. We spoke to Naomi to catch up with her and gain some insight on her vegan lifestyle and how she feels about Australian politics. Hey Naomi, How are you? I am great, thank-you! Give us a little synopsis of yourself. Who is Naomi? Naomi is a 22 year old living in the Inner West of Sydney, following her passion for photography and animal rights! So you’ve been a vegan for a while now. How long exactly? I have been meat free for two years this month, and I will have been vegan for two years in January. Have you done much volunteer work for animal welfare organizations? I have done a bit here and there between work! I go to the monthly meetings with Animal Liberation NSW, they are held in the city in their York Street o?ce, I've been to a few others events, helped out with sales of merchandise with the profits going to animal chari- ties, I've shot photos at the Animal Welfare League shelter, I do a lot of online activism as you call it, I think the internet is an amazing platform for expression, it's not as "in your face" as protesting, it doesn't require listeners to leave the comfort of their lounge rooms, it isn't censored by government and corporations, it's just free expression and total facts that people can choose to learn whenever they are ready to start taking steps towards a more compassionate life. As a vegan and animal welfare enthusiast, how do you feel about the results of Australia’s recent national election? A little anxious and disappointed, honestly. I suppose for most Australians, animal rights is pretty far down on the list of priorities compared to health care, education, medical research etc and many have been fooled into concentrating on things which really shouldn’t be issues, such as marriage equality, asylum seekers - Im saying these things shouldn’t be issues because any decent person with any sort of empathy would just let these things be, instead of using them to win votes and distract from the other issues.