Species Unite
Stories that change the way the world treats animals.
info_outline
Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim: When the Ocean Lost Its Stars
06/12/2025
Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim: When the Ocean Lost Its Stars
"72 juveniles is 28% of the current population of sunflower stars under human care in California. More than a quarter of them are at our facility. If you had asked us that question about a year and a half ago. The answer would be zero at our facility, and the answer across California would be six total." - Andrew Kim In 2013, one of the largest marine disease outbreaks on record, sea star wasting syndrome swept through echinoderm populations, laying waste to sunflower stars across their historic range. Once common in California, sunflower stars are now functionally extinct there. This devastating population crash is one of the leading drivers of the 96% decline in kelp forest cover in Northern California in the last decade, as sunflower stars are no longer prowling rocky reefs and scaring purple urchins, who graze on kelp. Sunflower Star Laboratory was founded by a group of concerned citizens who watched California's kelp disappear before their eyes and were inspired to take action. This conversation is with Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim from Sunflower Star Laboratory, where they are actively growing sunflower stars with the aim to bring the stars and the kelp forests back to the ocean.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36956245
info_outline
Delcianna Winders: The Beginning of the End of Animal Testing
06/06/2025
Delcianna Winders: The Beginning of the End of Animal Testing
“We don't actually know how many animals we're testing on in this country, because most of them are not protected by any laws. There's not even a requirement that you track their numbers.” – Delcianna Winders Today, I have the pleasure of sharing some genuinely promising news. For decades, the FDA and NIH have required or relied on animal testing as the gold standard for drug development and biomedical research. But that's beginning to change. Both agencies have just announced significant steps to reduce animal testing—moves that could mark a turning point in how science is done. The FDA is beginning to phase out animal testing requirements for certain new drug applications, starting with monoclonal antibody therapies, and is pushing forward the use of more ethical, human-relevant technologies—like organ-on-a-chip systems and advanced computer modeling. At the same time, the NIH is prioritizing human-based approaches and creating a new office dedicated to accelerating the development and adoption of these new methods across biomedical research. To help us understand what all of this means, what led to these changes, and what still needs to happen, I’m joined by Delci Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Delci is one of the leading voices at the intersection of law, science, and animal protection—and she’s here to walk us through this historic shift.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36889395
info_outline
Jeff Kerr: Our First Amendment Right to Receive Communications (from Monkeys)
05/29/2025
Jeff Kerr: Our First Amendment Right to Receive Communications (from Monkeys)
"It is a scientific fact that these macaques, like all other primates, including humans, are communicating. They communicate in much the same way we do - facial expressions, vocalizations, body postures, those kinds of things." - Jeff Kerr Jeff Kerr is PETA foundations Chief Legal Officer. I asked him to come on the show to talk about one of PETA’s current lawsuits against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Nathional Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). PETA is arguing that the monkeys being tested on in a government run facility are capable of communication (or “are communicating”). And that we have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to receive their communications. This could be a game changer in allowing us to see what’s really going on in labs that are funded by taxpayer money, and which have so far been censored from public view. PETA’s lawsuit follows years of NIH’s attempts to deny Freedom of Information requests banning PETA executives from its campus and illegally censoring animal advocates’ speech on NIH’s public social media pages. Through the lawsuit, PETA is seeking a live audio-visual feed to see and hear real-time communications from the macaques who have been kept isolated, used in fear experiments, and had posts cemented into their heads. Anthropologists and other scientists have studied macaque and other primate communications for decades and know that the monkeys communicate effectively and intentionally through lip smacking, fear grimaces, body language, and various cries and sounds—all of which constitute speech under the law. Primatologists can analyze that speech on a deeper level to share their stories with the world.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36773335
info_outline
Isabella La Rocca Gonzalez: Censored Landscapes
05/20/2025
Isabella La Rocca Gonzalez: Censored Landscapes
"The one that really surprised me was the organic humane Certified Egg Farm. I thought Humane Certified would at least mean that I would see some chickens running around somewhere, but it looked exactly the [00:00:30] same as any other egg facility. They were just big warehouses. You don't see a chicken anywhere in sight. And then I learned, of course, that, um, you know, the this whole free range, pasture raised terminology doesn't really mean anything." - Isabella La Rocca Gonzalez Isabella LaRocca Gonzalez is an artist, author, and activist. Her work is part of a long tradition in art and photography to bring to light and find beauty in the hidden, unconscious or disregarded. Her most recent book is called . It's a long term photographic project that unveils the hidden reality of animal agriculture.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36642645
info_outline
John Kinder: World War Zoos
05/16/2025
John Kinder: World War Zoos
John Kinder is the director of American studies and a professor of history at Oklahoma State University. And he is an author. His most recent book is called . John’s book tells a story most of us have never heard: what happened to the world’s zoos—and the animals inside them—during World War II. It’s a sweeping, deeply researched look at how zoos became sites of propaganda, patriotism, and survival, often at the expense of the animals themselves. But World War Zoos isn’t just about the past. It’s also a mirror, showing how many of the ethical blind spots that existed during wartime remain with us today. In an age of climate crisis and mass extinction, this conversation asks: what do zoos really stand for—and who are they really serving?
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36598145
info_outline
Richard (Kudo) Couto: The Hidden Horror Behind a Billion-Dollar Brand
04/30/2025
Richard (Kudo) Couto: The Hidden Horror Behind a Billion-Dollar Brand
“I used to be the largest dairy consumer on the planet. I used to eat so much dairy and meat. The more that I looked into the dairy industry, the more that I saw that it was the singular, most inhumane industry on the planet, that we've all been lied to, including myself, for years. I always believed that the picture on the milk carton, the cow standing next to her calf in the green field with the red barn in the back was true. It’s certainly the complete opposite.” – Richard (Kudo) Couto Richard (Kudo) Couto is the founder of (ARM), an organization solely dedicated to investigating extreme animal cruelty cases. ARM has led high-risk undercover operations that have resulted in the shutdown of illegal slaughterhouses, animal fighting rings, and horse meat trafficking networks. Recently, they released a damning investigation into two industrial dairy farms outside of Phoenix, Arizona supplying milk to Coca-Cola’s Fairlife brand. What they uncovered was systemic animal abuse, environmental violations, and a devastating betrayal of consumer trust. While Fairlife markets its products as being sourced "humanely," ARM’s footage tells a very different story—one of suffering, abuse, and corporate complicity. Despite the evidence, this story has been largely ignored by mainstream media—likely due to Coca-Cola’s massive influence and advertising dollars.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36370775
info_outline
Meredith Blanchard: We’ve Cured Cancer in Mice for Decades
04/23/2025
Meredith Blanchard: We’ve Cured Cancer in Mice for Decades
“There's a drug called vioxx that was found to be safe and effective in animal trials, so they moved it on to preclinical trials in humans. Once on the market, that drug caused 88,000 people to have heart attacks and killed 38,000 people.” Meredith Blanchard We have some big news at Species Unite. In January and February, our team traveled to Bainbridge, Georgia to begin filming our first documentary. Bainbridge is a small Southern town facing a truly chilling threat: a company called Safer Human Medicine is planning to build the largest monkey breeding facility in the United States right in their backyard. If approved, this facility would hold up to 30,000 long-tailed macaques at a time—monkeys who would be bred in captivity, then sold to pharmaceutical companies for use in painful and outdated animal experiments. It’s a nightmare for the animals. But it’s also a nightmare for the people of Bainbridge: from threats to their water and soil, to dangerous zoonotic disease risks, to the loss of wildlife and community health. The people of Bainbridge are fighting back. And they’re not alone. One of our partners on this film is the , or NAVS—an organization dedicated to ending the exploitation of animals in science. Today’s guest is Meredith Blanchard, the Senior Manager of Advocacy and Policy at NAVS. I spoke with her about what’s why animal testing doesn’t work and what it will take to finally bring it to an end. Links: National Anti-Vivisection Society
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36277095
info_outline
Rob Read: When the Ocean Bleeds
04/17/2025
Rob Read: When the Ocean Bleeds
“One year, we actually offered the Faroe Islanders One million pounds to stop the hunts. 1 million pounds, which would go to promoting whale and dolphin tourism to the islands and marine conservation education to Faroese kids in schools. And the Faroese response to our offer was the most emphatic no you've ever had in your life. They actually held a hunt on the 1st of January. On the first day of that offer, they went out and deliberately killed pilot whales as their official no to us.” – Rob Read Rob Read is the leader of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK, otherwise known as . He and his team have been working for years to end the suffering of many marine animals. Rob has initiated campaigns as well as actively operating boats, coordinating crew and flying drones, working on issues that include everything from seal shooting by wild salmon net fishermen around Scotland, in Japan against the Taiji dolphin hunts, in the Faroe Islands, against the drive hunts of pilot whales and dolphins, in Iceland against commercial fin whaling, and in Namibia, exposing the Namibian seal hunt. I asked Rob to come on the show to talk about the places in the world where whaling is still the norm. There are not that many left, but there shouldn't be any left. And that's what Rob and Captain Paul Watson Foundation are working to achieve. Links https://neptunespiratesuk.education/about/the-team/rob-read https://www.neptunespirates.uk/
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36213810
info_outline
Andrew Stein: Living with Lions
04/10/2025
Andrew Stein: Living with Lions
“If we march into that village and we start trying to persecute people for using poison, something that's very illegal, nobody's going to talk to us. We're not going to find out where the poison came from. We're not going to be able to shut anything down. We should take the approach that people are using poison because they're desperate, because they see no other alternative.” – Andrew Stein Andrew Stein is a wildlife ecologist who spent the past 25 years studying human carnivore conflict from African wild dogs and lions in Kenya and Botswana to leopards and hyenas in Namibia. His work has long focused on finding ways for people and predators to coexist. He is the founder of , an organization based in Botswana that's working at the intersection of cutting-edge wildlife research and community driven conservation. Since its start in 2014 and official launch as an NGO in 2020, CLAWS has been pioneering science-based, tech-forward strategies to reduce conflict between people and carnivores. By collaborating closely with local communities, especially traditional cattle herders, CLAWS supports both species conservation and rural livelihoods—making coexistence not just possible, but sustainable.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/36081435
info_outline
Jaap de Roode: Doctors by Nature
03/31/2025
Jaap de Roode: Doctors by Nature
"But it makes a lot of sense especially when you think about how traditional healers and shamans have worked, they haven't felt that separation from nature like Western medics do. And so to rely on the knowledge of other species actually makes a lot of sense. It's probably a lot more than we know at the moment." - Jaap de Roode Jaap de Roode is a biology professor at Emory University, and he is the author of an astonishing new book called . I say astonishing because I had no idea about so much of what he explores in his book. It never occurred to me to consider that other species use medicine and have been healing themselves forever. Jaap tells stories of animals across nature, from bumblebees to chimpanzees, how they use plants and natural substances to treat infections, to ward off parasites, to self-medicate. There's so much that we have learned from them, and there's so much more that we still can.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35933685
info_outline
Jonathan Birch: The Edge of Sentience
03/19/2025
Jonathan Birch: The Edge of Sentience
“I mean, organoids in general are very exciting replacements for animal research because you could model a kidney or a liver or a or a heart without taking them from a real animal, which it’s very important to support that kind of thing. But yes, when it's the brain, there's this fear that you might end up creating another sentient being. And then and then you've just replaced one sentient being with another and maybe not made things better at all. So it seems really, really important to guard against that risk.” – Jonathan Birch Dr. Jonathan Birch is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and is Principal Investigator on the “Foundations of Animal Sentience” project, a European Union-funded project to develop better methods for studying the feelings of animals and new ways of using the science of animal minds to improve animal welfare policies and laws. In 2021, he led a review for the UK government that shaped the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In 2022-23, he was part of a working group that investigated the question of sentience in AI. Jonathan is here today to talk about his most recent book, is an open access book published under a license, meaning it can be distributed for free in any format.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35723775
info_outline
Elizabeth MeLampy: Forget the Camel
03/12/2025
Elizabeth MeLampy: Forget the Camel
"The basic premise of the event is that hunters hunt rattlesnakes from the surrounding environment all across West Texas, and bring them into the roundup for the weekend. And during the roundup, these snakes are kept in a pit and then, one by one, beheaded and skinned in front of in front of audiences." - Elizabeth MeLampy is a lawyer dedicated to animal rights and protection, and her passion for this work shines through in her latest book, . To research the book, Elizabeth traveled across the country, immersing herself in a wide range of animal festivals — from the Iditarod dog sled race to the rattlesnake roundup in Sweetwater, Texas. Elizabeth examines these festivals as revealing microcosms of our broader relationship with animals. Whether it's rattlesnake hunts, frog-jumping contests, ostrich races, or groundhog celebrations, these events reflect the ways humans use animals to express cultural identity, community pride, and historical traditions. Yet beneath the pageantry and excitement lies a deeper question: Is our fascination with these spectacles worth the toll it takes on the animals involved? With compassion and insight, Elizabeth invites readers to consider whether there’s a more ethical and empathetic way to honor our stories — one that respects both animals and the traditions they inspire. Please listen, share and read, Forget the Camel. It will be released on April 8th, 2025. https://apollopublishers.com/index.php/forget-the-camel/
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35638885
info_outline
Tom Sciolla: Free the Animals
03/05/2025
Tom Sciolla: Free the Animals
"When we arrived, we had no records, we had nothing. We had no documentation. And one of one of the first things that you have to actually prove to all of these international government parties and so on, you need to you need to say, where did you get this elephant? And we had no idea. We were actually government officials, and we had this elephant, and we had no real idea of where this elephant came from." -Tom Sciolla In 2012, during a scorching heatwave in Buenos Aires, a polar bear named Winner died in the city zoo. His tragic death ignited outrage—not just for him, but for all the animals suffering in the zoo’s dire conditions. The protests grew, and the city listened. Instead of just making small improvements, Buenos Aires did something extraordinary: they took over the zoo. That’s when Thomas Sciolla, the new wildlife and conservation manager, stepped in. But he and his team didn’t just aim to make life better for the animals still trapped there—they decided to set them free. Over the past decade, they have relocated hundreds of animals to sanctuaries, giving them the lives they deserve and the closest thing to freedom they could ever have after lifetimes in captivity. The very last animal to be translocated will be moving in the next few weeks. Pupy, a female African elephant who has been at the zoo since 1993 will be moving across South America to Global Sanctuary for Elephants in Brazil. This is one of the most inspiring stories I’ve heard in a long time—a story of hope for animals, and a blueprint for how real change can happen. Please listen, share and follow Pupy's journey here:
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35509350
info_outline
Andrianna Natsoulas: Don't Cage Our Oceans
02/26/2025
Andrianna Natsoulas: Don't Cage Our Oceans
“That's taxpayer’s money that is going to support research and development and pilot projects to develop a food system that is based on environmental destruction and greed and disregard for animals, fish, and any of the other marine mammals that might be around it.” - Andrianna Natsoulas Andrianna Natsoulas is the campaign director for Don't Cage Our Oceans, an organization that exists to keep our oceans free from industrial fish farms. Offshore finfish farming is the mass cultivation of finfish in marine waters, in underwater or floating net pens, pods, and cages. Offshore finfish farms are factory farms that harm public health, the environment, and local communities and economies that rely on the ocean and its resources. Don’t Cage Our Oceans are a coalition of diverse organizations working together to stop the development of offshore finfish farming in the United States through federal law, policies, and coalition building. And, although it is not yet happening, right now the US Administration and Congress are promoting this kind of farming, which would be nothing short of disastrous for the oceans, the planet and the people and animals who live here. dontcageouroceans.org
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35421790
info_outline
Jeff Sebo: The Moral Circle
02/19/2025
Jeff Sebo: The Moral Circle
“It is a little bit terrifying, because it means that AI systems are going to be entering this uncanny valley where we are not sure how to experience them in five or ten years. You might be talking to Siri on your phone, or ChatGPT on your laptop, or your Roomba, vacuuming your floor. You might be talking to these beings and genuinely be unsure whether they think and feel things when they talk back to you, and that is going to be an uncomfortable place to be.” Jeff Sebo Jeff Sebo works primarily on moral philosophy, legal philosophy, and philosophy of mind; animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; global health and climate ethics and policy; and global priorities research. He is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. He is also an author. His most recent book is called Here he argues that we should extend moral consideration to a much broader spectrum of beings, including insects and even artificial intelligence. After reading his book, I couldn’t agree more.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35237605
info_outline
John Jurko: Rhino Man
02/12/2025
John Jurko: Rhino Man
“I think it's really the amounts of money that they're able to offer people paired with the violence that they're willing to put on people. It's very much like the drug cartels in Mexico, just more focused on poaching of wildlife.” – John Jurko John Jurko is a director and producer of the film, , an award winning documentary which highlights the courageous field rangers who risk their lives every day to protect rhinos and our natural world. The film follows , the head ranger of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, as he and his team battle to protect the rhinos. Anton faces long deployments away from family, dangerous working conditions, and constant threats to his life until he was assassinated for his work protecting the rhinos – this was while they were making the film. John is continuing to advocate to bring justice to his killers who have yet to be arrested. John also created and hosts to further build awareness of the importance of rangers, the rhino poaching crisis, and our need to connect local communities to protected areas.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35219895
info_outline
Jason Edwards: From Icebergs to Iguanas
02/05/2025
Jason Edwards: From Icebergs to Iguanas
“I know that one day for me in Antarctica, one morning for me in Antarctica is a dream for someone who will never get there. Because it's hard to get to. So, I don't waste those opportunities. I don't sit there and go, ‘I'm in Antarctica again.’ No, my brain will not go to that space because I know that people would kill [to be there]. I am the portal sometimes, through which some people will experience different parts of the world.” Jason Edwards Jason Edwards is an award-winning photographer, TV host, and conservationist. His image portfolio ranks among the largest of any photographer in the National Geographic Society's long history, and he has a new book out called, . It's a large format series of books illustrating his National Geographic imagery and his behind-the-scenes tales. It's stunning and it makes you feel very lucky to live on this planet. Through his commissioned assignments and as the face of National Geographic Channel's Pure Photography, Jason has taken his storytelling to televisions and streaming networks in dozens of countries and to every continent. His imagery has appeared in hundreds of publications including National Geographic Magazine, BBC Wildlife, Australian Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Conde Nast Traveler, and The New Yorker.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/35150820
info_outline
Ella Driever and Sneha Sharma: The Timberline Pack
01/29/2025
Ella Driever and Sneha Sharma: The Timberline Pack
“We don't want Idaho to have a bad reputation. This is our home state. We love our home state. It's beautiful. We pride ourselves on our nature. We pride ourselves on our wildlife. And instead, we are continuing to do things that are… that are sickening.” - Ella Driever In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to central Idaho, and in 2003 a Boise High school called Timberline officially adopted a local wolf pack. Throughout the 2000, students went on wolf tracking trips and in their wolf packs range. But in 2021, Idaho's legislature passed Senate Bill 1211, 1211 allows Idaho hunters to obtain an unlimited number of wolf tags, and it also allows Idaho's Department of Fish and Game to use taxpayer dollars to pay private contractors to kill wolves. That means bounties on wolves, including on public lands. And in 2021, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission expanded the wolf hunting season and hunting and trapping methods. So it's not too surprising to learn that also in 2021, the Timberline pack disappeared. The students, the ones that cared about wolves, at least, were devastated. Last summer I went to D.C. with some of the Species Unite team for a wolf rally on Capitol Hill. While I was there, two young women gave a talk about what happened at Timberline in 2021. Their names are Ella Driver and Sneha Sharma. They both graduated from Timberline High School and were there when their wolf pack disappeared. Please, listen and share.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34903830
info_outline
Cheryl Martinez: Veginner Cooking
01/22/2025
Cheryl Martinez: Veginner Cooking
“I know that veganism can be a little daunting for some, and they feel like it's either you go fully vegan or you're not allowed in the club.” – Cheryl Martinez Because it's January and because a lot of people may have made some big resolutions a few weeks ago, we are going to talk about one of them – plant-based eating. Because, well I think it’s a really good resolution to do all year long. I think one of the big resistance points for even trying plant-based for a month, is that many people seem to worry that switching their diet to vegan means there's a lot of food they can't eat anymore, but, I think it’s the opposite. Eating vegan has led to so many options and flavors that I had never knew existed. This episode is with Cheryl Martinez. Cheryl is the founder of , which is all about making plant-based eating accessible and exciting for everyone – whether they’re doing vegan til dinner, or meatless Mondays or are making the shift to full on vegan. Cheryl's built a community of over 200,000 Veginners, that is vegan beginners, and she shares with them delicious recipes, tips, advice, and all sorts of really good info on how to make easy, delicious and healthy plant-based foods. Please listen, share and check out . Veginner Cooking: https://www.veginnercooking.com/ Veginner Recipes:
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34903730
info_outline
Patti Truant Anderson: Polling and the Surprising Results Around What People Really Think About the Food System
01/15/2025
Patti Truant Anderson: Polling and the Surprising Results Around What People Really Think About the Food System
Text “Do people even want to know about some of these issues? Because I think some of the meat production concerns, it's kind of like people would rather in some cases, I think some people might not really want to know all the nitty gritty. They don't want to know how the sausage is made. That poses an interesting question and challenge about how you communicate about some of these issues, when maybe there's a resistance among a subset of people who don't want to know more.” - Patti Truant Anderson Today’s episode is the final installment in our special four-part series where we take a deep dive into the food system with experts from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Our guest is Patti Truant Anderson, a senior program officer at the Center and a faculty associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Patti’s work focuses on public health risks, environmental challenges tied to food production, and how to communicate these critical issues more effectively. Patti and I explore how polling helps uncover public perceptions around food systems and why the country isn’t as polarized on these issues as we might think. We also talk about the challenge of engaging people who may resist learning about the harsh realities of our food system. This episode is not just about data—it’s about how we can foster a shared understanding and move forward, even in times of deep political division. Links: Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future - https://clf.jhsph.edu/ Patti Truant Anderson - https://clf.jhsph.edu/about-us/staff/patti-truant-anderson
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34834720
info_outline
Tom Philpott: The Human Cost of Meatpacking
12/25/2024
Tom Philpott: The Human Cost of Meatpacking
“People in the animal welfare world, I think, should broaden their purview to the human parts of it and sort of work in coalition. Like if you can really expose the labor conditions, you're weakening the industry, and if you can increase labor regulations, if you can make it to where workers don't routinely get repetitive stress injuries and they're not breathing in harsh chemicals, and if you slow the kill line down, that hits their profits and you are weakening the industry. And, also remember, this industry doesn't just slaughter billions of animals a year, it also makes life hell for the people who work in it. Expand your level of solidarity to those people.” – Tom Philpott This is the third episode in a special for part series, where we go deep into the food system with some of the brightest minds at the . In this episode, we dive into one of the many hidden and hideous aspects of our food system: the exploitation of workers in industrial meat production. is a senior research associate at the Center. He joined in 2022 after a distinguished three-decade career in journalism, reporting on the injustices and ecological ramifications of the industrial food system. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book, I asked Tom to shed some light on the grueling conditions faced by meatpacking workers, from dangerous line spades to repetitive injuries and the shocking lack of basic protections, and even though much of this was exposed during the covid 19 pandemic, to explain how it’s all still happening. Tom also hosts the Center for a Livable Future’s podcast, it’s called . It’s really good. Take a listen to learn a whole lot more about the impacts of food animal production. Links Center for a Livable Future: Tom Philpott: https://www.tomphilpott.net/ Perilous Bounty: Unconfined Podcast: https://clf.jhsph.edu/unconfined-podcast
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34548330
info_outline
Keeve Nachman: A Masterclass in Persistence
12/18/2024
Keeve Nachman: A Masterclass in Persistence
“I remember during my training having professors tell me, ‘one day you might do something important and you'll tick off a vested interest, and they're going to come into a meeting with you, and they're going to bring a copy of your dissertation and slam it on the table and start challenging you.’ And that is exactly what happened.” – Keeve Nachman This is the 2nd episode in a special four-part series about where we go deep into the food system with some of the brightest minds at the . This conversation is , a powerhouse in the fields of environmental health, risk assessment, and food systems research. Keeve is the Robert S. Lawrence Professor and Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. He’s also a leading voice on issues like antibiotic resistance and industrial agriculture’s impact on public health. I asked Keeve to come on the show to talk about how his work helped ban the use of arsenic in our food system—a fight that spanned 15 years and had a ripple effect around the globe. Keeve’s story is a masterclass in persistence and the power of science-driven policy change. We also explore his ongoing efforts to address antibiotic misuse in industrial agriculture, a growing threat to global public health, and discuss what it will take to create lasting change in our food system. Links : Keeve Nachman: Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future: Unconfined Podcast https://clf.jhsph.edu/unconfined-podcast
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34473355
info_outline
Brent Kim: From Farm to Fork and Beyond
12/11/2024
Brent Kim: From Farm to Fork and Beyond
“My colleague and I went out to Arizona because there was a community that was concerned about the expansion of an egg laying operation, essentially in their backyard. At full capacity, that operation was slated to house 12 million birds. 12 million birds. It's like New York City, but with chickens.” – Brent Kim We know that what we eat has an enormous impact on billions of animals, our health and the health of the planet. If we fail to change our diets and the food system, the planet will face increasingly severe environmental, social, and economic consequences, many of which are already beginning to unfold. We know this, we know that there is much we could be doing about it, on large and small scales, yet the urgency is not there. I think the more knowledge we have, the more we are willing to demand change and even change ourselves. So, I wanted to go deeper into the food system to get a better understanding of its impact on public health, the planet, ecosystems and social justice, and mostly - to hear about how we change it. This episode marks the beginning of a special four-part series with some of the experts from the . This conversation is with . Brent is a program officer for the Center’s Food Production and Public Health program. His research spans issues from farm to fork with published works on sustainable diets, climate change and industrial food, animal production, food and agriculture policy, soil safety, and urban food systems. He and I talk about much of it, how to change it and solutions for a much better future. Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future https://clf.jhsph.edu/ Brent Kim Unconfined Podcast (from the Center for a Livable Future) https://clf.jhsph.edu/unconfined-podcast
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34395505
info_outline
JG Collomb: Wildlife Conservation Network
12/03/2024
JG Collomb: Wildlife Conservation Network
"In the case of lions, they're not easy neighbors. They're also not the worst neighbors. I think in in most cases, it's a matter of learning how to live next to nature, next to other animals and animals that can potentially be dangerous." - JG Collomb JG Collomb is the CEO of Wildlife Conservation Network, an organization that connects global donors with community based conservationists, and they're changing the way the world finds and funds often overlooked projects in the field and helps foster coexistence between communities and the animals who live among them. Please listen, share and check out the Wildlife Conversation Network.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34270500
info_outline
Aidan Alexander and Thom Norman: The Animals That Need Our Help the Most
11/30/2024
Aidan Alexander and Thom Norman: The Animals That Need Our Help the Most
“I think there's a lot of people out there who feel the way I felt for many years, which is, ‘look, I feel a bit guilty, I know in some sense that having the diet I have makes me complicit in some things that I don't like. It makes me a bit uncomfortable, but it doesn't feel like there’s anything I can do about it right now. I have this guilt. I'd like to do something about it, but just all the options I'm presented with seem a bit shit.’ So, when we present people with something else that they can do, many of the people we've spoken to say it's quite a relief to know that they don't have to sit with this tension. You know, psychologists call it the meat paradox, the thing where we love animals, but we also eat them. How can we resolve this? Well, one thing that can maybe help us resolve this kind of cognitive dissonance is to actually be a part of helping animals even whilst you still haven't changed your diet.” - Aidan Alexander The animals that need our help the most are animals that live on factory farms. Yet charities protecting farmed animals receive 28 times less donations than pet charities. There are all sorts of reasons for this, which we get into in this episode. This conversation is with Aidan Alexander and Tom Norman. Aidan and Tom have started an organization called . It is a way to support your favorite charities, that is, nonprofits that you’re already supporting - pet charities, conservation charities, etc. but also at the same time to help animals that are living on factory farms. Why? Because factory farming is the biggest source of suffering for animals on the planet. Helping to protect these animals and bring factory farming to an end is one of the biggest ways to help animals in need. FarmKind makes it easy to make a difference for millions of factory farm animals when you donate to the causes you care about. FarmKind helps people who feel compassion for animals to help the animals most in need and support their favorite charities at the same. OR FarmKind helps anyone be a part of the solution to factory farming, regardless of their diet. Because diet change isn’t the only way to help farmed animals. Donating is an incredibly powerful way to express our compassion for animals. When we donate to the charities that have been shown to make a difference and use our money wisely, it can make an even bigger difference than changing your diet. Farmkind collaborates with experts to identify some of the most effective charities combating factory farming's impact on animals and the planet. They enable users to between these expert-recommended, super-effective charities and their personal favorite causes, like your local shelter. And they provide a bonus to both, allowing donors to do the most good to combat factory farming while supporting causes close to their hearts. Please listen, share and if you are able, please consider donating to :
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34200650
info_outline
Peter Lehner: Cows, Corn and Crap
11/24/2024
Peter Lehner: Cows, Corn and Crap
"We may think that we're just eating our dinner tonight, but when you multiply it by all of that food every day, every day of the year, everyone in the country, everybody in the world, it's a tremendous production. Just to give you a sense, in the US, we slaughter about 18,000 animals every minute for food just in the United States." - Peter Lehner Agriculture and our food system are responsible for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions. That is an enormous amount. Yet, the food system is all too often left out of climate conversations and is rarely held accountable for its destruction to our planet. I asked Peter Lehner to come on the show to explain some of this, to talk about agriculture's role in climate and how and why they are so often left off the hook. I asked Peter Lehner to come on the show and explain what agriculture's role is in climate, and how and why they are so often left off the hook. Peter is one of the leading experts on the impact of agriculture and climate change. He directs Earth Justice's Sustainable Food and Farming program, developing litigation, administrative and legislative strategies to promote a more just and environmentally sound agriculture system and to reduce health, environmental and climate harms from the production of our food. He is also the author of farming for Our Future The Science, Law and Policy of Climate Neutral Agriculture. He also teaches at Columbia and Yale Law schools. Please listen and share.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/34125041
info_outline
Mark Elbroch: If We Want Mountain Lions the East, We'll Have to Bring Them
11/13/2024
Mark Elbroch: If We Want Mountain Lions the East, We'll Have to Bring Them
"Why do we need large carnivores? Obviously as a scientist, I like talk about the biological roles that they play and the ecological roles, but I will drift and say that I think they're important for spirit and sort of human health more broadly, whether that be mental health, spiritual health, whatever, that sense of wildness that they bring to a landscape, that they force you to listen when you're in the woods, that you hear sticks break around you, that you hear what the birds are doing so that you know whether there's something coming around the next bend. These are all, in my opinion, truly enriching moments and necessary for human spirit and really for human health." - Mark Elbroch Mark: [00:12:23] These are all, in my opinion, truly enriching moments and necessary for human spirit and [00:12:30] really for human health Mark Elbroch is an ecologist and author, storyteller and the director of the Puma Program for , the global wild cat conservation organization. Mark has been on the to talk about cougars, but something has changed since the last time he was on. For years, many people in the scientific community, and this is backed by research, have claimed that cougars would return to their historic range in the eastern US in the next 10 to 20 years. But there's a new study from Panthera that says that this is not true, that they won’t make it to the East Coast even by 2100, which means, if we want cougars in the east we're going to have to help them. This is a big deal because we do want cougars in the east. Large predators make fragile ecosystems strong. Mountain lions and their reintroduction could lead to, less zoonotic disease, and many other benefits. Let’s bring cougars home!
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/33638307
info_outline
Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner: The Parrot Crisis
10/30/2024
Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner: The Parrot Crisis
“And so I've been doing this for about 40 years, and I still don’t get tired of seeing parrots. I see a parrot or I see a bird and I go, I belong. There is such beauty in the world. Oh my gosh. It's like everything is okay for a minute you're intrigued, you're curious, you're seeing beauty, you're seeing flight. But at the same time, you've trained yourself to hold the tragedy because there aren't nearly as many as there used to be and there's all kinds of complex threats against them, and there's little we can do. So you see a wild parrot that is also the internal conversation, they're in trouble, it's not like it was or it should be or could be. So that's what it's like to see a parrot is to see the beautiful and the tragic.” – Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner I only learned recently that parrots are the most endangered group of birds on the planet. As with so many other species, our tendency to take and take is what is driving parrots toward extinction. We've been stealing them from the wild for 60 years to live these pitiful lives in cages, in people's kitchens. That, combined with habitat loss and climate change is pushing these spectacular birds to the brink of extinction. This conversation is with Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner, a wildlife veterinarian, a conservationist, a Unitarian minister, and co-founder of One Earth Conservation. LoraKim has spent the last 40 years in Latin and South America, working with communities to save their parrots – by building their capacity to transform poachers into protectors. One Earth Conservation grows conservationists of all ages by empowering and standing in solidarity and resistance with the people of the Americas. They have projects in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Guyana, Paraguay, and Suriname.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/33637777
info_outline
Sam Tucker: AI and the Future for Animals
10/17/2024
Sam Tucker: AI and the Future for Animals
“In terms of specialized AI within these industries. They're years and years ahead of where the animal movement currently is. Factory farms are increasingly using AI as well to do things like predicting the growth rate of chickens so that they can set the environmental variables up perfectly to exploit these animals as efficiently as possible.” – Sam Tucker Sam Tucker is the founder of , a nonprofit aimed at creating ethically aligned AI systems and he’s the creator of , an AI chatbot promoting animal rights. Sam’s expertise in AI development and animal protection provides both a practical and theoretical understanding of how to create technologies that benefit all species. I asked Sam to come on the show because I want to understand how we, Species Unite and other organizations like us can be using AI to be way more effective.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/33266662
info_outline
Shannon Keith: Freedom Fields
10/09/2024
Shannon Keith: Freedom Fields
“We enacted what's called the Beagle Freedom Project Bill. Basically, what it said was, if you're a facility that tests on dogs and cats, when the testing is over, you are mandated to release those animals to give them a second chance at life to a 501C3 charity like Beagle Freedom Project or any other type of facility like that, like a rescue facility. You wouldn't believe how hard that was to pass.” – Shannon Keith The story sounds like a dream: hundreds of animals used for research and testing are now free and the former prison that they were forced to call home has been torn down to become a safe and loving animal sanctuary. This conversation was done as a live interview a few weeks ago. It's with me and Shannon Keith, the president and founder of the . I invited her on to discuss the shutdown of a massive dog and cat testing laboratory in Nowata, Oklahoma. Not only did the Beagle Freedom Project and Shannon shut down this laboratory, but they rescued all of the dogs and cats that were being tested on there, and they took over the laboratory and it's grounds and are in the process of transforming it into a 30-acre sanctuary called . The closure of this laboratory ends one-third of the toxic flea and tick testing industry in the United States, sparing the lives of thousands of dogs and cats. Beagle Freedom Project is the world’s leading organization for rescuing and rehoming animals used in experimental research. Since 2010, they have liberated thousands of animals while working to end their abuse through education, advocacy, and legislation. We talk about the shutdown, the rescue of hundreds of animals that were being tested on, and the magic of transforming a dark and terrifying animal research lab into a beautiful sanctuary. And, we discuss not only how to help these former research animals, but also the more than one hundred million still being used for testing and research in the United States.
/episode/index/show/speciesunite/id/33191902