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Defining Human-Animal Studies Video Series Season 2
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Our
two latest videos as part of Season 2 of ASI’s Defining Human-Animal Studies video series have been released. First,
Kenneth Shapiro defines kinesthetic empathy. Ken is cofounder and President of the board of the Animals & Society Institute. He is founding editor of
Society & Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies
, coeditor and cofounder of
Journal for Applied Animal Welfare Science
and the editor of the Human-Animal Studies book series. His most recent book is
The Assessment and Treatment of Children who Abuse Animals: The AniCare® Approach
.
The second video highlights Dr. Vasile Stanescu, Assistant Professor & Director, Program in Speech and Debate, Department of Communication Studies & Theatre, Mercer University, discussed the term Critical Animal Studies. Vasile Stanescu is Assistant Professor of Communication at Mercer University; he also serves as faculty in department of Women’s and Gender Studies. He received his Ph.D. in the program of Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) at Stanford University.
His current research interests include Critical Animal Studies, food studies, decolonialism, eco-criticism and environmental rhetoric. Stanescu is co-senior editor of the Critical Animal Studies book series published by Rodopi/Brill, the former co-editor of the
Journal for Critical Animal Studies
, and former co-organizer of the Stanford Humanities Project. Stanescu is the author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications on critical animal studies in journals such as the
American Behavioral Scientist
,
Liberazioni – Rivista di critica antispecist
a [Liberations-Anti-Specieist Criticisms],
Journal fürkritische Tierstudien
[The German Journal for Critical Animal Studies],
The Journal of American Culture
,
Animal Studies Journal
, and the
Journal for Critical Animal Studies
. Stanescu’s research has been recognized by The Woods Institute for the Environment, Minding Animals International, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Culture and Animals Foundation, and the Institutul Cultural Român, [Institute for Romanian Culture] among others. Stanescu has been vegan for 20 years.
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Opening Shelter Doors in Toronto!
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As we prepare this week for our first site visit to Toronto, part of our Open Shelter Doors for Homeless People and Their Pets project funded by
Maddie's Fund®
to explore approaches to co-sheltering homeless people and their animals, we were excited to learn about a new series of pop-up galleries in Seattle featuring autobiographical photographs made by people experiencing homelessness with their animal companions.
The project includes data visualizations and community maps based on research conducted at the University of Washington’s Center for One Health Research. By providing cameras and notebooks to 20 people experiencing homelessness, the project aims to document the human-animal bond and the daily challenges faced by people and their animals who lack stable housing. In collaboration with the University of Washington School of Law, the project is also looking at how federal, state, and local laws affect service and emotional support animals, an important area that we will be exploring in greater depth through our Maddie’s Fund evaluation.
To learn more about the Opening Shelter Doors project
click here.
Maddie’s Fund
Maddie's Fund® is a family foundation created in 1994 by Workday® co-founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl, who have endowed the Foundation with more than $300 million. Since then, the Foundation has awarded more than $225.7 million in grants toward increased community lifesaving, shelter management leadership, shelter medicine education, and foster care across the U.S. #ThanksToMaddie.
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Did you know that worldwide about 70 billion farm animals are now reared for food each year? Most of these animals are not considered sentient beings, only products to be used.
ASI celebrated World Day for Farmed Animals by spreading awareness. Check out the infographic for some cool facts about how farmed animals do actually think and act. And browse through
these articles
on our website for even more information.
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See the whole Did You Know? series on Facebook
here!
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THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Reflection by Elan Abrell, J.D., Ph.D, ASI Board Member
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In mid-August of this year, the Trump administration issued a set of roll-backs to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA), only 3 months after the release of a report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services that warned 1 million species are currently at risk of extinction, largely as a result of human activities.
Specifically, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued new rules for enforcement that will allow the federal government to consider economic factors in determining whether a species could be categorized as “endangered” or “threatened.” Additionally, species categorized as “threatened” (one step below endangered) will no longer automatically be afforded the same protections as those in the endangered category. Instead, such protections will be determined on a case-by-case basis, if at all. Further, whereas “threatened” is defined as “any species which is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future,” the new rules allow the agencies significant discretion in determining what is “foreseeable,” which many critics of the changes reasonably fear would enable regulators to disregard the long-term impacts of climate change in their determinations.
Aside from further aggravating the mass extinction threat outlined in the UN report, these changes enable the Trump administration to advance what, based on its other environmental policies, is difficult to see as anything other than an explicit agenda of climate change acceleration. First, it enables federal agencies to disregard the impacts of the mining, petroleum, and ranching industries (among others) on threatened and endangered species (including the effects on these species of climate change, for which these industries are largely responsible). Second, it creates opportunities for the expansion of these industries into spaces that would have otherwise been protected – through projects such as oil and gas drilling or grazing cattle on public lands – contributing even further to green house gas emissions as a result of these activities.
In a potentially more hopeful development, there are currently two lawsuits challenging these changes. The first was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of a coalition of environmental and animal protection groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Humane Society of the United States, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and WildEarth Guardians. The second lawsuit was brought by a coalition of attorneys general from 17 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as attorneys general from two cities, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Addressing the lawsuit, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D) issued the following statement, “As we face a climate emergency and global extinction crisis threatening more than a million species, the Trump Administration is gutting Endangered Species Act protections to pave the way for oil and gas developments. We are suing to defend federal law and protect our imperiled wildlife and environment.”
Since the roll-back announcement, ASI has joined the Endangered Species Working Group to collaborate with other like-minded organizations to restore the Endangered Species Act. Please continue to read our newsletters and check our social media platforms for updates on this work.
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Elan Abrell received his J.D. from Berkeley Law School at the University of California, and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His dissertation, Saving Animals: Everyday Practices of Care and Rescue in the US Animal Sanctuary Movement (funded by a grant form the National Science Foundation), examines how sanctuary caregivers respond to a range of ethical dilemmas and material constraints while attempting to meet the various and sometimes conflicting needs of rescued animals.
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Starting in January 2020, ASI will turn the spotlight on members to highlight how their work helps to create safer and more compassionate communities for all and how they have benefited from their ASI membership.
Are you a member and would like to share your new manuscript, scholarly article, project or program? If so, we'd love to share your story! To be featured in ASI's monthly e-newsletter, email your story to Ivy Collier at ivy.collier@animalsandsociety.org
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We know our supporters share our belief that decisions that impact animals and society should be driven by research and science. Your gift this fall will help ASI do just that! Your gift has the power to improve and expand our knowledge about human-animal relationships to create safer and compassionate communities for all.
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Did you know you can shop on Amazon and support ASI?
Visit
smile.amazon.com
, choose Animals and Society as your charity, and shop. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases.
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