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4.12.23

The Great Glastonbury Greenwash

With a giant Greenpeace banner strewn across the stage, Paul McCartney delightedly introduced his Saturday night special guests and gave anecdotes on their short notice air flights. Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen were only onstage for a couple of songs in The Beatles’ headliner set; that this passes with so little commentary only shows how weak and toothless the drive to reduce anthropogenic climate change really is. Aviation is of course understood to be a huge emitter of greenhouse gases. Grohl explained. “Well I started on Wednesday, then the flight got cancelled, back to the airport Thursday and then the flight got cancelled, but I swear I would never miss being on stage with you right now.” Sir Paul enthused. “These two guys flew in especially for this tonight.” As with David Attenborough in 2019, earlier in the day Greta Thunberg had been wheeled out for a little eco-conscience slot, as always warning the audience of the perils that are due if we don’t mend our ways. Then it was back on with the entertainment as a various assortment of international artists performed to an international audience. No more parties were pooped nor personal desires challenged. Flying is just an accepted and aspirational norm for the heaving billions. Greta getting the masses to pay lip service to climate change McCartney is no stranger to climate activism himself, urging the Climate Conference attendees to adopt plant-based diet treaties. A fair point given that other than our choices around reproduction (each new human multiplies our impacts) switching to a plant-based diet is the most effective personal choice. McCartney could never ditch the milk products though, the eternal veggie. Which leads us to the site itself, Glastonbury takes place on the acreage of Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer. The land is used for cow exploitation the rest of the year and farming cows is time and again shown to be an inefficient usage of land, calories and a key source of food based emissions alongside meat. Eavis releases feelgood videos to Youtube about the happy cows and where they go to during the festival. Unsurprisingly he doesn’t suggest the slaughterhouse or separation of mother and calf as possible destinations and outcomes. The kids aren’t alright. Let the Glasto cleanup begin… One musical artist has been brave enough to point out the hypocritical and harmful industry that takes place at good ol’ ‘Glasto’. Morrissey blew the whistle on his being blocked from performing The Smiths track Meat Is Murder with its video of standard practice on the big screen. He went on to state that milk production is even more cruel than meat and highlight how environmentally damaging it is. In 2011, I played Glastonbury and attempted to sing the song Meat Is Murder. Behind me, a screen that usually shows the many evils of factory farming remained blank. Dairy cows are not allowed to not be in lactation because then their milk production decreases and they do not produce enough milk to justify the cost of their board and lodgings. Therefore, cows are repeatedly raped and raped and raped … which Michael Eavis presumably thinks is a great way to make sentient beings happy. Does Michael Eavis at his Glastonbury Farm accommodate any cows at all that do not yield money his way? I doubt it. Off with their heads! Does Michael Eavis care about the insane environmental damage caused by dairy farming? I doubt it. To hell with the environment! People who do not care about animal rights usually do not care about human rights. It naturally follows. I saw only the one social media poster draw attention to McCartney’s oh-so casual talk of flying in his cameo guests. A response came in saying that this constituted “carbon shaming”. I am familiar with many of the “shaming” tropes but this one was new to me. I replied that we should be so lucky to shame anyone and that a whole lot of “carbon shaming” is going to be required if the ambitious and non-binding net zero targets are ever going to be met.

6.8.23

Book Review: Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith

 A fascinating deep dive (!) into other consciousnesses.

2016 bestseller by Peter Godfrey-Smith on the evolution and nature of consciousness.

Anyone who has seen the excellent Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher will be in no doubt that there is an extremely complex realm of thought at play among the cephalopods. The ocean is the source of all life with its single celled organisms and on a different branch to us mammals, they have still chanced to have a large cache of neurons in a decentralised brain.

While the writing can be a little muddled and opaque at times, the evolutionary history and philosophy more than make up for this. Godfrey-Smith scuba dives among the residents at “Octopolis” and recalls their behaviour in rich detail.

Nagel asked us what it means to be a bat and here we ponder what could it be like to see colour through your arms/legs and camouflage yourself accordingly? Arms/Legs that are replete with neurons and have their own individual level of action and autonomy.

An imprisoned octopus recognises the staff members in a laboratory and squirts water at their least favourite individual. A state of captivity of course isn’t suitable for making any overarching judgments. Also listed are flawed, unethical tests in which the individuals are given negative punishment (electrocutions etc) and poor, unsuitable rewards.

A surprising teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity

It was telling that the author described the pre-Cambrian times of peaceful, non-competitive life as a “Garden Of Eden.” Who could ever claim it was a boon for sentient life to need weapons, antenna and eyes-as defences-and become “red in tooth and claw”? Unimaginable levels of suffering have followed.

On which topic, Cartesian arrogance that plants us at the centre of creation is being eroded one finding at a time as other species show themselves to be more advanced than previously thought. Often in ways that needn’t involve anthropocentric criteria.

As Yuval Noah Harari asserts, our industrial scale exploitation and killing of other sentient beings will surely come to be understood as a huge moral wrong. Many members of the public recently bristled at the proposition of a new octopus farm but it is long overdue that we equally oppose the farming of cows, pigs and chickens.

4.8.23

The Family That Preys Together

 The Zouma cat case highlights stark cultural divides in attitudes regarding other animals

In the UK it has been impossible to miss the story of Kurt Zouma, an £125,000 a week athlete who kicked and slapped a cat on camera, while his family respond joyfully. His laughing brother, non-league footballer Dagenham and Redbridge’s Yoan Zouma thought this sadistic display was a funny moment to record, upload and share to social media.

However, this impulse was poorly judged and their host country strongly disagreed. This is the UK, a “nation of animal lovers” where (especially) cats and dogs are treated like a member of the family by many. Outrage and petitions followed, West Ham’s decision to start Zouma in the next match against Watford was viewed as tone deaf.

Lineker’s Tweet captured the mood of many Brits

He was roundly booed by both sets of supporters. The RSPCA correctly stepped in to seize the two cats from Zouma’s property and West Ham later fined him two weeks wages and announced he would miss their next match.

Not everyone was contrite though. The big football leagues of Europe are followed globally, particularly across the African diaspora. A large number of whom weren’t willing to throw their man under the bus. Social media that had previously seen posters defend UK-based footballers Benjamin Mendy and Mason Greenwood (Accused of rapes and assaults, trending #1 in South African news) now came out in force to question the importance of a man beating “his” cat.

A snippet from a significant online phenomenon

A cultural chasm in attitudes towards other animals was apparent as the two disparate worldviews battled in social media’s football forums. Zouma’s West Ham teammate Michail Antonio came forward to practice some classic whataboutery asking “Is what he’s done worse than racism?” BBC’s Question Time programme amplified another voice downplaying the cat’s plight.

This is where it gets especially interesting. The defenders of Zouma may be speciesists who hardly value other animals morally, but some were able to expose the hypocrisy of the offended Brits. A few asked the “pet lovers” if they eat meat and pointed out that Adidas (a sponsor who pulled funding), profit from the sale of leather skin boots. Cue outraged responses that killing and skinning a cow for boots or her flesh is a different matter. Perhaps it was only the needless cruelty of this case that made it uniquely bad?

In explicit contrast to Jack’s rhetoric, a cow like any other traditionally farmed animal is no different to a cat in their interests. They too are sentient beings that we should morally avoid causing any unnecessary harm or suffering. An example of necessary harm might be self defence against an attack from a bull but can leather shoes and animal products such as flesh, dairy and eggs truly be said to be necessary?

Both the British and American Dietetic Associations confirm vegan diets to be perfectly healthy, even beneficial and protective by several criteria of health. Therefore we can’t claim that the exploitation and killing of sentient beings is nutritionally necessary.

Rather, just as Zouma and company were party to the menacing of an innocent cat for reasons of sadistic pleasure, so too are non-vegans guilty of consuming according to frivolous gustatory pleasure. They make up 99% of society and are overtly valuing the titillation of their palate over the needless suffering of billions upon billions of farmed animals.

As such, I will leave the last word here to the least hypocritical response I witnessed in the entire discourse. Complete, unsurprisingly, with ethically illiterate responses of “plants though”.

22.8.17

The Species Barrier #43 Podcast

Sociologist Roger Yates is back to review recent films Carnage and What The Health, we also take the opportunity to look back over other animal rights/vegan documentaries. Roger also rants about reducetarianism.

We were visited by Nick (another sociologist!) and Katie, hosts of Progressive Podcast Australia so we had them come by the studio for a chat on environmentalism, veganism etc.

In the news Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris climate agreement and Bristol VegFest came to an end with this year's event.


Renaissance Roger. Lifetime achievement award for 5-a-side service.
Listen to The Species Barrier 43 Sociological Media Here

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Nick and Katie of PPA hit up the UK on their vacay.

27.4.17

The Species Barrier #42 Podcast & Show Notes

We welcome back Sandra Higgins, psychologist and founder of the Go Vegan World advertising campaign and Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary.

Guest bioethicist Travis Rieder asks should we be having children in the age of climate change?

Also 2016 was another year of record temperatures, previous guest Simon Amstell has a vegan film coming out on BBC iPlayer and just how much Arctic ice melt is our carbon footprint responsible for?

Go Vegan World: Taking it to the masses


Listen to The Species Barrier 42 Billboards and Breeding Here

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Travis Rieder: Should we be adding new humans into our climate predicament?

Show Notes:
Simon Amstell's Carnage http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04sh6zg
Go Vegan World https://goveganworld.com/
Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary http://edenfarmedanimalsanctuary.com/
Travis Rieder bio http://www.bioethicsinstitute.org/people/travis-n-rieder
Arctic Ice Melt per person  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/03/your-carbon-footprint-destroys-30-square-metres-of-arctic-sea-ice-a-year



8.2.17

The Species Barrier #41 Podcast

Episode 41, we speak to Josie from the Vervet Monkey Foundation on their conservation work in South Africa, and why they promote veganism play back an archive interview regarding Donald Trump's Aberdeen golf course development and Lincoln Animal Rights discuss their dairy campaigns. We also look back on the Go Vegan World promotional events in Birmingham.

Vervet Monkeys inspect the strange fur-free visage of their primate cousin.


Listen to The Species Barrier 41 Monkeying Around Here

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Donald's golf course was built on top of Sand dunes classified as SSSIs

16.1.17

The Species Barrier #40 Podcast

Episode 40 of The Species Barrier....Part two of our interview with Karen I Shragg, author of Moving Upstream: A Call to Solve Overpopulation, in her book Karen challenges everyone from green organisations to politicians to deal with a key causal issue instead of the symptoms.

We discuss the development of The Lawns complex in Lincoln and the continual loss of remaining green spaces. We speak to Pete who is a local man who has a deep attachment to the site and the wild animals who live there.

Also, in the news we are permanently beyond 400ppm and in the wake of such stark facts ethicists ask should we reproduce in an era of such inevitable climate change? Bees become an endangered species, and 10% of remaining wilderness lost since 1993.

The Lawns of Lincoln. This area is now covered in concrete.


Listen to The Species Barrier 40 For Pete's Sake Here

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Move Upstream: Karen Shragg Rocks!

8.9.16

The Species Barrier #39 Podcast & Show Notes

Episode 39 of The Species Barrier... Karen I Shragg, author of Moving Upstream: A Call to Solve Overpopulation. In her book Karen challenges everyone from green organisations to politcians to deal with a key causal issue instead of just the symptoms.

World Peace Diet Will Tuttle returns for the second part of his interview and we discuss the anthropocene epoch, Jeremy Corbyn’s pro-growth message and should we really be surprised by thousands of legal breaches in the UK’s abattoirs?

An Important book, the population version of Cowspiracy in many ways.

Listen to The Species Barrier 39 Upstream Here

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He's not kidding around. Will Tuttle making hay with goat pals.

The Species Barrier #38 Show Notes:

Move Upstream:  http://freethoughthouse.com/move-upstream.html

Will Tuttle: http://www.worldpeacediet.com/





15.7.16

The Species Barrier #38 Podcast & Show Notes

Coming up today award-winning speaker, educator, author, and musician Will Tuttle discusses his spiritual approach to vegan education. Rebecca from The Reasonable Vegan website and Rob the author of Rational Morality argue that all advocacy should be partaken using rational reasoning only.

We discuss Harambe the gorilla, alligators at Disney and a vegan climber dying on Everest. A paper in nature suggests the Paris climate agreement can't stay under 1.5 degrees and 1.5 wouldn't have been sufficient anyway.

Should we advocate veganism for reasons of spiritual health?

Listen to The Species Barrier 38 Otherworldly Here

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Or for reasons of rationality and reason?

The Species Barrier #38 Show Notes:

Will Tuttle: http://www.worldpeacediet.com/

The Reasonable Vegan: http://rvgn.org/

Robert Johnson:  https://robertjohnson.org.uk/

8.4.16

The Species Barrier #37 Podcast & Show Notes

Coming up today, Anne Heritage guardian to the at the time oldest bitch on earth and author of the book Bramble The Dog Who Wanted To Live Forever. In this wide ranging interview we cover domestication, dog nutrition, housing developments. anthropocentrism and more. Karen Phillips is the founder of Hope Haven Sanctuary, she tells us why health and fitness is so important to longevity as an activist and as The Lincoln Vegan Festival approaches motorcyclist Allan Crossley stops by to tell us why he'll be visiting us on his UK tour.

In the news, we cover the usual ever worsening course of ecological and civilisational destruction.

Anne tells us Bramble was a prickly character


Listen to The Species Barrier 37 Mishmash Here

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Hope Haven ducks happen upon a happy hog in a Haystack

The Species Barrier #37 Show Notes:

The World's Oldest Bitch:  https://bramblethedogwhowantedtoliveforever.wordpress.com/

 Hope Haven Animal Sanctuary: http://www.hopehavenfarm.org/




We were interviewed by The Which Side Podcast

"Episode 178: We talk with Ruth & Marcus of The Species Barrier; about veganism, atheism, intersectionality, human population, their show & much more. ‪#‎fsd"


 
Check it out HERE

Why Human Population is an Animal Rights Issue essay.

  
This post is a summarised, written version of a talk which we have presented at many vegan festivals in the UK. We have the video version on Youtube that was shot at London Vegfest 2015 and can be watched HERE. 



Read it HERE

3.12.15

The Species Barrier #36 Podcast & Show Notes

Coming up today... we reflect on London VegFest 2015 alongside organiser Tim Barford and participants Gary Francione and Alan and Frances AKA The Grumpy Old Vegans.

We're on course for the hottest year on record, the number of trees halved under human civilisation, meats as carcinogenic as smoking, Study suggests society will collapse by 2040 due to food shortages, Study labels humans "superpredators", in one year 5000 acres of greenbelt land has had it's protected status removed, Morrissey announces he's vegan and was Charlotte Church so wrong for citing climate change regarding Syrian refugees?

Grumpy Old Vegans: Alan and Frances pre-make up.


Listen to The Species Barrier 36 Vegfest Here

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"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Tim, Pig Freud and Roger Yates argue over who is who...

21.10.15

Our Video Presentations at London VegFest 2015

Why Human Population Is An Animal Rights Issue:



The Big Debate: "Single Issue Campaigns: Taking the Animal Rights Movement Forwards or Backwards?"



Opening statement: "We're all so familiar with the refrain, "Sign our petition against dog meat, send us a donation so we can oppose kangaroo leather..." A vegan argument on behalf of single issue campaigns, how we have come to commonly understand them at least, can only be defended via subterfuge, duplicity and a secret agenda of "I know we did that but we're really saying one thing and meaning another".

Our alternative is a consistent and rational message of veganism as the moral baseline. Over the decades we have had the opportunity to observe and think critically about the standard way that the animal organisations utilise their authority as supposed experts on these matters. The never ending to and fro dance led between campaigners and industry over fur popularity is a prominent failure.

I recently saw a campaign to stop grouse being kept in cages, yes that would be the same grouse who are bred in order to be shot. The big "animal rights" organisation involved makes no grander request of the public than that they ask the birds be bred for shooting in a supposedly nicer way.

So often they target the exotic other. Think of the campaigns surrounding niche markets for flesh and fur from dogs or cats in foreign lands. This coming from countries where we exploit and cause suffering to billions of farmed animals who are no less sentient.

Think of VIVA's campaign against kangaroo leather, singling out an animal that is exotic to us here, but how many people do you know who even wear kangaroo skin in the UK? The very same UK where virtually every citizen is using the skins of cows on either their feet or as seating, bags, purses or jackets.

Why the disproportionate amount of time given to a focus on fur when leather is so much more profuse? The only implication can be that cow exploitation is more acceptable or that cows matter less than furry victims.

The single issue campaign is all too often used as a way of criticising some niche use that "other groups" partake in, absolving the donor base of their sins and letting them know that by not shooting grouse, wearing fur, or kangaroo skins they have done their bit and merit the animal rights, expert seal of approval. Again, the public assumes that the big orgs are the authority on what our obligations are to individuals from other species. Why wouldn't they?

Of course none of these unusual categories of exploitation apply to the average UK citizen so what it comes down to in the end is feel good but ultimately hollow victory announcements and donations, plenty of donations. VIVA have just announced that Tesco will no longer carry kangaroo meat this time... the kangaroos surely salute you but the standard farm animals who will replace them in meals won't. These campaigns do nothing to reduce total demand for animal products.

The big animal organisations are reliant on public funding and need plenty of donations in order to perpetuate their bureacratic operations. As such their message must not be controversial and instead welcomes all comers into feel good back slapping. Non-vegan money is sought and therefore a largely non-vegan, confusing message is what is used to appeal to them.

I personally experienced this in Lincolnshire when VIVA came to town to attach themselves to the campaign against the local Nocton mega Dairy proposal. It was eventually rejected on environmental grounds, as we know farming cows is very pollutive, but that didn't stop them claiming it as an animal welfare victory. Regardless of undeserved credit, what was the victory exactly? The demand for cows and their milk had not been reduced, new vegans hadn't been created and the ever growing demand for dairy products will simply be met from another location.

Another example I can draw on, again featuring VIVA I'm afraid was at a local vegan festival in Lincoln. Tim of course has now brought in a greater emphasis on veganism but generally vegan festivals offer up a confusing mishmash of single issue campaigns vying for public's attention. This one was no different and while all products had to be suitable for vegans, the campaigning was without any consistent vegan education.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure that veganism is buried away in their literature somewhere but signs such as "Go VIVA veggie!" were the prominent ones. Not only shoehorning in the charity's branding needlessly but with "veggie" generally referring to consumption of eggs and dairy, actually promoting the use, exploitation, suffering and killing of farmed animals.

We injected some unequivocal vegan education into  one single stall and overheard VIVA's director and founder call us "trouble causers" and suggest that we should "go and be radical somewhere else".

Radical was presumably intended as a slur given the context, but it's etymology is an empowering one, "from the root". Independent, grassroots actions are the very thing that scares the animal advocacy industry. They seek to disempower people from pursuing their own grassroots efforts and instead create a state of dependence with all roads leading through their machine. Essentially getting paid to offer diluted, confusing single issue campaigns to the public. Sign this petition, cheerlead us as we claim meaningless victories, go vegan if you're radical but most of all please send us your donations.

You are free to reject the status quo of learned helplessness. Remember that the power is yours to encourage a real actual cultural shift in favour of genuinely emancipating other animals. Giving time and effort to the tacit promotion of killing cows for your shoes, instead of kangaroos, simply won't get us there.

Closing statement: Exploitation of all other animals is certainly on the rise and I don't attribute all of that increased demand to the failures of the animal welfare movement. That the human population rises by 230,000 people daily, many of whom will likely never hear about veganism and may aspire to consume animal products as a measure of status would likely be more significant still.

That said, the argument that if other sentient animals matter morally they therefore should not be used as our property has never been given it's due focus. Therefore it is currently harder to supply supportive evidence, bar our personal anecdotes. What we can say is the arguments make sense, aren't confusing and are clear in their claims making. If other animals matter at all then the least we should do is go vegan. With that consistent stance the cards will fall as they may with the public, but we won't have sold out or short changed the other species who we advocate for."

9.10.15

The Species Barrier #35 Podcast & Show Notes

Episode #35 of The Species Barrier... South African Professor of Philosophy David Benatar, writer of Better To Have Never Been, The Harm of Coming Into Existence joins us to discuss his work. Mistro, musical artist from Norway has a new album out called The Tragedy of Birth and author Jan Smitovicz from America is the writer of revenge novel Orange Rain.

Also in the news discussion, we attended the Premiere of Unity (Long awaited followup to Earthlings) and give our thoughts, World Overshoot Day passes, water and food predicted to run out, The Pope's encyclical covers environmentalism and animal ethics, Beyonce's "veganism",  techno fixes can't save the oceans, Cecil The Lion and it's been made official that humans are driving The Sixth Great Extinction event in geological history.


Before serving, always make sure the Earth is fully cooked.


Listen to The Species Barrier 35 Antinatal Here

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Adopt Don't Breed: Jan has a vasectomy so rest assured his son here is a rescue.
The Species Barrier #35 Show Notes:

Review of Unity The Film: http://www.veganoutreachuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/review-of-unity-shaun-monsons-follow-up.html

David Benatar:  http://www.thecritique.com/articles/we-are-creatures-that-should-not-exist-the-theory-of-anti-natalism/

Mistro:  https://www.facebook.com/mistrohiphop

Jan Smitowicz: https://jansmitowicz.wordpress.com/