Empathy is difficult without awareness. And the single most important reason that humanity tolerates horrific cruelty to animals–in multiple industries, from food, to cosmetics, to furs, to entertainment, to health research–is that the true experience of animals at the hands of humans is mostly, and intentionally, hidden. Enter photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, whose life mission is … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: The Ghosts In Our Machine”
I wonder if the (likely) Asian man who is using rhino horn powder to try and amp up his apparently unfulfilling life knows that this is on the other end of his desires. What is truly devastating to see is that this rhino, found last April in Kruger National Park, is still alive [WARNING: very … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: Rhino Poaching”
The New York Times catches up with the Ag-Gag problem: But a dozen or so state legislatures have had a different reaction: They proposed or enacted bills that would make it illegal to covertly videotape livestock farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups. They have also drafted … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: Slaughterhouse Transparency Trending”
Italian photographer Francesco Scipioni spent a day photographing the workings of a slaughterhouse. The experience compelled him to make a change in his life: he became a vegetarian. It’s not hard to see why (full photoset is here):
As regular readers will know, I like to say “Seeing Is Important” because seeing helps people understand (and believe) the reality of what goes on in the world, whether at a marine park or a factory farm. So I was struck by the following tidbit in Elizabeth Batt’s report on legal threats made against Dr. … Continue reading “When (Not) Seeing Is Important”
Via the ever-vigilant Elizabeth Batt comes this 28-minute video which captures the full tragedy of what is happening in Taiji’s killing cove. Elizabeth has the backstory here. The video is as painful to watch as you might expect. But that’s why it is important that people see it. What is happening there is almost beyond … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: Taiji “Dawn To Death””
We hear a lot of debate about the Keystone Pipeline and the future of oil extraction from tar sands as part of the global energy future. Fron the comfort and isolation of our modern lives it all sounds pretty abstract–with lots of numbers and projections getting thrown around. But no matter whether you are for … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: The Alberta Tar Sands”
Sometimes natural disasters kill. And sometimes, very rarely, they save. This is a moving and well-produced story about a pig, a flood, and her escape from a factory farm. So the humans are the aggressors–the deus ex machina–and nature–the deluge–is the engine of salvation. It’s an ironic role reversal which punctures our preferred narrative of … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: Nicky’s Story”
Back to one of my favorite themes, because last night I saw the documentary “Chasing Ice.” It’s about the quest of photographer James Balog to capture–through time-lapse photographs taken by remotely positioned cameras–what is happening to the earth’s great glaciers. You may know that they are melting and shrinking. But knowing something and seeing something … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: The Meaning Of (Melting) Ice”
Okay, at some point it will simply be gratuitous to keep posting these horrific slaughterhouse videos. But I am not at that point yet, because I want to convey that this is an industry problem, and not just isolated to one or two rogue slaughterhouses. This video was made by Mercy For Animals (I first … Continue reading “Seeing Is Important: More On Meat”
The Earthist Chronicles 