Photo © LexnGer
Traci Warkentin and Gavan Watson join us in studio again for Part II of “Different Ways of Knowing: Birding, Aquariums, and the End of Suffering?” In this conversation, Traci and Gavan describe the work of some of their influences, including environmental philosophers Neil Evernden, Val Plumwood, Donna Haraway, David Quammen, among others. They also provide a brief introduction to sensual world of phenomenology.
Gavan and Traci stress the importance of staying open and attentive to animals, and talk about how we might meet animals like squirrels on their own terms. Turning to a discussion about “trash animals” and “food animals”, they draw together such themes as contamination, invisibility, and Otherness. Gavan ends with a description of his challenging work on the Ring-billed Gull, and Traci closes with a question to our listeners: Do we have a moral imperative to support the genetic engineering of industrial “food animals” if it means they will suffer less?
News links:
- Will that be a low fat or regular cow?
- Farmed fish given melamine-tainted feed, U.S. officials say
- 40 Slow lorises, a record high, smuggled and seized at Narita airport
- Dolphin at Vancouver Aquarium miscarries again
Listen right now:
Animal Voices 