We’ve been away for a few weeks, and start the show by first catching up with what we did, animal-friendly-wise, for the holidays.
The Basic Tenets of Animal Rights
So what exactly are “animal rights”? To start the new year off on the right step, for old and new listeners alike, we take this time to establish what it means for animals to be afforded “rights”, which is the core of what the Animal Voices show is all about.
We discuss the sub-ideologies of carnism and speciesism, explain what sentience is and why this should matter to humans, and we answer such questions as: “Is animal suffering ever justified?” and explore the notion of whether humans are more important to consider than non-human animals.
The ideas and quotes in this segment are taken from Doris Lin’s recent article on this very subject, which can be read in its entirety here.
Erik Marcus: Journey of an Animal Activist
Our feature interview is with longtime activist for the animals Erik Marcus. Erik Marcus is the publisher of the prominent website Vegan.com and is the author of four books related to veganism and animal agribusiness, including “Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating”, “Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money”, and “The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice”.
Over the last fifteen years, he has inspired thousands of individuals to adopt a vegan diet through his writing, podcasts, lectures, and speaking tours. The focus of his work is to inspire people to become not just vegan, but effective animal advocates. And today he is here to talk to us about that, and to share his journey through activism so that others may be inspired and learn from his experiences. This is an interview that will speak to budding and seasoned activists alike, as we may take Erik’s knowledge and advice to being effective advocates for the animals in 2012.
Here is a short video of Erik speaking about some of his activism work:
Click here to listen to the show.
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