What can science tell us about how animals see the world? Independent journalist Brandon Keim meets Sentient’s Ana Bradley and Jenny Splitter to discuss his new book, “Meet the Neighbors,” and how our understanding of animals is evolving in episode no. 36 of Sentient: The Podcast.

Brandon Keim is an independent journalist specializing in science, nature and animals.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8bzBPKHaTCQ

Buy Meet the Neighbors here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324007081

Follow Brandon here:

• Substack: https://brandonkeim.substack.com/
• X: http://twitter.com/9brandon
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/9brandon/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandonkeimauthor

Links for further reading:

• https://brandonkeim.net/
• https://ig.ft.com/ai-animals/
• https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-25935-010 Hobaiter, Catherine
• https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/06/new-anthropomorphism/678611/

Since May 2020, the instance of orcas ramming boats, biting off bits of vessels, sinking yachts, has off the coast of Portugal and Spain in the Gibraltar Strait has gone from a handful of encounters to 100s. In this episode, Sarah DeWeerdt explains what might be happening and reflects on the tragic death of the captive orca known many as Lolita. 

Sarah DeWeerdt is a freelance science journalist in Seattle covering biology, medicine and the environment. She is working on a book of essays about the family history of the southern resident orcas of the Salish Sea.

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/E21BOxagB2k 

The conversation: 

• Overview.
  • The number of orcas in the gibraltar strait in Portugal and Spain has gone from a handful of incidents to getting into the hundreds.
  • About 20% of these orca boat interactions have resulted in enough damage to the boats that they couldn't get back to port on their own.
  • A total of five boats have sunk as the results of these interactions, but there have been no human fatalities.
• The media’s perception of orcas as rebels.
  • There has been an increase in interactions between orcas and boats over the years. The media attention is making people aware of the phenomenon.
  • The role that orcas play in society.
  • Scientists are calling orcas gladiators. The idea that orcas are doing this to punish and target the rich is often tongue in cheek.
  • The southern resident killer whale population of orcas in the waters around Seattle and British Columbia is the most talked about.
  • Scientists have identified three threats to the iberian orcas at the moment, lack of food, toxins and vessel noise.
  • Females are thought to be able to live for potentially as long as 100 years, while males tend to live shorter than 50 to 60 years.
• How did the orcas react to the quieter ocean?
  • It is feasible that there are workers who remember when the ocean was quieter and there was less human activity.
  • In the north sea, there hasn't been a healthy calf in over a decade.
  • Is there any evidence to back up the idea that the COVID-19 lockdown was a good thing for the orcas?
  • There was an increase in boats around the southern residents during lockdown.
• Are the orcas playing with the boats?
  • There is no evidence that their interactions could just be them playing with the boats, but scientists suspect that it might be play.
  • One of the orcas, gladys nigra, has been injured.
  • There has been a lot of whale news this summer and throughout the year. Here are a few examples of whale stories that have been in the media.
  • There has also been a sea otter in Santa Cruz who was labelled as a menace.
• How do we frame the orca uprising?
  • The idea of an orca uprising is often couched in positive terms. It is a different culture, especially as a positive thing, is a really different narrative for western culture.
  • Orca scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the media framing of the narrative and the way that it has been presented.
  • The boat was recorded to have been shooting something at the orcas, which is evidence that they are sentient.
  • Orcas are highly social creatures. They are also very tactile, constantly in touch with members of their families, and they have very sensitive skin.
• The story of the orca known as Lolita
  • Toki, the southern resident killer whale, passed away recently in her tank in Miami, after 53 years in captivity.
  • Toki was captured in 1970 in penn cove, seattle.
  • Toki was named after the nabokov novel. She performed with hugo for 10 years and never had a calf.
  • Toki is the oldest southern resident killer whale at the moment, 95 years old.
• Retirement and release to a sea pen.
  • Toki was finally retired from doing shows in 2022, and then the Sea Aquarium announced an agreement with a nonprofit called friends of toki.
  • A strange phenomenon happened in the time leading up to her death.
  • These gatherings would have been more common in the past as the salmon populations chinook salmon population that the southern residents rely on has declined.
  • Very few of the southern resident killer whale population were alive at the time of the capture of her mother.
  • Sarah wants to hold open a space for the unexplainable. She wants to take her rage and grief and use it to end cetacean captivity and ensure the continued survival of the southern resident killer whale population.
  • Sarah shares her thoughts on the death of her mother.

Further Reading:

Sentient Media Coverage: 

Inside the Fight to Release the Orca Some Called Lolita. By Grace Hussain. 

Are Orcas Smart Enough to Plot Against Humans? Their Intelligence, Explained. By Björn Ólafsson 

Are Orcas Endangered? Some Are, and the Species Appears to Be Fighting Back. By Björn Ólafsson 

Discussed: 

orcaiberica.org -- info about the Iberian orcas, their boat interaction behavior, and efforts to reduce human-orca conflict in this area.
 

Essays by Emily Gambone: https://www.nonhumanrights.org/blog/lolita-orca-part-1/ 

https://friendsoftoki.org/
 

https://www.orcanetwork.org/
 

https://sacredsea.org/

Snake River dams work: https://damsense.org/

Open letter to media: https://awionline.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/Open-Letter-Iberian-Orcas.pdf 

In this episode of the Sentient Media Podcast, host Ana Bradley interviews Dr. Jennifer Jacquet about the controversial topic of octopus farming. Dr. Jacquet discusses the reasons behind the resistance to octopus farming in the 21st century and the ethical implications of mass-producing a beloved animal species. They explore the current status of proposed octopus farms in different countries, including the world's first factory farm for octopuses in Gran Canaria. Dr. Jacquet shares insights into what an octopus factory farm might look like and the potential impact on the animals' well-being. They also discuss the reasons for choosing a land-based facility for octopus farming and the public's response to this issue. This episode provides valuable perspectives on the challenges and ethical considerations surrounding octopus farming.

Dr. Jennifer Jacquet is a professor in Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami. She is the recipient of a 2015 Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship and a 2016 Pew fellowship in marine conservation. Along with Becca Franks, Peter Godfrey-Smith and Walter Sanchez-Suarez, she published an article on “The Case Against Octopus Farming” in 2019.

In this conversation,  @moby  — musician, songwriter, producer and animal rights activist — and Sentient Media’s founder, Mikko Järvenpää discuss punk rock’s tie to veganism, animal agriculture’s impact on the world around us, American media’s coverage of animals (or lack thereof) and Moby’s new film. 

Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/1BNTBjjMKL8 

Links: 

Punk Rock Vegan Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9q1IidazY8 

Moby’s website: https://moby.com/ 

Follow Moby on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moby/ 

Follow Moby on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelittleidiot

George Monbiot and Sentient Media Executive Director, Ana Bradley, discuss in detail the link between the far-right and farming and why these conspiracy theories being spread by influencers like Brand are so damaging.  

Watch the video short here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=khAs-mpZ0nU 

Monbiot’s work: 

Monbiot’s column in the Guardian

Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet

TED Talk: Can We Feed Ourselves Without Devouring the Planet

Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life

The Age of Consent; Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning

Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis

TED Talk: "How Wolves Change Rivers" 

Follow Monbiot on Twitter

Leah Garcés is CEO and President of Mercy for Animals and author of "Grilled: Turning Adversaries Into Allies To Change the Chicken Industry". She has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the animal protection movement and has partnered with some of the world's largest food companies on her mission to build a better food system. She's overseen international campaigns in 14 countries at the World Society for the Protection of Animals and launched Compassion in World farming in the U.S. And her work has featured in national and international media outlets —she has been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice, Chicago Tribune. 

In this conversation, Leah discusses how the media can help shift narratives around animal agriculture, how farmers suffer at the hands of corporations and why focusing on removing cages for laying hens is so important today.

Links: 

Mercy for Animals: https://mercyforanimals.org

Grilled, book: https://mercyforanimals.org/grilled/

True Cost of Your Cheap Chicken @New York Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6xE7rieXU0

Deloitte study on plant-based consumer trends referenced:  https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/retail-distribution/future-of-fresh-food-sales/plant-based-meat-sales.html

In this episode of the Sentient Media Podcast, we meet Nicholas Carter to tackle the myths around animal agriculture.  

Watch the interview on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/jl8xG6TVhyc 

Nicholas is an ecologist and co-founder of PlantBasedData.org, a library of peer-reviewed articles and summaries on the environmental, health, economic, and zoonotic disease evidence to shift to plant-based diets. He’s recently prepared a scientific report for World Animal Protection, including a contribution to carbon modeling with Navius Research, on the impacts and opportunities with agriculture in Canada.

Nicholas is also on the advisory board of the Eco Cooks Club, an educational program to empower youth to take climate action by connecting how our food choices impact the planet. He’s also helped launch and leads climate communications for a data center that’s part of the Canadian Centre for Climate Services. He was recently a Center for Biological Diversity panelist alongside Dr. Tara Garnett from Oxford University, and a speaker at the launch of the documentary Meat the Future along with the Jane Goodall Institute, the Good Food Institute, and BluNalu. His research during his master’s degree in environmental practice focused on the global greenhouse gas emissions that are attributed to animal agriculture. He's since written and been interviewed for The New Republic, Plant Based News, Plant Proof, Sentient Media, Forbes, The Globe and Mail, Macleans, and Planet Friendly News. Transitioning to plant-based farming systems has also been a focus where he’s written about regenerative plant farming practices with A-Well-Fed World.

Links:

• Coverage of the Nexus report by Jessica Scott-Reid: https://sentientmedia.org/canadians-meat-dairy-climate-goals/
• Dairy campaign advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_NII-LL9kw
• Article by Jenny Splitter on Frank Mitloehner, money and miscommunication: https://sentientmedia.org/frank-mitloehner/
• Coverage of Frank Mitloehner in Unearthed and New York Times: https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/10/31/frank-mitloehner-uc-davis-climate-funding/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/climate/frank-mitloehner-uc-davis.html
• George Monbiot’s book, Regenisis: https://twitter.com/georgemonbiot/status/1522851257794318336
• Achieving climate targets in Canada with a shift to plant-based: https://www.worldanimalprotection.ca/news/canadas-2030-climate-targets-are-achievable-if-canadians-move-more-plant-based-diet
• We will not achieve the Paris 1.5 degrees C climate goal without addressing animal agriculture:
  • https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba7357?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed
  • https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0594-0
  • "If global trends in meat and dairy intake continue, global mean temperature rise will more than likely exceed 2° C, even with dramatic emissions reductions across non‐agricultural sectors." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286920313_The_Importance_of_Reducing_Animal_Product_Consumption_and_Wasted_Food_in_Mitigating_Catastrophic_Climate_Change
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32474248/
• Largest meta-analysis on our food system to date looking at over 38,000 farms in 119 countries representing 90% of all foods: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216
  • 83% of all agricultural land is used for animal agriculture.  
  • Shifting entirely away from animal agriculture would free up more than 3 billion hectares of land, equivalent to the continent of Africa.
  • As covered here as well: https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production
• Cycling crops through animals at about a 10% conversion rate: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034015/meta
• Even the best type of grazing that can draw down some carbon relative to more intensive uses of land, doesn't offset the methane emissions or other tradeoff environmental concerns: https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/reports/fcrn_gnc_report.pdf
• More myths around Grazing: https://grazingfacts.com/
• Nationwide shift to grass-fed beef requires larger cattle population, emits more methane, and would use far more land than is available: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37260135
• Kiss the Ground analysis and podcast: https://plantbasednews.org/opinion/kiss-the-earth-last-ditch-effort-keep-meat-relevant/
• Rewilding documentary and research from Dr. William Ripple https://www.rewildingamountain.com/  
• Stock-Free or Veganic Farming: https://sentientmedia.org/farming-for-the-planet/ and https://awellfedworld.org/issues/climate-issues/farming-for-climate/
• Biodiversity: 
  
  
  • "The livestock sector is currently the single major driver of habitat loss and degradation, which is in its turn a leading cause of species decline and extinction worldwide."
    • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064420300614#bib0085 Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation
  • The “past and present processes by which human carnivory threatens the world's biodiversity makes it arguably the most detrimental aspect of our ecology, from a conservation point-of-view."
    • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969715303697 Science of the Total Environment
  • Grazing & Biodiversity - Possibly some more birds and insects vs. an intensive feedcrop, but far less than rewilding: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.13527 & https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1011013108
• Highly paid beef industry academics: https://sentientmedia.org/frank-mitloehner/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/climate/frank-mitloehner-uc-davis.html
• This study showed doubling the proportion of veg meals offered increases veg sales by between 41%-79%: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1907207116
• Nudge and increase accessibility to plant-based foods: https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/43/2/392/5637580?login=false#.Xeom9b_uTbw.twitter

Find @NicholasDCarter on social:

https://twitter.com/NicholasDCarter

https://www.instagram.com/nicholasdcarter/

Website: 

https://www.plantbaseddata.org/

Brian Kateman coined the term “reducetarian” to describe a person who is deliberately reducing their consumption of meat. In 2015, Kateman founded the Reducetarian Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to reducing societal consumption of animal products. 

He is the author of The Reducetarian Solution, The Reducetarian Cookbook, and Meat Me Halfway and is the lead producer of the documentary version of Meat Me Halfway released and streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and more. He is a regular contributor to Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Forbes, and his writings have appeared in The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, among others. Kateman lives in New Jersey with his wife Isabel and rescue dogs Tobey and Cooper."

Watch the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/33ID5ecPOLo 

Find Brian's work: 

https://www.reducetarian.org/ 

https://www.meatmehalfway.org/ 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/briankateman/2022/09/06/optimistic-longtermism-is-terrible-for-animals/ 
 

Jasmin Singer is co-host of the Our Hen House Podcast, editor at large for VegNews, Vice President of Brand Editorial at Kinder Beauty, author of ‘The VegNews Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan, TEDx Speaker, mentor at Sentient Media, and all round social justice powerhouse. 

Watch to the podcast on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/XlB_XqoWe00 

Read more here: https://sentientmedia.org

Find Jasmin: 

https://www.instagram.com/OurHenHouse/

https://www.ourhenhouse.org/animallaw/

https://www.ourhenhouse.org

https://jasminsinger.substack.com

https://www.instagram.com/jasminsingerauthor/

https://jasminsinger.com

Jasmin’s TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ1Q2wRoYzQ  

https://kinderbeauty.com

https://vegnews.com

Farmer John’s article: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-11/farmer-john-plant-to-close

Ringling Brothers article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/05/18/ringling-bros-circus-returns-without-animals-five-years-after-closing/

C Lou Hamilton https://www.ourhenhouse.org/episode-524-c-lou-hamilton-on-veganism-sex-and-politics/

Jasmin’s piece in Yahoo Life: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/spent-82000-making-my-new-home-eco-friendly-131755566.html

Encompass Essays series: https://sentientmedia.org/category/encompass-essays/

Apex advocacy: https://www.apexadvocacy.org

Monique Koch is the host of the award-winning Brown Vegan Podcast which she started to help everyday people learn about the benefits of vegan life with tips, recipes, and encouragement. Monique has built a powerful community and platform which effortlessly highlights all kinds of vegan voices in a celebratory and non-judgemental way. This conversation offers a snapshot of her life, bringing up kids, starting a podcast, and why veganism intersects so many of Monique’s values, from human rights to the future of life on earth.  

Find Monique: 

https://www.brownvegan.com

Monique on Good Morning Washington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnnd05TGuv4&t=25s

Monique in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/dining/black-vegan-cooking.html

The Brown Vegan Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brown-vegan/id718175915

Monique on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brownvegan

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrownVegan

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI86qvo4zcnq4KIXREP6-3w

Resources: 

Reducetarian: https://www.reducetarian.org

Sistah Vegan: http://sistahvegan.com  

Skinny Bitch: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/556b2542e4b02fd687fb4fa7/t/565b8a37e4b0f60cdbbab6e4/1448839735462/skinny+bitch.pdf

Nama Juicer: https://namawell.com/products/nama-j2-cold-press-juicer

Destiny: https://www.eatyodestiny.com https://www.instagram.com/lezgo_tiny/

Destiny on The Brown Vegan Podcast: https://www.brownvegan.com/podcast/tiny-house-living-lez-go-tiny

Todd Anderson AKA Turnip Vegan: https://www.instagram.com/turnipvegan/?hl=en

Plant-Based Tamika: https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedtamika/?hl=en