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Animal Welfare and Biodiversity - Resources
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The topics covered on this page include animal welfare and animal rights, as well as issues on biodiversity, habitat, and land conservation. Animal welfare articles are available, as are lists of groups on animal abuse, farm animal welfare, and animal rights groups, land conservation organizations, and groups that protect endangered species. Topical categories for animal welfare resources and biodiversity resources include audio, video, movies, books, and quotes. On the lighter side, Grinning Planet has cartoons on animal welfare and endangered species, etc. |
CATEGORY: FOOD, ANIMAL WELFARE — 11.FEB.2015
Diet Science
Pastured vs. Free-Range vs. Cage-Free vs. Organic Eggs—What's The Difference? —
Dee McCaffrey says the problems with conventional eggs range from low-quality feed to inhumane growing conditions. Organic eggs use better feed and have better growing conditions, but access to outdoors is sometimes more theory than practice in large organic operations. She rightly promotes eggs from backyard chickens as the best choice, with eggs from pastured chickens another good way to go.
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10:53
GP comment: All that is correct. But McCaffrey also asserts that most people who are use pastured hens to raise eggs are also using organic or non-GMO feed. I suspect not even a majority of them do. I agree that pastured eggs are a top priority, but shoppers should also look for the organic or GMO-free labels. "Trust but verify." She also conflates GMO-free with soy-free, which are not at all the same thing. And "cage-free" usually means "in a crowded barn," and there is no rule that cage-free chickens must have access to outdoors. See the Humane Society's How to Read Egg Carton Labels for more info on terms related to eggs. Bawk!
Original Show Pub Date: 19.Jan.2015
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT (POLLUTION), SPECIES — 01.DEC.2014
Quirks and Quarks
Lakes Turning to Jelly —
The problem of acid rain is often touted as one of the few success stories in controlling pollution, as the industrial emissions that cause it have been cut substantially. But the environmental damage and disruption caused by acid rain still echo in the wilderness. One example discovered is the "jellification" of temperate lakes, where acid rain has reduced calcium content, an essential element for most lake organisms. This has caused some crustaceans at the base of the aquatic food chain—the ones that make their exoskeletons from calcium—to be at a disadvantage, and they're now being displaced by species that have a jelly-like coating. These jelly organisms are inedible to many predators and thus are disruptive to the lakes' ecological balance.
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10:43
GP comment: And what do geoengineering proponents most often propose to push back global warming? Why, of course, to blast sulfate particles—the most toublesome of the old acid rain pollutants—into the atmosphere.
Original Show Pub Date: 22.Nov.2014
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT, SPECIES — 10.OCT.2014
Living on Earth
Obama Creates the World's Largest Ocean Reserve —
President Obama expanded the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument, protecting nearly half a million square miles of Pacific Ocean from commercial exploitation. Elliott Norse of the Marine Conservation Institute talks about the impact of the reserve on the ecosystem and the precedent it sets for global conservation.
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6:40
GP comment: A decent action. All presidents do this sort of thing. It's an easy green credit, much easier than taking meaningful action on issues like nuclear, chemicals, GMOs, sprawl, peak oil....
Original Show Pub Date: 03.Oct.2014
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Get more audio clips on animal welfare, animal rights, and biodiversity in Grinning Planet's biweekly downloadable audio news feed, or see more audio clips on environmental issues.
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Hoot (2006)
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brie Larson, Cody Linley, David Arquette
REVIEW: Hoot is a light teen comedy that aims to deliver the message that people who care about other species, especially endangered ones, should act to prevent their corrupt destruction. In this case, the under-attack critters are a family of burrowing owls that happen to be nesting on the site of a new pancake house. It would have been nice if Hoot had given a little more background on these particular owls—what their function in the ecosystem is, etc. And the bad guys, cops, and subplots here are pretty cartoonish, with much of the action being overly familiar fare. Still, it all works reasonably well, eventually getting us to an ending in which they owl live happily ever after. (And who can argue with a movie that has music and appearances by Jimmy Buffett?)
→ Check out DVD on Amazon.com
Being Caribou (2005) (Documentary)
REVIEW: Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison spent five months keeping pace—on foot—with the "Porcupine" Caribou herd of North America's northwestern region. They documented their epic journey and the surrounding wild places as a way of bringing attention to the inadvisability of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which serves as the calving grounds for the herd. As it turns out, Heuer and Allison also made an awe-inspiring, very watchable film. There's a short bit about how native peoples still hunt and use caribou at the beginning of the movie that would have been better placed as an insert in the middle of the long on-the-trail section. But that's a minor criticism of a generally impressive film, which won more than a dozen film-festival awards.
→ Check out DVD on Amazon.com
→ Learn more at the film's web site
Cane Toads - An Unnatural History (1987) (Documentary)
DESCRIPTION: A fat, ugly creature whose sole purpose in life is the pursuit of sexual gratification is rapidly taking over Australia! The cane toads were imported by the sackload from Hawaii to Australia in 1935 in an attempt to rid the country of the Greyback beetle, which was rapidly destroying their sugarcane crop. The cane toads adapted beautifully to their new surroundings. Problem was, the beetle could fly and the cane toad couldn't. What the cane toad is unusually good at, however, is making more cane toads--thousands upon thousands more. If Monty Python produced a National Geographic Special, it would be Cane Toads !
→ Check out DVD on Amazon.com
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley
REVIEW: To save Earth from an approaching alien probe, Kirk and the Enterprise crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with the probe—humpback whales. This is widely considered to be one of the best Star Trek films, with plenty of action and humor, and the comfortable feel of the cast from the original series. The subtext warnings about the dangers of species extinction are clear but not forced.
→ Check out DVD options at Amazon.com
More Movies...
For more movies on such topics, see the following sections of Grinning Planet's movies page:
Biodiversity / Species / Plants & Animals
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BOOKS
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For more reviews or purchase info, click on any title to go to Amazon.com
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
— Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty
"Each one [of the Earth's 5 million invertebrate species] plays a role in its ecosystem. It's like we're tearing the cogs out of a great machine. The machine might work after you tear out ten cogs, but what happens when you tear out a hundred?"
— Scott Black, Xerces Society, quoted in Sierra
"The animals of the planet are in desperate peril... Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen."
— Alice Walker
"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal.... I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her."
— Ellen DeGeneres
"Wolves are very resourceful. All they need to survive is for people not to shoot them."
— Bob Ferris
For more quotes on such topics, see the following sections of our quotes page:
Biodiversity / Species / Plants & Animals
Grinning Planet Jokes-Cartoons on Animal Welfare
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CartoonStock.com cartoons
Artizans.com cartoons
Miscellaneous Animal Rights cartoons
Working for a peaceable kingdom for humans, animals, and the environment
Dedicated to raising awareness about cruelty-free living and the importance of compassion to ALL animals
Alt Web -- Alternative to Animal Testing -- Resources
Serve as a gateway to news, information, and resources about alternatives to animal testing
American Anti-Vivisection Society
Animal advocacy and educational organization dedicated to ending experimentation on animals in research, testing, and education
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
Works for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the US; offers programs in humane education, public awareness, government advocacy, shelter support, and animal medical services and placement
Serves as a clearinghouse for information on the internet related to animal rights and welfare
Works to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans
Seeks abolition of factory farming and adoption of agricultural systems that meet the welfare needs of farm animals
Does animal advocacy campaigns in the US and runs animal care facilities
Works to end the abuse associated with greyhound racing
Humane Society of the US | International
Dedicated to creating a world where our relationship with animals is guided by compassion
International Fund for Animal Welfare
Works to expose the abuses of commercial hunts and related animal welfare issues, and works to end such practices
LEAP - League for Earth & Animal Protection
Promotes animal liberation in the belief that all animals have value and interests, independent of their usefulness to human beings
Performing Animal Welfare Society
A refuge where abandoned or abused performing animals and victims of the exotic animal trade can live in peace and contentment
PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:
Dedicated to ending the use of nonhuman primates in biomedical and harmful behavioral experimentation
US Animal Welfare Information Center
Information and regulations for the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, teaching, transport, and by dealers
Voiceless - The Fund for Animals
Australian organization that envisions a world in which animals are treated with respect and compassion
World Society for the Protection of Animals
Works to build a united global animal welfare movement to foster a world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty ends
WWF - World Wildlife Federation - species page
Programs designed to conserve the world's biological diversity
From PBS; has many video clips of nature and the outdoors
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Protects genetic diversity in livestock and poultry species through the conservation and promotion of endangered breeds
Bat Conservation International
Mission is to protect and restore bats and their habitats worldwide
Biodiversity Development and Conservation Programme
A global initiative to strengthen the ongoing work of farming communities in conserving and developing the agricultural biodiversity vital to their livelihood and food security
Center for Biological Diversity
Protecting endangered species and wild places through science, policy, education, and environmental law
Dedicated to conserving and recovering native and naturally functioning ecosystems in the Greater Southern Rockies
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Official website of CITES, an international agreement aimed at ensuring that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival
Mission is to conserve the earth's living natural heritage, our global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature
Dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities
A rather different sort of project designed to promote understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources
An open-source comprehensive database of plant and animal species; the brainchild of famed biologist E.O. Wilson
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Combines research and education to create, disseminate, and apply knowledge about ecological systems
A niche search engine to help you find info about specific species
Promotes voluntary land conservation in the US; provides resources, leadership, and training to grassroots land trusts trying to protect important open spaces
National Parks Conservation Association
Fights to safeguard the beauty, wildlife, and history of US parks
Mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth
Search engine cataloging conservation information on over 50,000 plants, animals, and "ecological communities" in North America
Saves and shares the seeds of "heirloom" varieties of garden plants
SORA - Searchable Ornithological Research Archive
Searchable archives of six ornithological journals, each covering decades' worth of material
The wildlife-trade monitoring network of World Wildlife Fund
Conserves land as parks, gardens, and other natural places
US Park Service - Nature and Science
US Park Service science and nature section.
Aims to conserve a connected set of preserved wild areas in the North American West stretching from the Yukon to northern Mexico
Dedicated to the support of conservation entrepreneurs who are working actively with local communities to protect endangered flagship species and preserve their natural habitats
Saves wildlife and wild lands through careful science, international conservation, education
Empowers local conservation scientists worldwide to protect nature and safeguard ecosystem and human health
Works to apply sound ecosystem management to demonstrate how this is the only way to sustainable livelihoods for those directly dependent on natural resources
Uses scientific knowledge to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of ecological systems
An international nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting biological diversity through invertebrate conservation
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