June 29, 2021

EP. 111 — What Do We Owe Wild Animals? with Emma Marris

What are our moral obligations to nature, and the wild animals that live in it? Should we vaccinate them? Should we feed them when they’re starving? Should we kill so called “invasive” species? Emma Marris is back this week to discuss her new book Wild Souls and the complex ethical dilemmas surrounding our relationship with wild animals. You can check out her book at factuallypod.com/books

Transcript

FACT-111-20210625-EmmaMarris-ACv02-ALT-DYN.mp3 Speaker 1 [00:00:02] Hello everyone, welcome to Factually. I’m Adam Conover, so wonderful to have you listening to the show once again; to an incredible interview with an incredible expert who knows some incredible things that you probably don’t know. Let’s get into it. Part of our fascination with the natural world, with nature, is that it operates according to different laws than we have in our human civilization. In fact, the laws of nature often run counter to the laws of human society. For instance in our society, we don’t really love it when someone gets murdered; we think that’s bad and we think that we should prevent such a thing happening at all costs. But when a creature in nature murders another creature and eats it, well, we don’t send the nature cops out there to bust them and send them to forest jail. No, we say, ‘Wow, look at majestic nature, red in tooth and claw. Why, that’s

Recent Episodes

July 26, 2022

How can we best help animals, when it’s we humans who cause their suffering? Animal Crisis authors Alice Crary and Lori Gruen join Adam to explain how the same systems that hurt and kill animals also harm humans. They discuss the human rights abuses that happen in industrial slaughterhouses and how palm oil monocrops are devastating the world’s rainforests. They also share how we can have solidarity with animals in our daily lives. You can purchase their book at http://factuallypod.com/books

July 19, 2022

In times of turmoil, it can be useful to take a longer view of history. Like, a LOT longer. Paleontologist and author of “The Rise and Reign of the Mammals” Stephen Brusatte joins Adam to explain how mammals took over the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, and why we survived and achieve sentience when dinosaurs died out. Stephen goes on to discuss why taking a deep look at our history can help prepare us for the crises of the near future. You can purchase Stephen’s book at http://factuallypod.com/books

July 13, 2022

Trans people have existed as long as, you know, people have. But the barriers to legal inclusion and equality are still higher than most people realize. “Sex is as Sex Does” author Paisley Currah joins Adam to discuss why institutions have been slow to give legal recognition to trans identities, why Republicans have shifted their attacks from bathroom policies to trans youth in sports, and why the struggle for trans equality is tied to feminism and women’s liberation. You can purchase Paisley’s book at http://factuallypod.com/books