The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion and Coexistence in the Human Age by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce

 

“The Animals’ Agenda brings us closer to the day when our behavior toward our fellow species is determined not by convenience or greed but by compassion.” Sy Montgomery

 

 It is a common “mistake” to make generalizations about groups of people, and this mistake is also made in relation to animals. Just like people, animals have individual personalities. Their intelligence and intuition allow them to adapt to their environment. They have emotions and they experience trauma. Despite the scientific progress made in understanding animal cognition and behaviors, the poor treatment of animals continues to ignore the suffering and pain humans inflict upon them.

  The Animals' Agenda by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce is a detailed account of our interactions with animals; the authors propose solutions that can be applied to address these issues.

 Animal sentience is well established in the scientific community, so why is it okay to disregard the ethical implications of this knowledge?

 What is the meaning of freedom? According to Hope Ferdowsian, physician and bioethicist, freedom for animals has the same meaning that it has for humans. “Freedom to meet our basic physical needs, whatever those might be by species and individual—including freedom of movement (bodily liberty); safe and secure from harm from humans (bodily integrity—and this should include freedom from harm to the mind); freedom to love and bond with whom we wish; respect for our choices, and freedom from humiliation and intentional shaming.”

  The Animals' Agenda reveals the ways in which we mistreat animals, and it opens the door to a new possibility: the hope to turn the Anthropocene, or Age of Humanity, into the “Compassionocene.” First, The Animals’ Agenda sets the path to acknowledge how the consequences of our actions have effects on our own lives, so we are not immune to these consequences.

  There is no way out of the chaos unless we choose a path of compassion and understanding.

   What we do to others, we do to ourselves. Changes need to happen from the heart. Caring for others is intelligence in action.

     It was devastating and disturbing to learn about the details of the massacre in a school in Texas. As a mother myself, my heart breaks for the lives of the kids and the teachers lost. A hater shot 19 children and two teachers, but first he shot his grandmother. Then he had enough time to crash his grandmother’s car and to perform these atrocities inside the school building while enforcement officials hesitated outside and stopped parents from breaking into the building to be with their children.

 The hater had bought the ammunitions on his eighteenth birthday. Every detail of this horrifying event is traumatizing. There are no words to describe the desperation I feel as I type this paragraph.

  The hater responsible for killing 21 people had a history of abusing animals. Not only did he abuse animals but he also promoted the abuse of animals by sharing photos on social media. 

  Animal abuse should never be ignored.

  The white supremacist in Buffalo, New York, who killed ten people at the grocery store two weeks ago, has a history of animal abuse, and it had never been reported. Why?

  How is it possible that the person who whines about “politicization” of the shootings receives large amounts of money from pro-gun groups for his political campaigns? His statement is not only contradictory, but the whole situation seems to have been taken from a terrifying dystopian novel. And why is animal abuse not taken seriously?

  I wrote about the association between cruelty toward animals and criminal behavior when I reviewed the book Second Nature by Jonathan Balcombe. You can also learn about this by reading the link of the Humane Society I provide at the bottom of this post.

 The way we treat animals is indeed a reflection of how we fail on many levels.

I am sharing an articles that may be of interest to you:

https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-link-between-animal-cruelty-and-human-violence

 

The Science of Sleep: Stop chasing a good night's sleep and let it find you

 

 May is Mental Health Awareness month. The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall-Smith is an excellent resource to support your mental health and live up to the promise of your highest potential.

 During the mysterious process of sleep the body rests, but the brain is active. Scientists, authors and musicians have come up with relevant ideas while dreaming. For example, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel and Paul McCartney said that some of their created lyrics and melodies appeared in their dreams. Similarly, Dimitri Mendeleev, the creator of the periodic table of elements, saw the complete table in a dream.

 Like regular exercise and healthy eating habits, sleep is essential to your wellbeing. It is normal to have a bad night every now and then, so there is no reason to be concerned about enduring one, but actions can be taken to optimize your sleep.

 The Science of Sleep is a comprehensive, well-researched book to help you understand the process and to follow basic sleep hygiene measures that support your wellbeing. It contains suggestions, recent discoveries and ideas to empower you to slip into a pleasant slumber.

 Why is sleep important?

 Sleep helps to consolidate learning and memory; it boosts the immune system, balances our emotional states, and plays a vital role in repairing and restoring tissues in the body. People who don’t sleep well regularly have trouble regulating their appetite; the reason for this is well explained in her book, and it has to do with the release of chemicals in the body in response to the lack of sufficient sleep.

  Poor sleep may have a deleterious effect on your judgement of situations and people, and it has the potential to impair your performance skills.

     A few basic behaviors should be considered to improve the quality and quantity of sleep: avoid caffeine after 2:00 pm; stay physically active regularly, but don’t be too active when the time of going to bed is approaching; use stress management strategies daily; be consistent with routines; lower the lights at night to support the synchronization of your circadian rhythm and avoid watching TV at night.

  Remember to create a “sanctuary” in your bedroom, a safe haven where you feel at ease and ready to chill out and fall asleep.

   The number of hours needed to sleep is different for every person. Feeling refreshed and ready to start your day after a full night sleep is an indication that you are doing well. However, it is common for most people to wake up in the middle of the night. When this happens, try guided imagery. This may sound intimidating and complex, but it is a very simple thing to do: let your mind focus on the image of a pleasant place where you feel safe and comfortable. If you don’t fall asleep after calming your mind through this gentle strategy, get out of bed and do something relaxing. For example, read or try a foot massage.

 

The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall-Smith contains colorful diagrams and illustrations that make the presentation interesting and engrossing. I love that the illustrations show people of different races. 

 There is information on how to deal with specific situations, like traveling to a different time zone, changing work shifts and various other topics.

 Another remarkable aspect to highlight is the inclusion of medical and psychological disorders that affect sleep.

  The only pages I did not like about the book are the ones on sleep and babies. It comprises two pages with a very rigid approach to the matter. If this is something you are interested in, I recommend the book The Attachment Parenting Book: A common sense guide to understanding and nurturing your baby by Martha Sears and William Sears.

   To sum it up, I highly recommend The Science of Sleep, and the section about dreams is gripping. Journaling one’s dreams is a fascinating adventure you may want to explore. 

You can visit the author's site here.

Thank you for reading this post.

Have a good night and sweet dreams.

My heart is with the families of the people who died in Buffalo, New York, due to the horrifying shootings caused by a white supremacist. 

 

 

 

Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland

 

 If you need a book to uplift you, surprise you and warm your heart, Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland will meet the expectations.

    These forty-seven stories of friendship will “connect you with the best part of yourself.” This read will shower you with smiles and tears of joy, and it will kindle a sense of hope.

  If you are skeptical, let me introduce you to the story of Bobbi the Dog and Bob Cat. After the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina 250,000 domestic animals were left on their own. Rescuers from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary found Bobbi the dog and Bob the cat roaming the streets of New Orleans. Nobody knows if they had shared a home before Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans, but a construction worker noticed that they were inseparable.

  At the shelter volunteers were unable to separate the pair. Bobbi the Dog (a female) was also found to be very protective of Bob Cat. They discovered that Bob Cat was blind, so Bobbi Dog had been leading the cat to keep him safe at all times. Bobbi Dog would bark at anybody who approached the cat, and eventually they were both adopted by the same person.

 The bond of their friendship was stronger than the effects of the hurricane.

  After hurricane Katrina, volunteers and rescue organizations worked tirelessly to rescue animals. Humans are not the only ones who suffer with wars and natural disasters. Animals do too, and they also need our help. This is why I support an organization called International Fund for Animal Welfare, which supports animals and people in Ukraine amid the cruel, irrational and inexcusable Russian invasion by Vladimir Putin, a dictator whose acts of terrorism are destroying the lives of families in Ukraine, and having consequences beyond the Ukrainian borders.

  

   Some photographs have the power to tell stories. The vibrant photos in Unlikely Friendships do just that. In the Indonesian island of Bali a macaque befriended a kitten.

The macaque groomed and hugged the kitten with loving care. You can tell by the expression on the kitten’s face that the feline welcomed the macaque's tender displays of affection.

 

The macaque also protected the kitten in every way he could. If other macaques or people got too close to him, the macaque would carry the kitten away from them, or he would hide him by covering him with leaves. 

  

 

In a village called Antoli, located in India, a young wild leopard sneaked into a farm every night to visit a cow. The villagers thought the leopard would harm the cow, so they called the Forest Department to have the leopard removed and transferred to a wildlife sanctuary nearby. However, the leopard came back every night, seeking motherly love.

 “The cow would lick the leopard starting with her head and neck, cleaning whatever she could reach as the leopard wriggled in apparent delight. If the cow was asleep when the leopard arrived, the visitor would gently awaken her with a nuzzle to the leg before lying down and pressing close. Other cattle stood nearby, but the leopard ignored them. The chosen cow seemed pleased to give the leopard her nightly bath. For almost two months the cat showed up around eight in the evening and cuddled with the cow until the first hint of sunrise…”

 

 

Koko the gorilla used sign language to ask for a kitten for her birthday. When she received the kitten, she took great care of her. She was always patient and handled her gently.

  The amusing stories in this book remind us to celebrate the power of friendship and motherly love, and to honor the glory of these precious bonds: a rat and a cat; a cockatoo and a cat; a pig and a dog; a sheep and an elephant, and so many others that will captivate your heart and open your mind to the complex inner lives of animals.

  Those of us who are attuned to other animals may not find these stories so surprising, but they are still reassuring to our intuition and perceptions.

  If the pensive eyes of the macaque in the book cover were not enough to convince you to read this spellbinding book, I hope my post will.

 Jennifer Holland is a science and nature journalist. She writes for National Geographic.