Stand beside our fellow creatures (across the world)
Professor Nathalie Seddon is an ecologist who is kind of England’s top conservationist expert, using her science knowledge to work quietly behind the scenes at Oxford University to stop our native species going extinct.
She directs a leadership team for nature recovery and is co-founder of the charity I Stand Beside which encourages everyone to take small actions, which includes the lovely idea of ‘turning up at your local council’s meeting to ‘speak up on your being’s behalf’ (whether that’s a dog, badger or bird):
We Stand Beside the overlooked and forgotten beings,
The voiceless heroes of our Earth and its miraculous Web of Life.
We empower each other to champion species and form deep connections,
Turning passion into action, through artistic celebration and creative advocacy.
Together we catalyse a positive shift in our relationship with Nature,
Inspiring a global movement of advocates for the flourishing of all life.
This is such a lovely idea. Instead of ‘animal activism’, her take is that other creatures are ‘beings’. And we are their ‘besiders’. Does not that feel more hopeful and empowering?
Trained as an evolutionary ecologist at Cambridge University, she’s an expert on animal communication and biodiversity. Her key passion is how societies might renew cultures of care for the living world.
The statistics for native wildlife in the UK are alarming:
- One in six species is at risk of extinction
- Nightingale populations have declined by 92% since 1970.
- Hedgehog numbers have declined by 50% since 2000.
- Turtle dove populations have decreased by 98% since 1970.
- Common toads have declined by 68% in the last 30 years.
Yet with Natalie on your side (your chief ‘besider!’) there’s a chance that we can save them all. Because if you get stuck, she has the scientific knowledge and resources on the site to fight your case locally.
Species Unite (sign worldwide petitions to help animals)
Species Unite is a worldwide site, very well laid out and easy to navigate. To help get involved in petitions to change laws for animals around the world.
The site is packed with information, but is also very can-do. Petitions do work if enough people get involved.
This isn’t just a site that talks about the problems, it’s very solutions-oriented. After exposing the hidden stories, it works to amplify the voices of those fighting for change. So if you want to change the law alone, nobody will likely listen. But if a million people speak, laws are changed.
Campaigns revolve around many areas:
- Factory farming
- Animal testing
- Animals used in fashion
- Animals used in entertainment
- Any other animal suffering
In just five years online, there is now a community of 215,00 (and growing) passionate advocates who care deeply and are working towards a future where all species thrive.
You can also find:
- A podcast of stories on how the world is changing for animals
- A weekly round-up of news and ongoing or successful petitions.
Based in New York, Species Unite was founded by Elizabeth Novogratz, who also hosts the podcast. With a background in media, she has managed to combine her passion for animal welfare with bringing the issues in a positive way to web readers worldwide.
She is joined by a band of experts in their fields, turning this site into a really effective online project for worldwide change, in an empowering way.
Sign urgent online petitions
- Boycotting zoos that keep elephants. In the wild, they roam in herds of hundreds and there are plenty of wild conservationists helping them.
- Urge Amazon to stop supporting the donkey skin trade. This is a billion-dollar company and it can do without making profits this way.
- Demand that the EU and Spanish government ban the world’s first commercial octopus farm (these are some of the world’s most intelligent creatures, even eaten alive in some cases).
- Urgent US Congress to pass the Ejiao Act to ban the sale and transport of products containing donkey-hide gelatine.
- Petition the US government to return wolves to the Endangered Species List, and defend the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
- Pressure fashion houses and retailers (including Chanel and H & M) to drop real fur, ostrich feathers and cashmere from their clothing.
- Urge US Congress to pass the Humane Cosmetics Act (so it’s illegal to sell animal-tested cosmetics like it is now in the EU).
- Campaign against the illegal wild-caught monkey trade for research labs.
- Stop the use of animals in circuses worldwide.
Past successes to inspire!
It is upsetting to read about the stories behind the petitions. But the good news is that this campaign gets things done! Here are just a few of the successes that combined petitions have had over the last five years:
- The donkey skin trade banned by the African union
- Fashion brand Max Mara pledged to drop fur
- H & M pledged to phase out using new down
- Surviving chimps from a research lab went to a sanctuary
