Kadri Aavik

Tallinn University, University of Helsinki, Loomus

Kadri Aavik is an Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Tallinn University, Estonia. She recently completed postdoctoral research in the Gender Studies unit at the University of Helsinki, in the project “Climate Sustainability in the Kitchen: Everyday Food Cultures in Transition” (2018-2022). She works in gender studies (with a focus in critical studies on men and masculinities), critical animal studies, vegan studies, and their intersections. Her current research focuses on vegan men and masculinities. She is currently co-editing the book Feminist Animal and Multispecies Studies: Critical Perspectives on Food and Eating, with Kuura Irni and Milla-Maria Joki, to be published in the Brill Critical Animal Studies Series.

Saturday, 7 May
Session 4 – Everyday Matters
17:00–17:30

“'The environmental aspect is more convincing because it’s not so much based on emotion': using environmental arguments to justify veganism”
This presentation examines the use of environmental arguments to justify veganism to omnivores. It is based on interviews with vegan men based in Finland and Estonia that I conducted in 2018-2019. As one strategy of communicating veganism, the men used environmental and climate arguments, while downplaying or altogether avoiding mentioning animal ethics concerns. In this presentation, I will look at the men’s reasoning behind this strategic choice and examine the implications of this strategy for the spread of veganism, for doing masculinity and for building intersectional coalitions with other social justice movements.

Ryuji Chua

Surge Activism

Ryuji Chua is an animal rights filmmaker and social media content creator based in Paris, France. He creates educational videos to inspire attitude change towards non-human animals, and his videos have been viewed millions of times. Currently, he works as the lead video producer at Surge Activism, a UK based animal rights non profit.

Friday, 6 May
Session 1 – Animal Advocacy Pasts and Futures
13:30–14:00

“Visual storytelling for animal advocates: How to make videos that help animals”
In this presentation, I will share the most important lessons I have learned from 10+ years of making videos and 4+ years of making specifically animal rights related videos, so you can create a bigger impact through the video content you produce. We will talk about what gets people to watch and share videos, what “clear communication” is in video, and how to optimize videos for social media.

Farištamo Eller

Loomus

Farištamo Eller is an animal rights activist and conservationist. She is the communications manager of Estonian animal advocacy organisation Loomus and in her spare time she is involved in nature conservation more broadly. She believes that profit at the cost of life is loss and her aim is to bring the issue of animal rights into nature conservation, because a very large proportion of nature conservation issues would not exist if people treated animals differently. 

Friday, 6 May
Keynote 1
11:05–12:00

“Profit at the cost of life is a loss: A glimpse into the animal advocacy and environmental movements in Estonia today”

These days, people in Estonia seem to care about animals – at least about their welfare. They also seem to care about nature. However, not everything is as it seems.

Pets receive the most attention, but even on this subject, there is still a lot of work to be done. Keeping dogs chained, for example, may seem like an obvious thing to ban, but in reality, there are still many who do not understand that animals are also living beings and family members – like humans. When it comes to environmental protection, nature reserves are in the same category as protecting pets, i.e. relatively easy to comprehend. It makes sense for nature reserves to be protected, so it may come as a surprise to many that nature in Estonian nature reserves is not protected by default, as conservation management regulations have been consistently decreased. In reality, a great deal of work needs to be done to protect areas where nature conservation seems like a given, much like with protecting the welfare of pets.

The protection of wild animals seems less important because wild animals are more “out of sight”. The welfare of wild animals and birds could and should be common ground for both nature conservationists and animal rights activists. However, there is a conflict over the attitude towards animals. Often, it is difficult for animal rights activists to take seriously those conservationists who, while protecting some animal species, consume other animals as food. For conservationists, animal rights activists often seem pointlessly radical.

In this presentation, I will highlight some of the paradoxes that, in practice, overshadow the common ground between animal rights activism and environmental protection in Estonia. Based on my experiences working for organizations on both sides, I will call attention to the parallels that could unite the two discourses.


Eduardo Gonçalves

Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting

Eduardo Goncalves is founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting www.BanTrophyHunting.org which has persuaded the UK government to ban British hunters from bringing their ‘trophies’ back into the country. He has been a government adviser, journalist and campaigner on environmental, wildlife and animal welfare issues for almost 30 years. He has written a number of books on trophy hunting and other issues.

Friday, 6 May
Session 2 – The Nature of Hunting
15:30–16:00

“Trophy Hunting: why it’s time to ban it”

Trophy hunting does not belong in a modern civilised society. Killing an animal for entertainment and vanity is considered wrong by the vast majority of people in countries where trophy hunters come from. There appears to be strong cross-party consensus on the matter in some countries. It is unnecessary and meets no human necessities.

Trophy hunting is cruel. The majority of animals do not die quickly and painlessly. Trophy hunters are mostly amateur and shoot from long distances. They attempt shots away from the brain so as to avoid spoiling the trophy’s aspect. This increases the likelihood of painful injury.

Trophy hunting is accelerating the biodiversity crisis. An animal is killed by a trophy hunter every 3 minutes. Trophy hunters kill significant numbers of animals from species whose populations are falling, often in order to win industry awards. They kill animals that are endangered, such as polar bears, black rhinos and cheetahs. They seek out the biggest and strongest males, because these are most impressive to look at and are more likely to earn the hunter a place in industry record books. This has a marked impact on the gene pool of species such as lions and elephants, and make it more likely that those species will go extinct as they are less able to adapt rapidly enough to growing environmental changes such as a heating planet.

Trophy hunting is often used as a cover for illegal wildlife trade. Large numbers of rhinos have been shot in recent years supposedly for trophies. These have ended up in the Far East. Crocodile skins are acquired under the guise of trophies but which end up in the fashion industry. Bear gall bladders and penises are traded supposedly as trophies but are in fact acquired for traditional Chinese medicines.


Karl Hein

Tallinn University

Karl Hein is a doctoral student from Tallinn University who researches the history of the Estonian animal welfare movement, focusing on the interwar period.

Friday, 6 May
Session 1 – Animal Advocacy Pasts, Presents and Futures
12:00–12:30

“History of the Estonian Animal Welfare Movement Before World War II”

Although all of the current animal welfare organizations in Estonia have been founded in the 21st century, the roots of the Estonian animal welfare movement go much further back. The topic of animal welfare was frequently discussed in Estonian newspapers in the second half of the 19th century, and the first local animal welfare organization was created in Tallinn as early as in 1869. The Estonian animal welfare movement was especially active during the interwar period, when over 20 animal welfare organizations were established. During the Second World War, when the Soviet occupation began, the animal welfare movement fell into decline and disappeared, and was not revived until after Estonia regained independence.

Very little has been written about the history of the Estonian animal welfare movement, so the aim of my presentation is to give a general overview of the topic. Mainly, I will focus on the interwar period, when the movement became organized and grew rapidly in numbers. I would especially like to explore if and how the views of the animal welfare activists during the interwar period were linked with environmentalist ideas.


Kuura Irni

University of Helsinki

Kuura Irni works as a University Lecturer in Gender Studies at University of Helsinki. Currently they explore how queer and trans theoretical insights could be thought through with critical feminist animal studies, and examine the debates between Western mainstream feminism and ecofeminism. They also lead a research project called ”Climate sustainability in the kitchen – everyday food cultures in transition” (2018-2022) and work within the group ”Slow academy for anti-authoritarian queer and trans thinking.”

Saturday, 7 May
Session 4 – Everyday Matters
16:30–17:00

“Conceptualisations of 'Nature' in Feminist Food Politics: Intersectional Implications”

This paper discusses the intersectional implications of two different understandings of “nature” that have influenced feminist food politics. The paper focuses on Carol Adams’ The Sexual Politics of Meat, which still crucially influences critical animal studies, as she has been critical not only of killing nonhuman animals for food, but the use of the reproductive capacities of chickens and cows in order to produce eggs and milk, as well as on Donna Haraway’s work, which, I suggest, has been key contributor to Western mainstream feminist analysis of nature, also having a crucial effect on mainstream feminist food politics. Unfortunately, the Adamsian strand of ecofeminism is more or less neglected within Western mainstream feminism; as I suggest, as a result of both disregard of nonhuman animal exploitation in mainstream feminism and as a result of radical feminist influence in Adamsian ecofeminist thought, as this radical feminist perspective has appeared at worst as essentialist, trans-exclusionary, and ethnocentric. Ecofeminists have recently attempted to respond to the critiques by turning to the notion of intersectionality in their argumentation. However, even if this turn has provided some answers to these critiques, it has not solved the problems of essentialism and trans-exclusive theorisation. In critical animal studies and ecofeminism, in turn, Haraway appears as a problematic thinker because she has not opposed practices such as hunting and animal food production; however, her account of nature has appeared as be trans-inclusive and mostly also race-critical. In this paper I explore the intersectional challenges involved in both types of feminist conceptualisations of nature, and contemplate on what kind of understanding of “nature” could answer to these intersectional concerns.


Ronnie Lee

Animal Liberation Front, vegan activist

Ronnie is probably best known for being one of the founders of the Animal Liberation Front and for having spent about 9 years in prison for ALF activities. In more recent years he has turned his attention to vegan outreach and frequently speaks of the importance of vegan education, and of local vegan activist groups, for the achievement of animal liberation.

Friday, 6 May
Session 1 – Animal Advocacy Pasts and Futures
12:00–12:30

“Animal liberation and the climate crisis: Campaigning in the local community”

Ronnie Lee will talk about how vegans can campaign within their local communities to combat the climate crisis from an animal liberationist standpoint, and with an emphasis on how animal farming and industrialised fishing have contributed very significantly to that crisis.

He will give practical illustrations of the work of his own local vegan group in this area, including the many types of actions they have carried out and how they have formed an alliance with local environmental groups to help spread the message.

Ronnie will also explain why speciesism is the fundamental cause of the climate emergency and why educating others to become vegan is the fundamental solution.

He will point out how local vegan groups have a pivotal role to play in this educational process and what practical steps can be taken to set up and operate such a group.


Anniina Ljokkoi 

Vabakutseline kirjanik ja tõlkija 
Freelance writer and translator

EE: Anniina Ljokkoi (s. 1984) on Soome päritoluga tõlkija, toitumisnõustaja ja toidukirjanik, kes on elanud Eestis 2007. aastast. Temalt on (koos teiste autoritega) ilmunud eesti keeles mitmeid veganite toitumist ja elustiili puudutavaid raamatuid: “Vegan. Hooliv ja maitsev elu” (2015), “Väikesed veganid” (2017), “Mitte ainult hummusest” (2018) ning “Väikeste veganite lemmiktoidud” (2019). Pärimustoitude juurde on teda toonud huvi oma Karjala vanaisa juurte vastu ning avastus, et ka meie kohalik läänemeresoome toidupärimus ei jäta veganeid nälga.

EN: Anniina Ljokkoi (b. 1984) is translator, nutritionist and food writer with Finnish roots. She has been living in Estonia since 2007 and has published (together with other authors) several books in Estonian on the diet and lifestyle of vegans: “Vegan. A Compassionate and Delicious Life” (2015); “Little Vegans” (2017); “Not Just About Hummus” (2018) and “Favourite Foods of Little Vegans” (2019). She first became interested in traditional food thanks to her Karelian grandfather, and the discovery that our local Balto-Finnic culinary traditions do not leave vegans hungry either. 

Saturday, 7 May
Session 4 – Everyday Matters
17:30–18:30 (in Estonian only)

“Taimsed pärimustoidud”

Kas inimesed sõid vanasti taimetoitu? Mida loodusest korjati ja mida talve jaoks sisse tehti? Kas meie pärimustoidulauas on koht ka veganile?

Anniina Ljokkoi ja Liisa Kaski toiduraamat “Taimsed pärimustoidud” tutvustab hulgaliselt ahvatlevaid taimseid toite, millest paljude koostisosad olid tuttavad juba kiviajastu inimesele. Tähtsat rolli mängivad ka meie vanad kultuurviljad põlduba, hernes, naeris, oder ja kanep. Ammusel ajal leiutati veganvariante mh katoliiklaste ja õigeusklike paastuaegadel, millal liha- ja piimatoitude tarbimine oli välistatud. Raamatus kiigatakse sisse ka keskaegse Tallinna ülemkihi kööki, kus keedeti mandlipiima veiniga ning maitsestati põldube safraniga.

Nii Eesti kui ka Soome toidupärimuses on viimase saja aasta jooksul rõhutatud loomset toitu. Liha, piima ja või rohke tarbimine on siiski alles tööstuseajastu kiire arenguga kaasas käiv nähtus. Ljokkoi ja Kaski lähenevad oma raamatus toidupärimusele teisest suunast ‒ kliima, keskkonna ja loomadega arvestades, lisaks pärimusele ka meie planeedi tulevikule otsa
vaadates.

Anniina Ljokkoi tutvustab oma ettekandes toiduraamatu “Taimsed pärimustoidud” tekkelugu ning toob välja põnevaid fakte vana rahva toitumisest. Raamat ilmus Soomes 2021. aasta augustis pealkirjaga “Perinnevegeä” ja selle eestikeelne tõlge ilmub Varrakult suve jooksul.


Alex Lockwood

Co-Founder of Narrative Shift, Former Narrative Lead for Animal Rebellion, author of “The Pig in Thin Air”

Dr. Alex Lockwood is a writer and scholar working at the intersection of animals, activism and narrative. His 2016 memoir “The Pig in Thin Air” connected climate change with the animals we eat. He has published in Beyond the Creaturely Divide, Through a Vegan Studies Lens, Environmental Humanities, Vegan Geographies and The Vegan Studies Handbook. He is a member of the Vegan Society’s Research Advisory Committee, Associate Editor for Animal Studies Journal, and led on narrative for Animal Rebellion.

Dan Kidby

Co-Founder of Animal Rebellion, Animal Think Tank, Narrative Shift

Dan is a strategist focusing on building the climate and animal freedom movements. He Co-Founded and led the development of Animal Rebellion (https://animalrebellion.org/), a global mass movement calling for an urgent transition to a Plant-Based Food System to combat the climate and ecological emergencies. He is a Co-Founder of Animal Think Tank (https://animalthinktank.org.uk/), which is working to build the foundations for a grassroots Animal Freedom Movement. He is also the Co-Founder of Radical Think Tank (https://radicalthinktank.wordpress.com/) which developed campaigning expertise informing the design of Extinction Rebellion. His work is informed by a philosophical and spiritual commitment to nonviolence.

Saturday, 7 May
Session 3 – Anthropocene Entanglements
13:00–13:30

“The Evolving Narrative for Animals and Climate”

In the last 10 years we have seen increasing recognition of the links between the climate and ecological crises and the industries of animal farming and fishing. This has been led by a compelling body of scientific literature and a whole range of strategic interventions to popularise this science such as Cowspiracy, Veganuary and Animal Rebellion. As the destruction caused by animal farming and fishing have become more salient and understood, we have seen a move towards bolder demands, from a focus on individual lifestyle solutions (Go Vegan) towards structural change (Plant-Based Food System). This increasing boldness has also been greatly influenced by the growing recognition of the catastrophic threat the climate emergency poses and the urgent need for transformative change, following nonviolent social movements such as Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain.

This talk explores this evolution through a developmental narrative theory lens, assessing the ways narratives connecting climate and animals have developed over time. We will draw from cutting edge narrative methodologies to explore how we can evolve groundbreaking and audacious narratives for 2022 and beyond to respond to the increasing urgency of climate and appetite for transformative change.


Joaquín Fernández Mateo 

Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid

Associate Professor at Department of Education Sciences, Language, Arts and Culture, Legal History and Humanistic Sciences and Modern Languages (Philosophy Area), Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain. https://t.co/UVjrWqYQpA Bachelor’s in Political Science and Administration (Complutense University of Madrid, UCM). MD in Epistemology of Natural and Social Sciences (Faculty of Philosophy, UCM). PhD in Information Society, Subjectivity & Subjectification. Professor at Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain. Researching about Technology, Sustainability & Ethics. ORCID: 0000-0002-9560-5197. 

Alberto José Franco Barrera

University of Santiago de Compostela

Professor at University of Santiago de Compostela, Philosophy Faculty. Bachelor’s in Political Science and Administration (Complutense University of Madrid, UCM). PhD in Political Philosophy by the University of Santiago de Compostela. Researching about Political Ecology and the difference relationships between Democracy and Climate Change. ORCID: 0000-0002-9415-0709. 

Saturday, 7 May
Session 4 – Everyday Matters
16:00–16:30

“Sustainable Development Goals & Animal Ethics or How to Consume and Produce with Responsibility in the Anthropocene.”

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call for action to governments, organizations and civil society, a call for addressing the environmental and social problems of the 21st century. However, the 2030 Agenda does not focus on ethics as one of the keys to addressing these critical issues. Meanwhile, the different ethical approaches to the moral status of non-human animals justify the transition to plant-based diets, not only because of the ecological and geological consequences of animal-product consumption but also in accordance with the principles of justice. This work highlights the consequences of animal-product consumption in the Anthropocene. Its effects have a major impact on biodiversity, deforestation, water resources, climate and health.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has potential to achieve the sustainability goals and promote human and non-human animals’ welfare. However, the Anthropocene only describes the surface of an epochal phenomenon which should be named “Technocene”. This paper explores the need to develop a normative criterion for technology use to protect the moral status of non-human animals: technological innovation should be focused on the development of animal source foods alternatives.


Renata Mliczak

Independent scholar

Renata Mliczak works as a special needs teacher and translation and media accessibility lecturer. After transitioning to veganism, her interests have moved closer to critical animal studies and, due to her work, specifically to interrelations between disability and animal studies. She is currently working on a project focused on animal sanctuaries as places of diversability for both other than humans and humans. She is a proud guardian of two adopted cats – Simba and Monty.

Saturday, 7 May
Session 3 – Anthropocene Entanglements
13:30–14:00

“(Dis)abled humans and other than humans’ place and role in the age of climate crisis.”

The interconnections between the environment, animals and marginalised groups, such as people with disabilities, gave rise to eco-ability (Nocella et all 2018) – a movement that highlights these interrelations and, by challenging oppressive social constructs, shows a way to the Earth, vulnerable humans and other than humans’ liberation. In my presentation, I draw on the principles of eco-ability movement as well as intersectionality (Crenshaw 1989) and show how understanding these concepts can have an impact on our role in improving the state of earth in climate crisis. I draw attention to people’s perception of value when faced with disabilities and how we can compare it with nonhumans’ views of disability based on selected examples of other than human animals’ attitudes towards their disabled peers.

While disentangling the oppressions experienced by our planet and its vulnerable inhabitants we can notice similarities between the processes of abusing the weaker by the stronger. Examples of that can be people working in factory farms or slaughterhouses where incidents of abuse as well as health problems often leading to disabilities are common amongst humans. Nonhuman animals also experience unimaginable suffering, for instance by being disabled on purpose (e.g. debeaking, limiting space to move around, overfeeding, etc.) in the name of increasing profitability. But who is getting profit here? What are the consequences of it for the planet? Finally, I touch on the concept of “survival of the fittest”, as popularised by Darwin’s work (1869) and its application in the current state of the Earth. Will those that have seemed to be the fittest be able to survive?

The last part of the presentation focuses on what we can do to change this situation and challenge various forms of oppressions as a way to push back the climate crisis. Strategies I refer to range from the use of language to social media presence and, encompassing all, educational impact on the communities we live in.


Francisco Sánchez Molina

The Wolf Action Group (Finland), animal rights activist

Francisco Sánchez Molina is an animal rights advocate and artist from México working on behalf of wolves and other large carnivores in Finland. He is the Large Carnivore Campaign Coordinator for The Wolf Action Group (Luonto-Liiton susiryhmä) which is part of The Finnish Nature League (Luonto-Liitto), an eNGO established in 1943. Their work is based on sharing factual information about the ecological role of large carnivores in order to influence attitudes and reduce unnecessary fear and hatred of these animals. More information here: http://www.luontoliitto.fi/susiryhma/in-english

Friday, 6 May
Session 2 – The Nature of Hunting
16:00–16:30

“Hunting a Protected Species: Is Finland circumventing the legal strict protection of wolves?”

The return of the wolf in Finland, together with its strict protection under the European Habitats Directive has resulted in a complex multilevel conflict in rural areas and the concept of the “bold wolf” has emerged in the public discourse.

The sighting of wolves or their tracks in the vicinity of residential areas is considered in the majority of cases a valid reason for derogating from the system for strict protection and allowing their hunting.

According to EU law any derogations from the strict protection must always be considered as exceptional and the last resort to resolve a particular conflict situation. Authorities must first implement all other satisfactory non-lethal alternative(s) before allowing the hunting of a protected species and any impossibility to do this must be “founded on objectively verifiable factors, such as scientific and technical considerations”.

Exploiting the possibilities for derogation, last December 2021 Finnish ministerial authorities approved a new regulation to allow the hunting of wolves for population management purposes with the aim of “regulating the growth of the wolf population, preventing damage and promoting the acceptability of the wolf”. The corresponding hunting permits to shoot a quota of 18 wolves (four packs) were subsequently appealed by local nature protection organizations at the regional administrative courts and were temporarily suspended.

Is Finland circumventing the legal strict protection of wolves by using Article 16(1) derogations of the EU Habitats Directive as a population management tool?

1 Laaksonen/Luonto-Liiton susiryhmä, 2018. Keeping the Wolf from the Door.
2 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/15/finland-sweden-norway-cull-wolf-population-eu


Zuzanna Nalepa

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Zuzanna Nalepa is a student of cultural anthropology and a graduate of musicology. In her interdisciplinary research, she combines these two scientific disciplines, thanks to which she thoroughly researches the anthropology of sound, eco-acoustics, multispecies anthropology, acoustics and sound-perceived climate changes.

Saturday, 7 May
Session 3 – Anthropocene Entanglements
12:00–12:30

“The Impact of Human Activity on the Soundscape of Nature in the Perspective of Anthropology of Sound and Eco-acoustics”

In this presentation, I look at the history of nature soundscape research. I pay attention to important sonic aspects of the surrounding space, such as the noise of trees, birds singing or silence, but also the sounds of a living city. Sustainable development, which is necessary for a coherent perception of the world, is a challenge, also in the field of sound studies and anthropology of sound. The geographical environment is to provide not only material resources, but also to serve people because of its natural, cultural, aesthetic and recreational values. Thanks to research conducted with the use of research methods of cultural anthropology, I present the relationship between human activity, climate change and the sounds of nature. I refer to these phenomena both in a global perspective and in the specific place of my research due to the universal specifics of their sound dimension.


“Understanding Farmers for Effective Communication”

For generations, farmers have been revered and celebrated for feeding Earth’s 7 billion human inhabitants essential nutrients in the form of meat and dairy. The backbone of many countries’ economy, their value and contribution was never in doubt. When I arrived in New Zealand 30 years ago and found myself milking hundreds of cows for a living, this was certainly the case. Morale was high and so was the pay. If you milked cows or raised beef, you were secure for life.

Today’s farmers face a quite different reality. Dairy’s ‘white gold rush’ is over. With plant based milks and other alternatives now commonplace, the public no longer need or want their products. Mounting environmental pressures, the exposure of health risks and conscious collective awakening to the ethical issues surrounding animal agriculture paint farmers in an increasingly bad light.

As a former dairy and beef farmer, I know all too well how deeply entrenched they are in the system and are conditioned to ignore outside influences and just ‘get on with the job’.
Farmers are feeling increasingly vilified for a role they have been taught is for the benefit of the nation. Join me as I give an insight into a farmer’s psyche and how we might stop this cycle and aid them in creating positive change; not just for the animals and planet, but for the human animals that have been duped and misguided by this industry. We can create a more compassionate world together as allies – or continue fighting until it is gone.


PJ Smith

Humane Society of the United States

PJ Smith is the director of fashion policy at the Humane Society of the United States. For more than a decade, PJ has worked with dozens of top fashion companies—including ELLE magazine, Kering, Prada, Dolce&Gabbana, Chanel, Michael Kors and Farfetch —to set policies that have reformed supply chains and revolutionized the way the fashion industry views animals. In 2010, PJ helped pass the federal Truth in Fur Labeling Act, which ensures clear and proper labeling for all fur products sold in the U.S., and in 2019, he was instrumental in California becoming the first state to phase out new fur sales. He resides in Austin, Texas.

Friday, 6 May
Session 1 – Animal Advocacy Pasts and Futures
12:30–13:00

“A fur-free future is almost here. What’s next?”

From the provocative anti-fur campaigns of the 1980s and ‘90s to today’s focus on corporate and public policy, the fur-free movement has been undermining the fur industry for decades. In response to the growing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical products, the fashion world has seemingly gone fur-free. As well, luxury has been redefined to include products that are innovative, sustainable and ethical. This has led to competition among brands to reach ethically and environmentally minded consumers and a new era of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) investing, which rewards companies for being more responsible and sustainable. Finally, legislators have taken notice introducing bans on fur production and/or sales inspiring a new generation of innovative materials.

Why are we seeing these changes taking place now? Will brands and retailers stop at fur or is this just the beginning of fashion’s move away from animal products towards more innovative alternatives? What will be banned next, and why? PJ Smith offers his insights on the fur-free movement, the future of animals used for fashion and what we can do to inspire change now.


Katja Tiisala 

University of Helsinki

Katja Tiisala (MSocSc, BSc) is a PhD researcher in Practical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. She specialises in deontological animal rights and sustainability ethics. Her dissertation develops sustainability ethics that respects all sentient beings equally. Katja has a master’s degree in Practical Philosophy from the University of Helsinki. She has also studied in the interdisciplinary Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability and she holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy.

Saturday, 7 May
Session 3 – Anthropocene Entanglements
12:30–13:00

“Environmental Concern for Sentient Beings’ Lifeworlds”

It is typical to perceive environmental problems as threats to human wellbeing or as an issue of protecting ecosystems, biodiversity and species for their intrinsic values. In these approaches, sentient nonhuman individuals and their interests are not a central part of the environmental concern. In this paper, I introduce and defend a sentiocentric approach to environmental ethics that aims at considering the interests of all sentient beings through protecting environment as sentient individuals’ lifeworlds. Thus, I apply sentiocentrism as an anti-speciesist view of moral standing and reinterpret environmental issues as concern for everyone’s lifeworld: the experienced and lived environment of every sentient nonhuman or human animal. In my approach, there are multiple environments that overlap since an environment, a lifeworld, surrounds each sentient animal. I draw here on Tim Ingold’s distinction between environment as a globe and an environment as a lifeworld. From the ethical viewpoint, I argue that the primary focus in the environmental discourse should be on the quality of lifeworlds, that is, experienced and lived environments. Protecting environment as sentient beings’ lifeworlds overcomes the culture-nature dichotomy, the human-animal dichotomy and makes visible the dissimilar environmental interests of diverse sentient beings, including nonhumans, regardless of whether they are free-living, members of society or imprisoned, for instance, in the animal industry. This approach may also motivate moral agents to environmental action, as the relevance of environmental change for sentient individuals’ interests is integrated into this approach. To exemplify my view, I analyse habitat destruction and factory farms as environmental harms from the viewpoint of the lifeworld of harmed sentient nonhuman animals. The analysis demonstrates how both habitat destruction and factory farms diminish the quality of nonhuman lifeworlds and belong accordingly on an environmentalist’s agenda.


Richard J. White

Reader in Human Geography, Sheffield Hallam University

Greatly influenced by anarchist praxis, White’s research explores a range of ethical, economic and activist landscapes rooted in questions of social and spatial justice. His work on critical animal studies and critical animal geographies has been widely published, and his Editorial collections include: “Vegan Geographies” (2022); “The Radicalization of Pedagogy” (2016); “Theories of Resistance” (2016); “The Practice of Freedom” (2016) and “Anarchism and Animal Liberation” (2015). White is a member of the Vegan Society Research Advisory Committee (UK), and a Senior Advisor for the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS).

Friday, 6 May
Keynote 2
15:00–16:00

“Reasserting the Radical Praxis of Veganism in the Capitalocene: some thoughts and reflections”

In recent years, and certainly evident within Western Europe, a remarkable rise in the number of people identifying as vegan, as well the increasing range and quality of vegan foods, drinks, and other products appears to have taken place. Taken at face value – the vegan revolution, evidenced by the rapid movement of veganism away from the ‘margins’ of society, would seem to be in full swing. At the very least, we might interpret this as a welcome and positive development. However, when a critical and questioning gaze is cast toward the positive impacts that “we” (vegan scholars and activists) would assume to have emerged– not least in reducing the demand for ‘meat’ and ‘dairy’ products – it is overwhelmingly clear that this has not happened. Perhaps the most significant truth to burst the bubbles of optimism, is that the fharming [sic] industry continues to expand. Therefore, despite these ‘rise of veganism’, ugly inter-species geographies of violence and oppression, as well as the ongoing catastrophic impacts of the animal-abuse industry on climate change, continue.

The main aim of this talk is to critically address these troubling realities, and highlight ways in which the radical intent and promise of veganism might yet be achieved. The starting place is to re-assert the radical spaces upon which veganism stands upon. This is important on many levels, not least as a way of distinguishing capitalist, consumer-based forms of ‘veganism’ – which is most certainly do not constitute a counter-power movement – as distinct from the radical praxis that veganism clearly possesses. Beyond this, a case is made for vegan-anarchist geographies, and how these could be drawn on as a means to better envisage and enact “post-capitalist” and “post-speciesist” futures. Finally, the talk concludes by emphasising the importance of never losing sight of the intersectional relations of domination, and how this might encourage us to engage more fully with a politics of total liberation.


Laura Wright

Western Carolina University

Laura Wright is the founder of the field of Vegan Studies. She is Professor of English at Western Carolina University, where she specializes in postcolonial literatures and theory, ecocriticism, and animal studies. Her monographs include Writing Out of All the Camps: J. M. Coetzee’s Narratives of Displacement (Routledge, 2006 and 2009), Wilderness into Civilized Shapes: Reading the Postcolonial Environment (U of Georgia P, 2010), and The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror (U of Georgia P, 2015). Her most recent edited collection The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies was published in 2021.

Saturday, 7 May
Keynote 3
15:00–16:00

“Resisting the Masculinist Rhetoric of 'Plant-Based': An Ecofeminist Vegan Intervention”

In the work that launched his career as a celebrity chef Kitchen Confidential (2000), Anthony Bourdain called vegans the “Hezbollah-like splinter faction” of vegetarianism, “a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. . . . the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.” More recently, in a 2019 New York Times editorial “It’s called Plant-Based,’ Look it up,” Ethan Varian’s prejudice against vegans is explicit in his analysis of Louie Psihoyos’s 2019 documentary film The Game Changers. Varian calls for a cultural recognition that the term “plant-based” be distinguished from “veganism”, noting that whereas vegans might be motivated by animal rights, “those going plant-based tend to be inspired by . . . the health benefits of a diet made up of largely fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, grains and nuts.” Further, he notes, free from specific ethical constraints, plant-based eaters often have no qualms buying or wearing items made with or tested on animals” (my emphasis).

What underscores such posturing is a bald misogyny seeking to distance men who eschew eating meat, including those plant-based paragons of masculinity (like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrik Baboumian, and Scott Jurek) who appear in The Game Changers, from veganism’s associations with femininity, compassion, and empathy. On November 5, 2019, 11,000 scientists from 153 countries declared a climate emergency, and their report provides six paths forward, one of which focuses on agriculture: “eating mostly plant-based foods while reducing the global consumption of animal products . . . can improve human health and significantly lower GHG emissions” (Ripple et al. 4). That said, efforts to place animal rights, wellbeing, or welfare within the discursive frame of broader environmental considerations have been met with notable backlash. In this talk, I examine why that is the case and what it might take to meaningfully engage with the “animal question” in ways not predicated on vitriolic fear and willful disdain of vegan identity. I offer a vegan studies approach as a theoretical and lived ecofeminist intervention in a political moment characterized by environmental uncertainty, overt racism, misogyny, and anti-immigrant policies that are conflated with the presumed threat veganism poses to an increasingly authoritarian and masculinist present.