PAN Thinks

The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program was founded at the Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA, USA) in 1996. It began as the first wild study of the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo in Papua New Guinea and grew into a community conservation, development, and health effort. It now protects roughly 180,000 acres of cloud forest in the YUS Conservation Area while supporting the 15,000-plus people who l...

Through her work in conservation and One Health, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has seen how protecting endangered mountain gorillas around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park goes hand in hand with improving the health and wellbeing of the human communities who share their habitat. She reflects on more than 20 years of experience applying the One Health approach in conservation and why it is increasing...

Over the last two decades One Health has gained prominence as a program paradigm among wildlife conservation practitioners. There is more than one definition of One Health but they share the starting point that humans, animals and the environment are an interdependent system. One Health has benefited from the development of other integrated health approaches such as Conservation Medicine, Ecosyste...

The term “One Health” explicitly recognizes that the health and wellbeing of people, other animals, and nature are interdependent. While the goal of One Health is optimal health for all, in practice it almost always privileges people at the expense of animals and nature. This presentation will set the stage for considering how we might incorporate ethics more explicitly into conservation through O...

An elephant pauses at a crossroads. Her trunk rises, testing the air. She weighs memory, social awareness, the quality of the wind — then commits to a path. What does she know? And what follows, for science and for ethics, if we take that question seriously? In this talk, Liv Baker shows that animals are knowers — beings with rich, embodied, relational knowledge of their worlds — and that this sin...

How does the concept of wellbeing inform animal lives? Wellbeing incorporates and yet extends previous ideas of animal welfare. It envisions in both a scientific and ethical sense how people should think and act so animals have lives that are worth living. A core concept and commitment of PAN Works, Liv Baker’s articulation of wellbeing deepens our understanding of what it means and signifies for...

About How does the concept of wellbeing inform animal lives? Wellbeing incorporates and yet extends previous ideas of animal welfare. It envisions in both a scientific and ethical sense how people should think and act so animals have lives that are worth living. A core concept and commitment of PAN Works, Liv Baker’s articulation of wellbeing deepens our understanding of what it means and signifie...

Brandon Keim’s latest book is Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World (2024). He draws on the explosion of research into animal cognition to argue that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals. Taking these animals seriously means they deserve to be understood not merely as populations to be managed, but as neighbours entitled t...

In this episode we explore the thought of ethicist and philosopher Mary Midgley. Midgley was a key scholar of common-sense morality, and the most important ethicist of animals in the last century. Her ideas have enduring significance for people, animals and nature today. GUEST and Host Greg McElwain is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the College of Idaho. He is a leading expert on the thou...

Dr. Neimeic shares her research on the factors influencing public support of carnivore protection ballot initiatives. Using moral foundations theory and data from in-person interviews, she demonstrates the arguments and messaging swaying voters on carnivore protection issues. HOSTS & GUESTS Bernard Travessari, MS (Bernie) is the host for this episode. He is Director of Operations & Program...

An introduction to the meaning of ethics, the place of intrinsic value and moral community in ethical understanding, and the distinction between descriptive and normative ethics in public policy. HOSTS & GUESTS Bernard Travessari, MS (Bernie) is the host for this episode. He is Director of Operations & Programs for the Society for Conservation Biology North America. https://www.linkedin.co...