"Animals in Human Society" Course at UIS

Your daily ravens

The other day, my wife and I saw an entire flock of ravens on a bank of the Hudson near Peekskill. It was a very windy day, and they would ride the upward drafts, and then plunge downward, engaging in aerial acrobatics as they fell. Some were in couples, while others were by themselves, but all were playful. This reminds me a bit of them.

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This contains some interesting information, but it uncritically repeats the fakelore about the ravens at the Tower of London being domesticated by Charles II.

'Sacred' raven inspires myths, legends Since time immemorial, the raven has had a special place in the hearts and minds of humanity.

Suggested by Jeremy Thomas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M

Before the Flood - Full Movie | National Geographic Join Leonardo DiCaprio as he explores the topic of climate change, and discovers what must be done today to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our pl...

I was pretty startled at the number of birds killed by the Department of Agriculture, because farmers claim they eat grain and are pests. This does not even include the numbers killed by the farmers themselves, which might be far larger still.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/americas-wildlife-body-count.html

America’s Wildlife Body Count We kill millions of “pest” animals each year, without the science to justify it.

The Animals and Human Society course is in the catalog at State University of Illinois at Springfield in the fall semester for the first time in over a year. Those of you who have taken the course in the past and enjoyed it are encouraged to recommend it to your friends.

I am happy to announce that the "Animals and Human Society" course will run again next fall at the State University of Illinois at Springfield. As you may possibly know, it won a national award form the Center for Respect for Life and the Environment in 2007 as "the best new course." For a few years, it was so popular that three sections would fill up almost instantly, but when it was changed from an interdisciplinary course to a philosophy one, it was impossible to get sufficient interest to run it every semester. It has not run for about a year or more, so I am delighted that, at least for a while, it is back.

http://stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2015/10/plants-are-the-new-animals.html

Plants Are The New Animals

This forum was originally started in large part so that students who had taken this course might continue their discussions or perhaps begin new ones. This is an invitation to all of them to revisit some of the questions that were discussed or simply to offer whatever reflections they are moved to share.

Are plants intelligent? New book says yes Jeremy Hance: A new book, Brilliant Green, argues that not only are plants intelligent and sentient, but that we should consider their rights, especially in the midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction.

Hi! This site was started in large part as a place where those who had taken the Animals in Human Society course at State University of Illinois at Springfield could stay in touch. You are all more than welcome to post here and let others know what you have been doing. Looking back, do you have any thoughts about the course? Have the things we studied proved useful?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/boria-sax-/what-is-it-like-to-be-an-_b_7445980.html

What is it like to be an Octopus? To imagine yourself an octopus, you must perhaps divide your very consciousness into at least seven parts, six arms or more and a head. To imagine this, you might think of seven friends or brothers, so close that they seem to be "inseparable."