This article focuses on the role of ethical perspectives such as deep ecology and animal rights in relation to environmental education, arguing that such perspectives are well-placed to reposition students as responsible planetary citizens. We focus on the linkage between non-consequentialism, animal rights, and deep ecology in an educational context and discuss the broader issue of ethics in education. Finally, we discuss how the inclusion of deep ecology and animal rights perspectives would improve current environmental education programs by deepening the respect for nonhumans and their inclusion in the ethical community. https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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The broad field of environmental ethics, animal welfare, animal liberation, and animal rights literature indicate that all encounters between humans and animals are ethically charged. In this article, I shall examine how environmental ethics or animal welfare/rights/liberation literature translate into public media. The case study will delve into the representation of animals in the Dutch newspapers, using content analysis to provide an empirical basis for monitoring public opinion. Assuming that attitudes to animals are influenced by media coverage, the results of this case study will be brought to bear upon the discussion of the representation of animals beyond a specific national context. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This article explores how concern about animal welfare and animal rights relates to ecological citizenship by discussing student assignments written about the Dutch Party for Animals or PvdD. ‘Animal welfare’, ‘animal rights’, and ‘ecological citizenship’ perspectives offer insights into strategic choices of eco-representatives and animal rights/welfare advocates as well as educators. The assignments balance animal issues with socio-economic ones, explore the relationship between sustainability and ethics, and attribute responsibility for unsustainable or unethical practices. Analysis of student assignments reveals nuanced positions on the anthropocentrism-ecocentrism continuum, showing students’ ability to critically rethink their place within larger environmental systems. Some students demonstrated compassion for nonhumans, indicating that biophilia is evenly distributed among different groups of students. This article finds that fostering pro-environmentalism and animal welfare or rights requires the deepening of the debate contesting but also connecting key issues in sustainability and ethics. This analysis can be valuable for political parties representing nonhumans, or for education practitioners in getting students to think about the challenges in human-environment relationships and for advancing support for ecodemocracy. https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol8/iss1/10/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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While the original definition of replacement focuses on the replacement of the use of animals in science, a more contemporary definition focuses on accelerating the development and use of predictive and robust models, based on the latest science and technologies, to address scientific questions without the use of animals. The transition to animal free innovation is on the political agenda in and outside the European Union. The Beyond Animal Testing Index (BATI) is a benchmarking instrument designed to provide insight into the activities and contributions of research institutes to the transition to animal free innovation. The BATI allows participating organizations to learn from each other and stimulates continuous improvement. The BATI was modelled after the Access to Medicine Index, which benchmarks pharmaceutical companies on their efforts to make medicines widely available in developing countries. A prototype of the BATI was field-tested with three Dutch academic medical centers and two universities in 2020-2021. The field test demonstrated the usability and effectiveness of the BATI as a benchmarking tool. Analyses were performed across five different domains. The participating institutes concluded that the BATI served as an internal as well as an external stimulus to share, learn, and improve institutional strategies towards the transition to animal free innovation. The BATI also identified gaps in the development and implementation of 3R technologies. Hence, the BATI might be a suitable instrument for monitoring the effectiveness of policies. BATI version 1.0 is ready to be used for benchmarking at a larger scale.
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This article examines two areas of tension within environmental ethics literature and relates them to the case study of the animal representation in the Dutch media. On the one hand, there is a tension between those who propagate clear division between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric views; on the other hand, there is a tension between the land ethics perspective and animal right proponents. This article examines the media representation of animals using content analysis, and links the findings back to the areas of tension within environmental ethics. The main findings indicate that the division between anthropocentric and ecocentric perspectives is still relevant for evaluating the human-animal relations, while the convergence of the land ethics and animal rights perspectives can be helpful in explaining why this division is relevant. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in "Environmental Processes".The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-014-0025-7 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Animal burrows create discontinuities on the body of earthen levees that under certain circumstances can threaten their structural integrity through hydraulic alteration and surface erosion. Although it is a virtually established fact that discontinuities can undermine the structural integrity of levees, there are limited studies that clarify when animal activity can be considered dangerous and which are the most effective approaches for dealing with it. Interaction with levee management agencies in the network of Polder2C’s has shown that there is much tacit knowledge on the topic among levee guards in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK, which has only been marginally reported so far. It is also of interest that the Dutch Government approved the inclusion of measures against harmful animal activity in flood defences more than a decade ago (Tweede Kamer 2010), but to this end, an integrated national management framework is still pending. This highlights the fact that formal knowledge on the topic is limited and fragmented. In order to enable the development of a rational framework for dealing with animal activity on levees, a coordinated effort is required for the review and reporting of existing knowledge, identification of knowledge gaps and development of approaches to determine the level of risk incurred by various types of animal activities on levees and the effectiveness of reduction actions. This report presents activities that took place within Polder2C’s and could support the development of such a rational framework. After the first winter of experimentation in the Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder, evidence was produced about possible adverse impact of animal- and vegetation-induced discontinuities on levees (Holscher & Zomer, 2021; Koelewijn et al. 2021). Overflow experiments at locations of anomalies caused by grazing sheep, trees and fox holes led to severe erosion of the structure within a considerably short time (see also Figure 1.2a). In June 2021 a mole burrow system was detected in a levee section that had been damaged during overflow experiments and where an emergency repair application with rock bags had been subsequently applied. In order to explore the geometry and extent of the system, the mole tunnels were grouted with fast drying concrete. Upon excavation of the concrete an extensive burrow system was revealed with exit points close to the toe and close to the crest of the section (see also b). In preparation of the second winter of experimentation, a cross-work package team was created to identify knowledge gaps in the management of animal burrows on levees and suggest research activities that could potentially fill in identified gaps. This led to a longlist of possible activities, a number of which were eventually executed in the period September 2021 till February 2022. The final selection of activities was limited by the contractor’s work and other large-scale experiments and exercises. Priority was given to activities that had no conflicts with the abovementioned operations and for which there was available equipment and manpower within the involved organizations. This report presents the work that was performed within Polder2C’s on the management of harmful animal activity on levees in a chronological order. It starts with a description of observations in the first year of the project, and a subsequent study that led to the development of a knowledge agenda in the period February till June 2021. It continues with a description of activities that took place in a more coordinated manner in the second year of the project and it ends with a summary of key findings.
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This article aims to gauge students’ perceptions of the Dutch Party for Animals (PvdD) in order to reflect on the political representation of nonhumans (animals). The support for political representation of nonhumans is based on the ethical underpinning of deep ecology; growing recognition of the importance of sustainability; and increased societal support for animal rights and welfare. This article reflects on these developments using Bachelor students’ assignments from a Sustainable Business course, which asked them to reflect on the underlying principles of the PvdD. Student assignments indicate that educational efforts targeted at fostering ecological citizenship have a positive effect on the recognition and acceptance of ecocentric values. https://doi.org/10.30560/sdr.v1n1p11 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Engineers design levees without taking into account animal activity. But in reality: *Levees attract burrowing animals *Many of them are protected (e.g. beavers) *It is not always easy to detect burrows and remove them Topics of interest are: 1. Eco engineering approaches for deterrence of animals How can we make animals go elsewhere? 2. Detection and measurement techniques How can we find burrows on a levee and measure their geometry? 3. Failure paths How do levees fail when they have burrows? 4. Effectiveness of countermeasures How can we repair levee damages made by burrowing animal?s
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1. Topics of interest were defined following a risk based approach. 2. Study priorities were set based on knowledge gaps in current practices, but they were conditioned by pragmatic limitations. 3. Focus topics : failure modes, detection and monitoring and repairs. 4. Serious failures can occur in sections with large burrows (e.g. fox and beaver holes), but also in sections with mole burrows. Research in progress. 5. Detection and monitoring techniques were developed and tested in the living lab, but results are site specific. Further testing is needed for benchmarking. 6. A low cost repair technique was developed and evaluated.
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