Sentientism Jamie Woodhouse

Robert Grillo is an activist, author and speaker for all species. He is also the founder and director of Free from Harm, a non profit dedicated to helping end animal exploitation. He founded Slaughter Free Chicago in 2018 which has now grown into the Slaughter Free Network. As a communications professional for over 25 years, Robert once worked on large food industry accounts where he acquired a behind-the-scenes perspective on food branding and marketing. His book, Farm to Fable: The Fictions of Our Animal-Consuming Culture, explores the powerful narratives driving our culture of mass animal consumption. Robert's other published works include contributions to The Humane Hoax, Caged: Top Activists Share Their Wisdom on Effective Animal Advocacy and Circles of Compassion: Connecting Issues of Justice.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"

Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

00:55 Welcome

- Free from Harm's "Humane Farmer" transfarmation
stories: https://freefromharm.org/humane-farmer/

03:25 Robert's Intro

- Author, speaker, activist

- Free from Harm's mission: "advance a #plantbased food
system and challenge the dominance of animal agriculture through bold and innovative grass-roots action."

- Evolving from an on-line resource to "on the ground
activism"

05:16 What's Real?

- At 10 yrs old father passed away. Creative, jazz,
painting, architecture

- Exploring dad's library... ways of thinking, ethics

- "He was a non-believer - not a spiritual person"

- Mother also non-religious

- Ordinary middle-class upbringing

- "I was definitely an outsider... I didn't really fit in... now I embrace it... causes me to question... being open to new ideas and scepticism... I feel like it's a strength"

- The risks of scepticism spilling over into conspiracism

- "Sometimes it's a small group of people that sense an
injustice... that mainstream society doesn't... that's the role of activism... awakening and triggering of popular support to bring justice."

- JW: Why epistemology matters "it's not just a
popularity contest..." it's the weight of evidence

- Spirituality / supernatural / transcendent?: "We have
so much to deal with here that I don't have time for that stuff... I'm not seeking it out at this point in my life"

12:56 What Matters?

- Experiencing father's suffering and death as a child. "I developed a sense of empathy"

- "I didn't really come into an understanding of the
suffering of other animals... until much later in life"

- Emotional (e.g. empathy, care) vs. intellectual (utility, justice, rights) moral influences

- Sympathy, empathy & compassion

17:28 Who Matters?

- The risks of care/empathy in narrowing our moral scope

- "I came to realise what the real conditions were for
the animals that suffer in our food system... their suffering was like our suffering."

- Watching documentaries and @mercyforanimals  investigative footage

- "Humane, sustainable
farming?... empty marketing promises."

28:44 A Better Future?

01:07:30 Follow Robert

- robertgrillo.com

- https://freefromharm.org/

- @Free_from_harm

- @robert_grillo

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Louisa is a Religious Education (RE) Teacher and Head of Life Skills at a school in England. She is host of the RE podcast, an RE Subject reviewer for Oak National, a member of the NATRE (National Association for Teachers of Religious Education) executive committee and the Surrey SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) as well as being a public speaker and author.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"

Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

00:45 Welcome

- Kids today are "The most enlightened generation... so
socially aware... so aware of, for better or worse, the bigger picture... so passionate about things that really matter."

- Jamie's appearance on The RE Podcast talking about Sentientism

- "The reason we love RE [religious education] is because we love those big questions... this is like a proper geek out for me!"

- The balance between neutrality and authenticity for RE
teachers... how much to talk about your own worldview

05:45 Louisa's Intro

- 22 years of RE teaching in UK secondary schools

- The RE Podcast "little lockdown project... I'd been
wanting to do something creative... the first dedicated podcast for students and teachers of RE"

- "I had no idea what a podcast was... the RE community... have been so supportive... now nearing 4 years of doing this... I absolutely love it"

- Religious Education "fairly unique... to British schools... a national entitlement... every child up to the age of 18"

- How RE has evolved from religious instruction "how to
be a good Christian" to now: "religion and worldviews - everybody in the world has a worldview... we all stand somewhere... show respect... compassion for people who think differently... religious and non-religious worldviews"

- NATRE exec

- Oak National online teaching platform

09:19 What's Real?

- #catholic mum, #atheist dad, brought up Catholic
(christening, school, church)

- "You just accept the reality that you are given by your caretakers. And that was then reinforced at school... reinforced at church... with my friends..."

- Despite atheist dad: "At no point did I really consider that atheism was a valid worldview"

- At 8 yrs old "My dad had this big conversion... from
being a complete and utter atheist and hating religion to becoming quite an evangelical Christian... he had a religious experience... he heard a voice... felt a pressure... waves of energy going through him."

- Going to protestant evangelical church with dad "so
very different from my Catholic version... quite exciting... my whole family left the Catholic church and went to the Protestant church."

- "It was quite fundamentalist... to the point of it being quite judgmental"

- "University was the first time I really questioned anything... taken out of my little religious bubble... exposed to... alternative ideas"

- "A lot of the things I'd been told just didn't hold
up... going to hell... attitudes to homosexuality..."

35:34 What Matters?

46:15 Who Matters?

01:11:26 A Better Future?

01:30:50 Follow Louisa

- @TheREPodcast1

- The RE Podcast

- Louisa on Instagram

- The RE Podcast on Facebook

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Leigh Claire La Berge is Professor in City University of New York's English Department. Her work focuses on aesthetics and political economy. Her first book, "Scandals and Abstraction: Financial Fiction of the Long 1980s", tracked the convergences of finance, realism and postmodernism in literature and culture throughout the 1980s in the United States. Her second book, "Wages Against Artwork:  Decommodified Labor and the Claims of Socially Engaged Art" explored the twin rise of new forms of socially engaged art alongside what she called "decommodified labor," or labor that is not recompensed. Along with Alison Shonkwiler, Leigh Claire is the co-editor of the collection, "Reading Capitalist Realism". She recently published a book about animality and economy entitled "Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary". She is working on a new book called "Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect that Capitalism is a Joke" about her experience with corporate labor, Y2K, and management consultants.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"

Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

00:58 Welcome

02:32 Leigh Claire's Intro

- "In an English department you don't just find people
who read novels or who write novels... but also who do philosophy, critical theory..."

- "Relationship between economic forms and the
constitution of reality"

- "... different cultural objects... artworks or films
or TV shows or novels... mediate between what we perceive as economically real and what might be economically possible" #economics

- #philosophy major, working for a management consultant in Manhattan

- Seeing the corporate world... accounting...
profiteering... record-keeping "I was genuinely surprised... this cannot be the way that capitalism works... but it is!"

- Studying #politicaleconomy "manifestly politicised
understanding of economic forms and economic structures"

- "Scandals and Abstraction" on financial scandals
represented in film & literature

- "Wages against artwork" on art, economy and also
animals (e.g. an exhibit of live birds)

- Thinking about animals' presence in the economy

- Explaining political economy to artists "What if you
were talking to cats?"

- The  Marx For Cats  video series "The cats loved it!"

- Writing "Marx for Cats" - "A history of the capitalist world system... as told through cats, with cats and for cats"

- "Cats are also amazing anti-work creatures... anti-authoritarian creatures"

- "Cats have been understood to be anti-authority for
at least 1200 years"

- Royal lions, wildcat strikes, sabotabbies...

- Animals that can be companion and work animals because "capitalism... it both structures our external reality and our most intimate, internal, familial realities."

12:03 What's Real?

- "By the time I was 6 or 7 it was clear that church was not going to be for me"

... and much more (see sentientism.info for full show notes)

29:15 What Matters?

33:57 Who Matters?

58:11 A Better World?

01:13:22 Follow Leigh Claire

- @marxforcats on Twitter

- @marxforcats on Instagram- Marx for Cats book

- Leigh Claire at CUNY

- Marx for Cats video series

- Watch out for “Fake Work”

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This is the audio from our "Teaching the Sentientism Worldview" webinar. The webinar was aimed at religious education / worldviews / philosophy teachers in the UK but will hopefully be of interest to everyone! Let us know @sentientism on any social media platform if you'd like to attend a future webinar and / or follow Sentientism on Eventbrite to be notified of future events.

Here's the video recording on the Sentientism YouTube (don't forget to subscribe!) if you want to be able to see the slides I'm referring too. I'm happy to send these out if of interest so just get in touch if you'd like a copy.

Here are more #SentientistEducation resources - feedback and ideas always welcome! We also have a dedicated Sentientist Education FaceBook chat here. I think you might have to join the main Sentientism FB group first to access it. All are welcome!

John is an activist academic, a green political economist and former Green Party politician in Northern Ireland. He is Professor of Green Political Economy in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen's University Belfast. His main research interests span politics, economics, the ethics of sustainability/ sustainable development, green moral and political theory, green political economy, vulnerability, resilience , civic republicanism and green politics, Irish/Northern Irish politics, Q Methodology and sustainable energy politics and policy.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"

Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

01:01 Welcome

- "Summer in Ireland... best weekend of the year" :)

- Zion Lights episode

03:34 John's Introduction

- Green political economy

- Co-chair the Belfast Climate Commission

- "A recovering politician" led the Green Party of Northern Ireland

- "I've always been politically active... I feel compelled... at this moment of crisis... a polycrisis... climate, ecological,
social... animal welfare horrors of our current social order"

- "A dissident political economist - I don't accept either #capitalism or endless economic growth"

- "Our current economic system has now passed its
sell-by date... industrialisation, globalism, the horrendous suffering of the more-than-human world"

- Pessimism amongst climate scientists "describing in
many respects... an uninhabitable world in the future"

- "We cannot continue in a business as usual manner in
the academy while the world is on fire... we need to practice what we teach"

- "This time, not only of crisis... of great opportunity... we can fix so many problems... science... political will...
justice focus" (global, inter-generational and inter-species justice and equity)

- "We have all the solutions... What we lack... is the
political will and the ethical courage of our convictions"

07:33 What's Real?

- Growing up in working class Dublin

- "Not just as a lapsed but a completely collapsed #Catholic... I've been an #atheist all my thinking life"

- At ~10yrs old asking "What's the evidence for this
off-world, male, white deity?... Not really finding satisfactory answers from
the priest or from teachers."

- "I do hold some affection for Catholicism..."

- The denial of evolution & #creationism among some
Northern Irish Protestants and Evangelicals. Often #climatechange denialism too

- Flaws of Catholicism: abuse of women & children &
abuse cover-ups "effectively brought down the church... in Ireland... from its position of power"

- General acceptance of science within Catholicism

- "A form of poetry... religious perspectives as beautiful stories... they're fairy tales... beautiful but they're not real... can have certain morality lessons"

... and much more!

21:50 What Matters?

39:54 Who Matters?

55:43 A Better Future?

01:27:03 Follow John:

- @ProfJohnBarry

- John on LinkedIn “I like subverting LinkedIn – there’s far too many shiny, happy
business-type people”

- John’s MarxistLentilist Blog

- John on Academia.edu

- John at Queens University Belfast

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE). She is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement. She has authored eight books both for adults and children, including her latest, "The Solutionary Way" – available for pre-order now! Zoe writes the Becoming a Solutionary blog at Psychology today. She has made numerous TV and
radio appearances and has given six TED talks, including “Extending our Circle of Compassion.” Her first Sentientism conversation with me was back on episode 37.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

01:15 Welcome

- Our first conversation: https://youtu.be/4NaSEJ4q8NQ

- Most good (MOGO), least harm

- Star Trek as a utopian inspiration

- Mr Spock and Dr Spock "both of them have had a big
influence"

03:42 Zoe Introduction

- Co-founder and President of The Institute for Humane
Education 

- IHE: "Educate people to create a world where all
humans and animals and nature can thrive... huge, huge goal and vision"

- K-12 schools and graduate programmes with Antioch
University

- "It's going to keep my busy my entire life"

04:37 The Solutionary Way

- Subtitle "Transform your life, your community and
your world for the better"

- "An antidote to polarisation... actually solving the problems that we face... in a way that is good for everyone"

- "We are not a single issue organisation... justice and compassion needs to be spread for everybody so that the world can be truly humane"

- Solutionary lens "you approach problems as solvable" instead of "us vs. them approaches"

- Critical thinking "what's true, what's false... lies at the foundation"

- Systems thinking "see the connections... identify causes... leverage points..."

- Strategic thinking

- Creative thinking

- Solutionary Framework: 4 phases, 12 steps

- Prioritising problems & identifying the one you want
to solve "Learn and learn then really dive deep... identify a narrow enough problem that you have the capacity to solve"

- The Solutionary Way in schools... 4th graders have big
concerns but might not be able to address them in full... so what can they "feasibly solve"?

- "We have identified a leverage point which is the
educational system through which we are working on... all problems"

- "K-12 educational system is fundamentally working at
the root cause of every other societal system"

- "What happens in our educational system prepares us
to be citizens"

- "A profoundly important core strategy... at the same
time many of the problems that we are facing are so immediate... we can't wait"

- "Sometimes the people who care most... wind up doing
work that is counter-productive... they may burn more bridges than they build"

- Dealing with activist burnout and depression

- Polarisation and populism in modern discourse... denial of a shared reality... denial of shared values... blaming instead of solutions

17:52 A Shared Reality?

25:17 Shared Values?

57:29 Thinking About Solutions

01:05:50 Education
01:17:10 Follow Zoe and buy "The Solutionary Way"!

- June 25th book launch (pre-order now!)

- The Solutionary Way

- @ZoeWeil

- The Institute for Humane Education

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠