Carl Safina
Carl Safina is an ecologist and author of numerous books focused on the changing oceans and the lives of wild animals. The host of the 10-part PBS series Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina, he had just published his book Beyond Words, immersing readers in the lives and relationships among wolves, elephants and orca whales who have been observed over many decades in the wild.
The inaugural holder of the endowed chair for nature and humanity at Stony Brook University, Safina co-chairs the steering committee of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and is founding president of the not-for-profit organization, The Safina Center.
When Henry and I traveled to the home Carl shares with his wife Patricia on Long Island, we enjoyed meeting their dogs, parrots and chickens, and skipping out to a beautiful beach nearby. Our conversation brought up many of the poignant concerns central to being a conservationist in a world where we humans have for so long ignored and overlooked our impact on animals and the environments we share.
“Other animals have lives. They know who they are, they know who their friends and rivals are, they know what’s dangerous, they know their territory, they know how to make a living. They live lives and experience life in ways that are not terribly different from human beings, and in many ways are identical.
Their lives are valid.”
The Interview
Inside Animal Lives and Minds
Kinship
Science and Common Sense
Questioning
Landscapes
Animals in Relationship
Animals Think and Feel
Assumptions
Humans and Nature
Changing Views
Why Humans Eat Other Animals
Food Choices
Harm
Hunting